Prince Harry Paternity Leave: How Much Time Will Meghan Markle's Husband Take Off?

Prince Harry's paternity leave and Meghan Markle's maternity leave will start soon, but how long will their breaks last?

Prince Harry and Markle have not yet announced when and for how long they will be taking a break from royal engagements to focus on their first child. However, we can take a look at Harry's older brother Prince William's paternity leave and Kate Middleton's maternity leave to get an idea how long the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may disappear from the spotlight.

Middleton had a different length of maternity leave for each of her three children, according to Cosmopolitan. After she gave birth to firstborn Prince George, the Duchess of Cambridge was back on her feet and attending royal engagements just a month later. However, she took a five-month maternity leave after she and Prince William welcomed their only daughter, Princess Charlotte. She took even longer to get back to royal duties after giving birth to Prince Louis, having taken a six-month maternity leave.

Prince William, on the other hand, took much less time before he returned to fulfilling royal duties after the birth of his children. Prince William's paternity leave after they welcomed Prince George and Princess Charlotte was only two weeks. But he didn't take a break at all for Prince Louis' birth, as pointed out by Hello! magazine.

In fact, Prince William attended the Anzac memorial services with Markle and Prince Harry at Westminster Abbey on April 25, 2018, just two days after the birth of Prince Louis. But just like any other parent post-delivery, Prince William looked tired and sleepy during the ceremony in footage from the event.

In a clip from the event, Prince William could be seen fidgeting and blinking frequently as he tried to keep his eyes open during the service. He also kept putting his head down for brief moments at a time. Hopefully, Prince Harry will give himself a few weeks to adjust to being a new dad before jumping back into royal duties after the birth of his first child.

Based on Prince William's and Middleton's history, they usually follow the norm for "private citizens" when it comes to paternity and maternity leave. For the most part, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge opted to go for the six-month leave for mothers and two weeks for fathers.

However, Markle and Prince Harry could also choose another option that Middleton and Prince William hadn't tried which is shared parental leave. This allows new fathers and mothers to share up to 50 weeks of leave, meaning Markle and Prince Harry could either stagger their time off or take the leave together.

It may be unlikely for Prince Harry to take a long paternity leave, judging by his older brother's history. However, Markle has more flexibility in terms of when she will return to royal duties like Middleton did when she gave birth to her three children.