As a nation and the world awaited news of a child who could one day sit on the British throne, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, was experiencing a normal labor Monday morning, Kensington Palace said.
The duchess and Prince
William, Duke of Cambridge, traveled by car from Kensington Palace to
the Lindo Wing at St. Mary's Hospital, his office at Clarence House
announced at 7:37 a.m. (2:37 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time.) Kensington
Palace issued a progress report about 90 minutes later.
The hospital, next to Paddington Station in London, is where William and his brother Prince Harry were born.
The duchess' mother, Carole Middleton, is expected to be on hand at the hospital.
The baby's name will not
be announced when its sex and birth weight are posted on a notice board
at Buckingham Palace, a Kensington Palace spokesman said.
It may be announced when the family leaves the hospital, CNN royal correspondent Max Foster reported.
The child's title will be
His or Her Royal Highness Prince or Princess (the baby's name) of
Cambridge, St. James's Palace said this month.
British bookmakers favor
the names Alexandra, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Victoria, Grace, James and
George. The field is open for both boys' and girls' names because royal
sources said the parents did not want to know their child's sex in
advance.
Some British parents have delayed naming their newborns in recent days in hopes of either copying or avoiding the royal name.
Protocol dictates that
the first to know about the arrival of the baby will be Queen Elizabeth
II, Prime Minister David Cameron and the governors general of each of
the commonwealth nations -- along with the rest of the royal and
Middleton families.
British Prime Minister
David Cameron sent his "best wishes," to the Duchess of Cambridge during
her labor, saying "everybody is hoping for the best."
Home Secretary Theresa
May has said she won't be at the birth. Centuries ago, "the home
secretary had to be there to evidence that it was genuinely a royal
birth and that a baby hadn't been smuggled in," May explained. But she
said that tradition is now defunct.
Justin Welby, the
archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Church of England, tweeted: "My
thoughts and prayers are with Kate and the whole family on this
enormously special day."
The baby will be third
in line for the throne now occupied by the queen. Her son, Prince
Charles, would succeed her, followed by his son, William.
Thanks to a change
agreed by the leaders of the Commonwealth countries in 2011 and passed
into law this year, the baby's place in the order of succession will be
the same regardless of sex.
Previously, boys
automatically trumped female siblings. So a first-born daughter could be
pushed out of line by a younger brother.
The British monarch is
also head of state in 15 Commonwealth countries, including Australia,
Canada, New Zealand, Belize and Jamaica -- so many people there will
also be waiting for news of the birth of their future sovereign.
The royal birth is
expected to be good for business. The UK-based Centre for Retail
Research estimates retailers will sell $121 million worth of
royal-related baby toys and souvenirs. Merchandise ranges from diaper
covers and clothing to a "prince potty chair," which of course is in the
shape of a throne.
On Twitter, at least
seven topics related to the royal baby jumped to the top of the trending
list in the United Kingdom Monday morning. And "Kate Middleton" was
trending in the United States.
Many tweets were along the lines of the comment of Holly Thrift, who wrote, "The royal baby is coming! I am freaking out!"
The baby was the only topic on the radio talk show hosted by Vanessa Feltz on BBC London 94.9 on Monday morning.
But not everyone was
thrilled. Feltz read on air a message from "Gary" asking, "Please,
please please, I implore you not to devote too much of the morning's
show to the royal baby."
Feltz replied, "C'mon, Gary, give an inch. .... It's huge, we can't ignore it."
She reported Gary sent another message: "OK, point taken. I'm a beaten man."
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