Britain's Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, announced on Sunday that they were expecting their second child.

"We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother," a spokesperson for the couple told the Press Association.

The announcement comes after Meghan told the media she had suffered a miscarriage in the summer of 2020.

The couple's first child, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, will turn two in May.

For Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, the baby is set to be her fifth great-grandchild.

A Buckingham Palace spokesman said on Sunday that the queen and her husband, Prince Philip, as well as Harry's father, Prince Charles, and the whole family were "delighted" and wished the couple well.

Royal retirees

Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, stepped back from royal duties in early 2020 and moved with their first son, Archie, to the US state of California to live a more independent life and escape the British media, which they accuse of being intrusive and often racist.

Because of the pandemic, they are currently unable to travel to the UK.

The couple have launched legal actions against several news outlets alleging invasion of privacy, including one against Associated Newspapers in the UK that ended with a victory on Thursday. Meghan went to the courts after the Mail on Sunday paper printed extracts of a letter she wrote to her father in August 2018.

Such legal actions have drawn criticism from some as being incongruent with some of their high-profile projects that require attention from the public. These include a Spotify podcast featuring a brief appearance by Archie.

mm/mkg (AFP, dpa, Reuters)