Some rumors regarding the
royals rely solely on sensational headlines, without any substance to back them
up. One such headline involved Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s son, the
almost 3-year-old Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor.
A popular YouTube video
claimed, “How Meghan covered up Baby Archie Down Syndrome – shocking statements
from the old nanny.” Another video’s headline with a similar number of views
said, “Prince Harry breaks silence and decides to tell the truth about baby
Archie’s Down syndrome.”
But neither video actually has
any content discussing this claim, instead regurgitating unrelated tabloid
headlines about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The claim appears to be a
concerted attempt to get viewers to watch the entire video.
According to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Down syndrome “is a condition in
which a person has an extra chromosome.” The condition results in “an IQ (a
measure of intelligence) in the mildly-to-moderately low range,” and people
with it “are slower to speak than other children.”
Physical characteristics of a
child with Down syndrome (again according to the CDC) include:
A flattened face, especially
the bridge of the nose
Almond-shaped eyes that slant up
A short neck
Small ears
A tongue that tends to stick out of the mouth
Tiny white spots on the iris (colored part) of the eye
Small hands and feet
A single line across the palm of the hand (palmar crease)
Small pinky fingers that sometimes curve toward the thumb
Poor muscle tone or loose joints
Shorter in height as children and adults
Only a doctor is qualified to
diagnose whether a child has this condition, and any videos speculating about
this have no proof. There has been no information about Archie’s health from
his parents or any other reputable source. As such, we rate this claim as
“Unproven.”
