Kate Middleton goes into labour: Palace spokesman says the birth 'is progressing normally' as world awaits arrival of new royal baby
- The Duchess of Cambridge was admitted to the private Lindo Wing of St Mary's hospital in Paddington at 6am
- Kate, 33, was driven from apartment at Kensington Palace accompanied by the Duke of Cambridge this morning
- Around two hours after being admitted today a palace source confirmed her labour was 'progressing normally'
- The Duchess is thought to be one week overdue with her second child who will be fourth in line to the throne
The Duchess of Cambridge is 'progressing normally' in the early stages of labour after being admitted to the hospital at 6am before the birth of her second child.
A Kensington Palace spokesman provided the update at around 8am, some two hours after Kate was driven to the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital with the Duke of Cambridge.
The Duchess was around a week overdue and there has been much speculation all week that she may have to be induced.
However a spokesman for the couple this morning confirmed her birth was 'progressing normally' as the world's media and well-wishers began to set up camp outside the hospital's entrance.
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Policemen wait outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington this morning after it was announced that Kate Middleton had gone into labour
Thoroughly modern birth: The news was tweeted by Kensington Palace at at 6.39am this morning with members of the media informed shortly beforehand
Kate was driven from her apartment at Kensington Palace to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington at 6am accompanied by the Duke of Cambridge
The couple's nanny, Maria Borrallo, is looking after their eldest son, Prince George, who turns two in July. Kate was last seen driving herself out of Buckingham Palace on April 29 after going swimming in the palace pool with him.
She is thought to be around one week overdue with her due date previously reported as April 25.
My best wishes to the Duchess of Cambridge, who is having her second child today. The whole country will wish her well.
David Cameron
The announcement to members of the media that the Duchess was in the early stages of labour came at 6.34am, just half an hour after Kate had been admitted and assessed by her medical team.
A spokesman for the couple said in a brief statement: ‘The Duchess of Cambridge has been admitted to St Mary's Hospital in the early stages of labour.
'Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was admitted at 06.00hrs to St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London and is in the early stages of labour.
'The Duchess travelled by car from Kensington Palace to the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital with The Duke of Cambridge.'
The Prime Minister was among the first to offer the couple his best wishes, writing on Twitter: 'My best wishes to the Duchess of Cambridge, who is having her second child today.
'The whole country will wish her well.'
He was followed by deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg who said the thoughts 'of the whole country' would be with the royal couple while Labour leader Ed Miliband said: 'I wish them well.'
Kate’s medical team at the Lindo, which charges £12,000 for a natural delivery even without complications, is being led by the hugely experienced Guy-Beeston, Surgeon-Gynecologist to the Royal Household.
A spokesman for the couple say they do not plan to make any further comment until they are ready to announce their new son or daughter’s birth.
Prince George was around four hours old by the time his birth was announced to members of the public.
WATCH: ROYAL BABY LIVE
Royal mother-to-be: The Duchess of Cambridge is is now in labour. She was last seen at Buckingham Palace after using the Queen’s swimming pool with her son, Prince George, on April 29
Members of the media set up camp outside the hospital this morning after having been warned against gathering until the Duchess was admitted
Metropolitan Police officers were gathered outside the steps to the Lindo Wing this morning after Kensington Palace announced the Duchess of Cambridge was in the early stages of labour
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are not expected to make further comment until they are ready to announce the birth of their new son or daughter, a Kensington Palace spokesman said
The media had been warned against gathering outside the hospital until after Kate was admitted. Television crews were seen pitching up this morning shortly after her arrival at 6am
Armed police were seen standing guard outside the entrance to the Lindo Wing this morning after the Duchess of Cambridge was admitted
A royal fan stands proudly as he is interviewed by Sky News presenters Kay Burley and Rhiannon Mills after waiting outside the Lindo Wing overnight
Royal fans were excitedly interviewed this morning after camping outside the hospital for days. One set of enthusiasts had spent 13 nights sleeping in a tent outside St Mary's Hospital
Television crews flocked to the scene this morning after being informed of the Duchess's arrival shortly after 6am in an email from Kensington Palace
While the Duke and Duchess are not expected to make further comment until they are ready to announce the birth of their son or daughter many are hopeful the prince or princess will be born today
The new prince or princess will be fourth in line to the throne, knocking their uncle, Prince Harry, down to fifth and great uncle, Prince Andrew, out of the top five in the order of succession altogether.
News of the impending birth of a little prince or princess was officially released to the media via a press release followed by announcements on the Kensington Palace social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram two minutes later.
Within minutes, camera crews from around the world, who had been barred from setting up camp outside the hospital until the Duchess had been admitted, descended on Paddington to broadcast the news.
When Kate gave birth to her eldest child in 2013 she was admitted to the Lindo Wing at 5.30am and delivered her son, George, naturally at 4.24pm the same day, although the birth wasn’t officially announced for several hours as the couple wanted time to bond with their child.
News of the baby’s impending arrival will come as a relief to royal watchers, a small group of whom have been camped outside the Lindo Wing since early last week.
The Prime Minister took to Twitter this morning to offer the royal couple his best wishes ahead of the new prince or princess's birth
The Duchess of Cambridge, pictured left and right on her final public engagements on March 27, was taken from her apartment at Kensington Palace to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington
The Deputy Prime Minister also expressed his best wishes this morning, taking to Twitter to offer luck to the royal couple
The Duchess had been told to expect her baby by April 25 but research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that women who have one prolonged pregnancy – and Prince George was around a week overdue – are 20 per cent more likely to be late second time round.
Despite her long wait, having a lively toddler to cope with meant that the Duchess wasn’t one for putting her feet up.
Shortly before returning to London from her Norfolk estate early last week, she was spotted with her son and mother, Carole Middleton, at a farm park near the family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire.
The little prince is a frequent visitor to the park where youngsters can meet a variety of animals from lambs to wild boar and enjoy a large outdoor playground. Kate appeared unbothered by her pregnancy, according to onlookers, as she carried George, accompanied by a low-key Scotland Yard security detail.
She also astonished shoppers at her local Zara Home store in Kensington High Street as she walked in off the street – dressed in skinny jeans and, remarkably, vertiginous wedges – to buy some nautical-themed towels and blue gingham coat hangers for Prince George.
William was also seen on a shopping spree in the nearby Peter Jones department store where he snapped up jeans and jumpers worth £800.
The prince had faced a potential two-hour dash to the hospital to be with his wife if she suddenly went into labour while he was away training in his new role as a pilot for East Anglia Air Ambulance.
But last week it emerged that he had completed the initial stage of his training ‘earlier than expected’ and is now taking six weeks’ unpaid leave until it resumes on June 1.
The happy coincidence meant that he could be with Kate and George in the run up to the new baby’s arrival and can take a hands-on parenting role in the coming weeks.
On Tuesday this week Kate was out and about again, this time driving herself and her security detail to take her son for a swim in the Buckingham Palace pool, along with nanny Maria.
The toddler enjoyed an hour splashing about before the Duchess was photographed driving them all home.
And on Wednesday – the date of their fourth wedding anniversary - she and Prince William were seen at Buckingham Palace again.
Aside from suffering again from the debilitating ante-natal vomiting condition hyperemesis gravidarum in the early stages, the Duchess has apparently enjoyed another healthy pregnancy.
At Easter she was seen energetically running about with George at a farm park in Norfolk, close to the couple’s home, Anmer Hall, with her bump barely showing.
The couple’s new baby will be the Queen’s fifth great-grandchild and a great-great-great-great-great grandchild of Queen Victoria.
If the baby is a girl, it will be the first time a great granddaughter of a still-serving sovereign has been born in direct succession on the male line since 1897, when George V1’s sister Princess Mary was born.
Whatever its sex, Prince George’s younger sibling will be the ‘spare to the heir’ and will not expect to be ever crowned sovereign.
But second-born royal children have, on occasions, ended up as monarch - most recently when the Queen’s uncle, Edward V111 abdicated over his love for American divorcee Wallis Simpson in 1936, leaving her father to inherit the throne as George V1.
Thanks to their great-grandmother, the new baby will, however, be made an HRH and given the title Prince or Princess of Cambridge.
Shortly before the birth of Prince George the Queen issued what are known as Letters Patient, a form of ancient public proclamation, to rectify a century-old ruling which restricted the HRH title to the children of the sovereign, the children of the sovereign’s sons and the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.
She decreed that ‘all children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales should have and enjoy the style, title and attribute of royal highness with the titular dignity of prince or princess prefixed to their Christian name or with such other titles of honour.’
Kensington Palace say they will make no further announcements about the Duchess’s condition until the couple are ready to announce their son or daughter has been born.
As well as confirming the sex of the baby, they will also reveal the time of birth and his or her weight.
Officials have already said that if the new royal baby arrives after 10pm no such announcement will be made until at least 8am the following day.
The couple have also vowed, just like last time, not to make public his or her arrival until they have had time to inform their respective families –starting with the Queen and also including uncle Prince Harry, who is currently in Australia on secondment with the army.
After the public announcement has been made by Kensington Palace, the traditional notice of birth will be placed on an easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace by the Queen’s staff, just as they did when Prince George was born in 2013.
The notice will, like last time, be printed on cream notepaper by Royal Warrant holders The Wren Press and feature the names of the attending staff.
It will be ceremoniously brought down the hospital steps and handed to a footman who will escort it by car across London to the Queen’s official residence.
However the ceremony will only be carried out in daylight hours, meaning that it could potentially take place the day after the little prince or princess arrives.
It is not yet known whether little George, who will turn two in July, will go to the hospital to meet his new brother or sister before the family eventually depart.
But sources say they will return to Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace for ‘a few days’ to recuperate before travelling to Norfolk to set up home at Anmer Hall, their new country estate.
‘The family will return to Kensington Palace where they are expected to stay for at least a couple of days. After their time at Kensington Palace the couple will return to their home in Norfolk,’ an aide revealed.
It will be while the couple are at Kensington Palace that an announcement will be made about the new baby’s name.
‘For the avoidance of doubt, like last time the Duke and Duchess do not know if their baby will be a boy or a girl,’ an aide said recently.
Kate, who undertook her final public duty in late March, has not specified how much maternity leave she intends to take or indeed when her first public engagement after the birth might be. But an aide added: ‘As you suspect with two very young children her focus will be on her family over the summer.’
Officials have also dismissed recent claims that the couple plan to employ a maternity nurse in addition to their existing nanny, Maria Borrallo.
‘At this stage the Duke and Duchess do not intend to take on any additional staff’ said one.
With an imminent general election, aides were recently asked whether they might be minded to time their announcement around the ongoing campaign – particularly when press conferences by party leaders are taking place – but an aide quipped: ‘Babies arrive when they arrive!’
A spokesman for the couple said recently that they had been 'touched' by the public reaction to the birth of their new baby.
In a statement about the impending royal arrival, he said: ‘The Duke and Duchess are hugely grateful for the warm wishes they have received from people throughout the UK and indeed around the world over the last few months.
‘They know that people are excited Prince George will soon have a little brother or sister and it means a great deal to them that so many will be celebrating this important moment for their family.
‘They are very appreciative that so many people share their excitement as they await the arrival of their second baby.’
Kensington Palace were forced to reveal news of the Duchess’s condition several weeks earlier than planned last September after she once again developed Hyperemesis Gravidarum, the same chronic ante-natal sickness that saw her hospitalised while she was expecting George.
This time she was treated by doctors at Kensington Palace, although sources told the Mail that her condition was ‘just as severe as before’.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3044246/Kate-Middleton-goes-labour-royal-baby-moment.html#ixzz3Yy00oOLG
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