Melissa's family joy 'I'M HAVING MY OWN ROYAL BABY!'

The AM host and experienced palace reporter discovered she  was expecting her second child just as the biggest story of her career was breaking

- Hayley McLarin

Melissa Chan-Green had been preparing for months to deliver a lengthy live broadcast when news broke that the Queen had died. The AM co-host and Newshub journalist had researched sovereign history and the current royal family, swotting up on our future king, poring over biographies, and listening to a wide range of palace-centric podcasts.

Little did Mel know that on the day Queen Elizabeth II passed away on the 8th of September, she would be holding back on a huge piece of news of her own - and it was only after landing in London hours later to report on Her Majesty's sad passing that the enormity of her secret hit her.

"The morning the Queen died, I went into work thinking I was really ill," she tells Woman's Day. "I was also feeling really queasy the day before but had put that down to nerves from doing a segment on AM I had been dreading, where we attempted to do stand-up comedy. But when I woke up feeling sick again, I thought, "This could be morning sickness, but I haven't got any time to deal with it."

Mel announced the news of the Queen's death on air shortly after 5.30 am and continued to broadcast for the next eight hours, texting her husband Caspar Green with an unusual request in a tiny moment of downtime.

"Everything was so busy that day," she recalls. "I messaged Caspar in a break and said, 'Can you please start packing my bag for London - and can you go out and buy me some pregnancy tests?'

"I got home at about 4 pm. I took a pregnancy test and went straight to the airport knowing I was pregnant. It was a pretty crazy time. I was super emotional on the flight and had a few tears when we came into land. I think it was a mix of my pregnancy news, the Queen dying, and seeing London again after being away from family there for such a long time. Watching Top Gun set me off too!"