The Duchess of Cambridge has been delivered of a son
http://www.dukeandduchessofcambridge.org/news-and-diary/the-duchess-of-cambridge-has-been-delivered-of-son
22nd July 2013
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely
delivered of a son at 4.24pm.
The baby weighs 8lbs 6oz.
The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth.
The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The
Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been
informed and are delighted with the news.
Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well and
will remain in hospital overnight.
Notes to editors
1. The medical staff
present were Mr Marcus Setchell, Surgeon-Gynaecologist, Mr Guy Thorpe-Beeston,
Obstetrician and Dr Sunit Godambe, Consultant Neonatologist at St. Mary’s
Hospital.
2. The names of the baby will be announced in due course
3. The baby is third in the line of succession after His
Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and His Royal Highness The Duke of
Cambridge. He is styled His Royal
Highness Prince [name] of Cambridge.
4. A formal notice of
the birth will be posted on the forecourt of Buckingham Palace.
It's a BOY! Duchess of Cambridge
gives birth to healthy baby and future King weighing 8lb 6oz at 4.24pm with
proud Prince William by her side
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2374032/Royal-baby-Duchess-Cambridge-gives-birth-healthy-boy-future-King-proud-Prince-William-side.html
Birth announced by a press release sent out from the palace
at 8.30pm GMT
Official announcement then placed on easel outside Buckingham Palace for the waiting crowds to see
Duchess of Cambridge
and her son are both doing well and will remain in hospital overnight
Queen and Duke of Edinburgh said to be 'delighted' at news
of their great grandson's birth
The Prime Minister, Archbishop of Canterbury and Leader of the Opposition all
express their congratulations
David Cameron says 'the whole country will celebrate' the
birth of the new Royal baby
Kate was admitted to hospital at around 5.30am and arrived
in car with Prince William
The 31-year-old planned to give birth to the royal baby
naturally and she was not induced into labour
Future king was born at the same hospital in Paddington
where Princess Diana had Princes William and Harry
Prince William was by his wife's side at the Lindo Wing at
St Mary's Hospital in London
He will now take two weeks' paternity leave and accept the
full entitlement of £136.78 per week
The royal couple did not know the sex of the baby who will
replace Harry as third in line to the throne
Royal couple helped to St Mary's by protection officer who
went with Prince Harry on infamous Vegas trip last year
Police officer shows off his security briefing note in full
view of hundreds of cameras this afternoon
An overjoyed Duke and Duchess of Cambridge
are the proud parents of a healthy baby boy, as Britain celebrates the birth of a
future king.
The couple’s son weighed 8lb 6oz and was delivered at 4.24pm
today at the private Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington with his
proud father, Prince William, looking on.
Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well and
will remain in hospital overnight, said a spokesman for the palace. Palace
sources said the couple chose to delay the public announcement of the birth to
allow them to spend 'quality time' together.
In a statement tonight William said simply: ‘We could not be
happier.’
William's father, Charles, the Prince of Wales said this
evening: 'Both my wife and I are overjoyed at the arrival of my first
grandchild.
'It is an incredibly special moment for William and
Catherine and we are so thrilled for them on the birth of their baby boy.
'Grandparenthood is a unique moment in anyone’s life, as
countless kind people have told me in recent months, so I am enormously proud
and happy to be a grandfather for the first time and we are eagerly looking
forward to seeing the baby in the near future.'
It had been planned that the birth would be announced to the
world on an easel placed outside the gates of Buckingham palace but, in the
event, the press were informed by a statement from the Royal household sent out
at 8.30pm GMT.
The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The
Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been
informed and are delighted with the news.
Prince William will be staying overnight with his wife on
the ward at St Mary's hospital. Tonight Royal Protection officers were seen
delivering takeaway pizza to the Lindo Wing, presumably to give the Royal
couple her sustenance after their tough day.
The long-awaited baby will be given the title His Royal
Highness and be known as Prince of Cambridge, after the Queen moved earlier
this year to change almost a century of royal tradition.
She issued a formal proclamation in January to end a
convention brought in by George V which meant that a royal title was restricted
to the children of the sovereign and the children of the sovereign’s sons.
The new baby is third in the line of succession, relegating
his proud uncle, Prince Harry to fourth, and great-uncle, Prince Andrew, to
sixth – although he may not become sovereign for half a century or more.
Recent legislation allowing female heirs to automatically
accede to the throne if they are first born will clearly not affect the Cambridge’s son, but will
have a bearing on any of his children.
Soon after the palace announcement was made, a notice giving
details about the baby - the third-in-line to the throne - left St Mary's
Hospital in London by car for Buckingham Palace.
The announcement read: 'Her Royal Highness The Duchess of
Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4.24pm today. Her Royal Highness and
her child are both doing well.'
It has been signed by the Queen's former gynaecologist
Marcus Setchell, who led the medical team that delivered Kate's baby.
The notice, written on a piece of A4 size foolscap paper,
was brought out of the Lindo’s front entrance and rushed, with the help of a
police escort, across Central London to Buckingham Palace.
There it was carefully placed on an easel, last used to
display the proclamation announcing Prince William’s birth more than two
decades ago, inside the palace gates and displayed to an ever-growing crowd.
The new royal baby will be the 43rd sovereign since William
the Conqueror if, as expected, it follows reigns by the Prince of Wales then
William.
The Prime Minister said the 'whole country will celebrate'
the birth of the royal baby as news of the child's arrival spread across the
globe.
David Cameron offered his congratulations on Twitter where
the worlds of showbiz, politics and sport appeared to share in the Duke and
Duchess's delight.
He wrote: 'I'm delighted for the Duke and Duchess now their
son has been born. The whole country will celebrate. They'll make wonderful
parents.'
Beaming, Mr Cameron subsequently appeared outside 10 Downing Street
where he declared the birth 'an important moment in the life of our nation'.
He said: 'It is wonderful news from St Mary's, Paddington
and I am sure that right across the country, and indeed right across the
Commonwealth, people will be celebrating and wishing the royal couple well.
'It is an important moment in the life of our nation but, I
suppose, above all it is a wonderful moment for a warm and loving couple who
have got a brand new baby boy.
'It has been a remarkable few years for our royal family - a
royal wedding that captured people's hearts, that extraordinary and magnificent
jubilee and now this royal birth - all from a family that has given this nation
so much incredible service.'
'They can know that a proud nation is celebrating with a
very proud and happy couple tonight.'
Archbishop of Canterbury
the Most Rev Justin Welby was one of the first to speak of his joy on Twitter.
'Delighted for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they welcome their baby boy. May
God bless them all with love, health and happiness,' he said.
Labour Leader Ed Miliband added: 'Many congratulations to
the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
I wish them and their son all happiness and good health.'
Although a cause for national celebration in Britain,
the baby’s arrival is, more importantly, a time of overwhelming personal joy for
William and Kate, who made no secret of their desire to start a family when
they married two years ago.
The Queen was, according to protocol, the first to be
informed of the newest addition to her family when William personally
telephoned her from his wife’s delivery suite, followed by proud grandfather
Prince Charles and Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, who are now
linked by blood to the British throne.
With family – including the entire Middleton clan and new
uncle Prince Harry - set to arrive at
the hospital within hours, it is understood that the couple do not intend to
introduce the Queen to her new great grand-son until the Duchess returns home.
Final public
appearance: The Duchess of Cambridge arrives at Buckingham Palace during a
horse drawn parade last month as she is seen for the last time before she was
due to give birth
Despite having eight grand-children and two great
grand-daughters already, it will be a momentous event for the 87-year-old
sovereign.
The last time a still-serving monarch got to meet a great
grandchild born in direct succession to the crown was nearly 120 years ago.
Queen Victoria, who reigned until 1901, was still sovereign
when her great grandchild Edward VIII, who later abdicated, was born third in
line in 1894.
William and Kate’s baby will be the great great great great
great grandchild of Queen Victoria
and the present Queen’s third great grandchild.
It is also likely to have huge resonance for her personally,
marking the emergence of a reinvigorated British Royal Family after decades
dominated by bitter marital strife.
William and Kate are personally determined that their son be
allowed to enjoy as ‘normal’ an upbringing as possible while being taught to
respect and accept his destiny as a future King, head of the armed forces,
supreme governor of the Church of England and head of the Commonwealth, which
covers 54 nations across the world.
The present Queen is still head of state of 16 countries
across the globe but it is likely that by the time her great grand-son accedes
to the throne, which could be more than fifty or more years from now, precious
little of those will remain.
In an interview to mark their engagement in 2010, Kate
stressed that her own family – parents Michael and Carole and siblings Pippa
and James – were the lynchpin of her existence.
Asked about her family she said: ‘Yes. It’s very important
to me. And I hope we will be able to have a happy family ourselves.’
When asked about his future plans in the military, William
added in an interview last year : ‘More importantly, I’d rather like to have
children. So that’s the key thing really.’
He also revealed that he would like two children – while his
wife subsequently divulged that while she wanted a boy, William liked the idea
of a girl.
The couple’s choice of the private Lindo wing at St Mary’s
Hospital is unsurprising but, nevertheless, touching given the link with
William’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
William became the first future monarch in history to be
born in a hospital when she delivered him there on 21st June 1982, followed by
his brother, Harry.
The prince has always, by and large, determinedly kept his
feelings about his late mother close to his chest – aside from admitting he
gave Kate her engagement ring as a way of keeping her ‘close to it all’.
But his joy at becoming a father is likely to be tinged with
an element of regret: regret that his proud, adoring and fiercely possessive
mother had not lived to see her first grand-child born.
Tragic Diana, who died in a Paris car crash in 1997, famously adored
children and had always secretly hoped to have another.
The Duchess will spend the next few days recovering in
hospital but, as has already been demonstrated, will be in the best of hands.
Her labour was overseen by the Queen’s own
Surgeon-Gynaecologist, Marcus Setchell, who was made Commander of the Royal Victorian
Order in 2005.
As well as attending to the Queen since 1990, he has
delivered both of the Earl and Countess of Wessex’s children and former Prime
Minister Tony Blair and his wife Cherie’s youngest child, Leo.
At a charity cricket match just days ago the 59-year-old was
heard joking to friends that he had given up drinking for the whole of July in
preparation for the birth.
He was assisted by the Surgeon-Gynecologist to the Royal
Household, Alan Farthing, who is by co-incidence a consultant gynecologist at
St Mary’s.
Dr Farthing, 50, is the former fiancé of the murdered BBC
television newsreader and presenter Jill Dando and has worked for the Royal
Family since 2008.
Both men will continue to monitor Kate’s recovery.
Fortunately for the Duchess, the birth of her baby boy was a
much less crowded event that it has been in the past.
Historically the birth would have been attended by a slew
of privy counsellors, government
ministers and ladies-in-waiting, not least to ascertain there had been no switch
of a prince at birth, a popular suspicion regarding James II’s son.
Queen Victoria
formally banished the circus of attendants when the then Princess Mary gave
birth to the future Edward VIII in 1894, declaring the presence of one cabinet
minister would suffice.
Indeed when the Queen was born in her grandparents’ London home in Mayfair,
only the then home secretary Sir William Joynson-Hicks waited in the next room.
But by the time the Queen was due to give birth to her own
son, Prince Charles, in 1948, she declared that the need to have any minister
present was constitutionally unnecessary (making the 1936 birth of her cousin,
Princess Alexandra, the last occasion this occurred).
The Home Secretary is now only required to notify certain
officials including the Lord Mayor of London,
while the Queen’s Private Secretary Sir Christopher Geidt will inform Governor
Generals overseas.
It is believed that the Duchess fell pregnant last October,
within days of returning home from the couple’s hugely successful Diamond
Jubilee tour on behalf of the Queen to Asia
and the South Pacific.
Sadly, however, the Duchess’s health was to take a turn for
the worse less than eight weeks into her pregnancy when, on Monday December 3
last year, she was admitted to hospital suffering from a severe form of
pregnancy-related sickness known as hyperemesis gravidarum.
The dramatic turn of events
forced a reluctant St James’s Palace to make the news public far earlier
than anyone – particularly William and Kate – would ever have wanted. At that
early stage, even senior members of the royal family, including the Queen and
Prince Charles, had not been informed.
The news came as a huge shock to all, not least because
three days earlier, on Friday December 1, Kate had been filmed playing a game
of hockey in high heeled boots on a visit to her old preparatory school, St
Andrew’s in Pangbourne, Berkshire.
Insiders told the Mail she had fallen ill while staying at
her parents’ home at nearby Bucklebury over the weekend, while Prince William
was away with friends on a shooting party.
By Monday morning, with her husband now back by her side,
her condition had deteriorated to such an extent that the decision was made to
admit her to the King Edward V11 Hospital in London.
Doctors were particularly concerned that her inability to
keep down any fluids could lead to dehydration which could put both herself and
the baby at risk.
She was immediately put on a drip to introduce fluids and
nutrients into her body and fortunately responded well to treatment, although
the couple cancelled several public engagements.
She was sent home after three nights in hospital with a
batch of anti-sickness tablets - and strict instructions to rest.
But the following weekend she suffered another bout of
severe sickness, forcing the cancelation of further long-standing engagements.
William later attempted to make light of the awfulness of
his wife’s condition, however, saying: ‘They shouldn’t call it morning sickness
as it’s a day and all night sickness.’
It was, however, an undeniably difficult time, and one that
was not made any easier when the private hospital was plunged into the most
unimaginable tragedy.
Days after she was released, a nurse who had cared for the
Duchess, Jacintha Saldanha, committed suicide after admitting she had been
tricked into revealing details of her condition by two Australian DJS during a
prank call that had been put through to the ward. An inquest into her death
will be held later this year.
But one officer standing guard seemingly didn't get the
message - because he showed off his confidential briefing note in full view of
hundreds of cameras this afternoon.
The memo, headed 'Briefing note Lindo Wing posts', could
clearly be read by any of the long lens cameras trained on the front door of the
private unit.
The incident raised fears that security had been compromised
at the hospital which Kate Middleton was admitted to at 5.30am in the morning
as she went into labour.
A team of royal protection officers rushed the mother-to-be
in via a rear exit, the same route taken by Princess Diana when she gave birth
to William in 1982.
By the afternoon afternoon there was a large police presence
around the hospital as royal fans gathered as they waited for news about the
soon-to-be mother and baby.
Meanwhile, many more gathered outside Buckingham Palace,
where the official announcement of the baby's birth was to be made on an easel
to be placed at its gates.
Prince Charles had continued with business as usual as he
arrived in Yorkshire - even as the country
held its breath for the imminent arrival of the royal baby.
He arrived in York to visit
the National Railway
Museum and York
minster during the morning, before continuing to West
Yorkshire during the afternoon.
His wife Camilla was set to meet him and the two were to
visit Bridlington, East
Yorkshire.
Expectant mother: Kate, pictured when she was seen in public
for the last time in June, has been admitted to hospital after she went into
labour this morning
Excitement reached feverish levels outside Buckingham Palace
this afternoon when the Queen arrived home from Windsor Castle,
where the huge crowd surged dangerously as she was driven through the gates.
Scores of people ran towards her vehicle screaming 'the
Queen!', while others reached into their pockets to grab their camera phones in
an effort to catch Her Majesty's fleeting appearance.
The months of speculation and anticipation - dubbed the
Great Kate Wait - built to a climax this morning amid news that the Duchess of
Cambridge had been admitted to hospital in the early stages of labour.
Royal fan Terry Hutt, 78, from Cambridge, has been camped outside St Mary's
Hospital for 12 days.
The former soldier, who served with the Royal Ordnance
Corps, is sleeping on a bench across the road from the Lindo Wing.
'I have the best royal bed in town,' he said.
'I have lost my voice with all the excitement. At night
we're watching the hospital in two-hour stints, like the Army.
'The health of the baby, and Kate, is the only important
element.'
Mr Hutt is wearing a Union flag suit and tie which a Dutch
firm donated to him.
'My trousers are 10 inches too long,' he said, adding that
his wife of 51 years, Joy, think he is a bit mad.
The septuagenarian has been joined outside the hospital by
'Diana Superfan' John Loughrey, 58, from Wandsworth, south-west London.
'I'm so excited I'm like a washing machine - I'm on full
spin,' he said.
'I can't stop spinning. I've been here for seven days and
heard gossip overnight that Kate was here.
'If it's a girl I think Diana will be the middle name. If
it's a boy I believe Charles will be the name, because he has nurtured William
and Harry.'
A close friend of Prince William spoke of his excitement
ahead of the birth of the Duke and Duchess's first child as he arrived back
from what is believed to be the first recorded kayak crossing of the North Sea
between Britain and Norway.
Adventurer Oliver Hicks, 31, said he was looking forward to
being introduced to the infant after battling 7ft waves on the 200-mile mission
with fellow rower Patrick Winterton.
Mr Hicks, who attended the royal wedding and was greeted by
the Prince when he became the youngest person to row solo from America to Britain aged 23, said: 'I was very
keen to find out whether William and Kate's baby had arrived on making
landfall.
'It was very exciting to hear the baby is now on its way as
we landed back in the UK.
It is such great - and very happy - news.
'I hope it all goes smoothly and wonder if the little one
will be like William or Kate.
'I look forward to meeting the nipper in due course.'
Well-wishers from around the globe began gathering outside Buckingham Palace today, as news of the royal
baby's imminent arrival broke.
Tourists armed with cameras peered hopefully through the
Palace gates on the off-chance of spotting the easel, due to be placed on the
forecourt detailing confirmation of the birth.
Westminster City Council today announced that the Golden
Jubilee Bridges and fountains at Marble Arch will turn pink or blue depending
on the sex of the royal baby.
From this evening lights on the bridges and fountains will
alternate between the two colours at one minute intervals until the official
announcement is made.