- The Duchess of Sussex is due to give birth soon.
- Buckingham Palace recently announced the couple's plans to skip the famous Lindo Wing photo-op.
- The tradition of posing outside the exclusive maternity ward at St Mary's Hospital began with Princess Diana and Prince Charles after the birth of Prince William in 1982.
- Meghan Markle and Prince Harry will release photos of their newborn — but it won't be until a few days after the birth, and the photo call will be held at Windsor Castle instead of the Lindo Wing.
- Royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams told INSIDER that the decision could be linked to "Harry's fiercely protective instincts."
- Visit INSIDER.com for more updates.
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are expecting their first child in April.
From how they select the baby's godparents to granting the young royal a title, there are many traditions the couple will be expected to follow after their first child is born.
However, one tradition the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will not participate in is the famous Lindo Wing photo-op.
The tradition of posing outside the exclusive maternity ward began with Princess Diana and Prince Charles, after the births of Prince William and Harry in 1982 and 1984 respectively.
Prince William and Kate Middleton later carried on this tradition, as Middleton delivered all three of their children in the famous maternity ward at St Mary's Hospital in London.
However, Buckingham Palace announced on Thursday Harry and Markle's plans to celebrate the birth of their child "privately."
A statement from the palace reads: "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are very grateful for the goodwill they have received from people throughout the United Kingdom and around the world as they prepare to welcome their baby.
"Their Royal Highnesses have taken a personal decision to keep the plans around the arrival of their baby private. The Duke and Duchess look forward to sharing the exciting news with everyone once they have had an opportunity to celebrate privately as a new family."
Palace officials also announced the couple would hold a photo call with their newborn at Windsor Castle, however this will not take place until a few days after the birth.
Richard Fitzwilliams, royal commentator and former editor of "The International Who's Who," told INSIDER how the Lindo Wing tradition marked a "change to the pattern of royal parenting" when it was first started by Princess Diana.
"Royal births that attracted enormous attention became identified with the Lindo Wing of St Mary's and began with the iconic poses when Charles and Diana and later William and Kate showed off their new babies to the world's press," he said.
"William was the first heir to the throne to be born in a hospital. This was symbolic of a move away from the tradition that royals were born in palaces and a change to the pattern of royal parenting which included taking William on Charles and Diana's visit to the Antipodes when he was only nine months old."
He added: "It did become something of a circus."
He said that while waiting for the birth of Prince George, BBC presenter Simon McCoy became "well known for his acerbic take on whether the wait was actually news."
"Every detail was picked over, especially most recently Kate's immaculate grooming only seven hours after giving birth to Louis which led to enormous amounts of comment," he said.
The statement from Buckingham Palace suggests that there could be some truth in reports that suggest Markle is planning to have a home birth— and Fitzwilliams this could have as much to do with Harry as the duchess.
"Meghan's return to the royal tradition of giving birth at home in so intimate a moment, as royal babies used to be born in palaces, also links with Harry's fiercely protective instincts," he said.
These "protective instincts" Fitzwilliams refers to were made apparent even in the earlier days of Markle and Harry's relationship.
When it was revealed the couple were first dating in 2016, Kensington Palace released a statement on behalf of the prince in response to the "abuse and harassment" Markle had recieved from the media.
In an excerpt from the statement, Harry said he was "worried about Ms. Markle's safety" and was "deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her."
Fitzwilliams added: "With Baby Sussex seventh in line to the throne they can do it their way.
"It will be fascinating to see how the flow of information is handled, whether the first pictures are posted on Instagram, if the tradition of the easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace is observed, and so on.
"The world wants to know. If anything the secrecy will heighten the sense of expectancy."