Duke and Duchess of Sussex's tour to continue as planned despite Royal baby news

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will have a baby in spring 2019. Credit: PA

So the big tour Down Under hasn’t even got underway – and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are leading the news bulletins.

They shared their baby news just after Kensington Palace had briefed reporters on the couple’s programme for the next 16 days.

What was surprising – in retrospect – is that there was no change to any of the engagements.

In fact, the Palace even added an additional event – making it a total of 77 engagements in the four countries.

And those four countries will still be visited by both Harry and Meghan.

The Duke and Duchess were shown baby items during a trip to Belfast earlier this year. Credit: PA

That’s important because the Foreign Office travel advice for Fiji and Tonga is that pregnant women should not visit because there is a "moderate risk" of the Zika virus.

I wrote about those health warnings a few weeks ago.

However, Kensington Palace says that medical advice has been sought and the couple will visit the two countries next week, before travelling on to New Zealand.

The tour itinerary has never included any official engagements in the evenings – which might suggest it was planned around a possible pregnancy to give the Duchess time to rest.

Palace aides confirmed she is about 12 weeks pregnant – which would give a due date around April time in 2019.

Meghan’s sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth at the same time earlier this year.

The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to Prince Louis in April. Credit: PA

Prince Louis was born on St George’s Day - 23 April.

Should Meghan also choose to have her baby at the Lindo Wing in Paddington, there will be a very familiar scene of cameras in the streets outside the London hospital for the second time in a year.