Home Page 4671

Royal baby wrap: Bookies don’t mind the wait for Kate

Royal baby wrap: Bookies don’t mind the wait for Kate

Leo is rising over the Lindo Wing and royal watchers and an increasingly impatient press pack are hoping that as the sun enters the sign of Leo (that’s an astrological term) that with it the royal baby will enter into the world.

With few clues to go on regarding the arrival of the Duchess of Cambridge’s first child the main heir-related headline of the day is: No baby yet, should come soon. But when it comes to the wait for the royal baby, no news isn’t necessarily good news. It’s just, well, no news.

Whether you choose to buy in to any speculation or not it is safe to say the Duchess of Cambridge is overdue, with the palace’s “mid-July” due date window now passed as the third week of the month is underway.

While royal watchers, the press pack at St Mary’s hospital, and surely the Duchess remain in suspense hoping for a speedy delivery, bookmakers are happy to let the days keep passing by as they’re making big bucks from bets on due dates that have already gone by.

Betting agencies have already profited hundreds of thousands of pounds with punters making losses after basing their bets on reported due dates like July 13 as one newspaper predicted earlier in the year, or July 18, which caused 1,142 people to lose their money with UK betting agency Ladbrokes alone.

“We’re happy for it to be as late as possible,” Ladbrokes spokesperson Jessica Bridge told The Telegraph.

“In an ideal world we’d love it if Kate and Wills have completely pulled the wool over our eyes and are actually expecting a late July or early August baby, because all the mathematicians and media thought it would be an early birthday and so that’s where all the money went.”

Outspoken former royal bodyguard Ken Wharfe has given an interview saying William and Kate will be “hands-on parents” prompting rumours that Kate’s mother, Carole Middleton, will move in with the couple when the baby arrives, as the palace is yet to confirm the family’s post-hospital plans.

When the new addition to the royal family does make its entrance London’s landmarks will light up in celebration.

Whispers have been circulating for a while that the famous London eye will be illuminated either pink or blue to herald the arrival of a new prince or princess, but the Sunday Times reports the wheel will be lit up in patriotic red, white and blue.

News of the arrival will be displayed on top of BT tower, and the fountains of Trafalgar Square will be lit up pink or blue depending on the royal baby’s gender.

Newspapers have hardly been able to stick out the wait with the Daily Mail and Sunday Telegraph among those who have already released royal baby souvenir magazines, one with a picture of baby William on the front and the other covering with a completely different baby as other magazines have already done.

If web traffic is anything to go by, publications getting in early with their royal baby specials may be on to something as the yet to arrive third-in-line to the throne is already a hit on Wikipedia, and royal baby news keeps a consistent spot in Google’s top searches.

And in what could be the most ridiculous royal baby story yet, Sky News is reporting baby Cambridge could be related to Dracula.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all your royal baby news from Liz Burke in London.

Related stories


Home Page 4671

Royal baby on the way: Kate is in labour

Kensington Palace has confirmed!
Royal baby on the way: Kate is in labour

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The Duchess of Cambridge is in labour in London’s St Mary’s Hospital.

Kensington Palace has released a statement confirming Kate, 31, arrived at the Paddington facility’s Lindo Wing — where Diana gave birth to William in 1982 — minutes ago.

”The Duchess of Cambridge has been admitted this morning to St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London in the early stages of Labour,” the palace confirmed.

“The Duchess travelled by car from Kensington Palace to the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s hospital with the Duke of Cambridge.”

The couple are reported to have entered the private wing through a side entrance at around 5am, and were not spotted by the press camping out at the wing’s main entrance.

As soon as the baby has been safely delivered, William will use a special encrypted telephone to call the Queen.

At the same time, the royal couple’s private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton will inform the British Prime Minister David Cameron and other important public figures including the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Back at Buckingham Palace, officials will notify the head of each of the 54 Commonwealth countries and the First Ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile, the attending doctors will sign an official birth announcement, which will be rushed through London by police escort to the Palace, where it will be displayed on an easel by the front gates, as happened when William was born in 1982.

If mother and baby are healthy, the couple are expected to emerge on the hospital’s front steps within 48 hours to pose for the traditional first family photograph.

The new parents will then bundle baby into a waiting car, which will drive them to Kate’s parents’ house in Berkshire, where they are expected to spend the first six weeks.

They will then move back to their two-bedroom cottage on the grounds of Kensington Palace to await the completion of renovations to their new family home, the Palace’s impressive Apartment 1A, which will be ready to move into later this year.

Related stories


Home Page 4671

In limbo at Lindo: Wait for Kate enters week three

By Liz Burke in London

As the great Kate wait enters its third week, the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s hospital, where the Duchess of Cambridge is expected to deliver the royal baby, has become the media centre of London and a tourist attraction in its own right.

The weary press pack is sweating it out as the city endures its longest heatwave in seven years, and they’ve found some creative ways to pass the time.

Knitting booties for the baby, whenever it comes, playing pranks, and a few amusing guests have taken reporters minds off the wait and the heat.

Royal enthusiasts receive some puppy love.

Kate and Wills lookalikes arrive at Lindo Wing.

The pranksters only revealed The Sun’s Saturday frontpage.

Kate and Wills lookalikes aren’t the only ones gracing the stairs. Could that be Harry?

The heatwave doesn’t stop the press pack in London.

Londoners bet on baby names.

What do you do while waiting for the royal baby? Knit!

What do you do when the royal baby doesn’t appear? Knit!

London baby time is the only time that matters.

London baby time is the only times that matters here.

Royal enthusiasts can’t hide their excitement for the Duke and Duchess.

Royal enthusiasts congratulate the couple on the future prince or princess.

Kate hasn’t graced the Lindo Wing stairs yet but her lookalikes certainly have, in mass.

The Duchess of Cambridge hasn’t graced the Lindo Wing stairs yet but her lookalikes certainly have in mass.

There’s nothing like a royal seal of approval.

There’s only one day left on the royal baby sweepstake.The press may lose out on this one.

There’s only one day left on the royal baby sweepstake. Looks like all the press may lose out on this one.

The press tents stand empty in the heatwave.

Related stories


Home Page 4671

Royal baby wrap: The latest on the wait from London

What did you do to bring on labour?

Mum-to-be Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, in London last month.

The temperature has dropped in heatwave stricken London, and with it the enthusiasm of the press pack on royal baby watch has dwindled.

Perhaps owing to yesterday’s panic and trickery, the crowd outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s hospital in Paddington, where the Duchess of Cambridge is due to give birth (hopefully) soon, had thinned significantly earlier today.

But interest in the wait for Kate is at an all time high from those outside the media as tourists begin to flock to the exclusive royal birthing location to get in on the royal baby action, or lack thereof.

While there is little news of developments in the impending arrival of baby Cambridge, speculation about the due date and labour contingency plans is rife.

The Daily Beast’s Tom Sykes put it best with his “summary of today’s royal baby news” on Twitter.

“No-one knows where Kate is, or when she will give birth. But it is very hot.”

With no solid info to go on regarding the little prince or princess’s arrival, royal commentators are relying on gossip and dredging up old stories for clues on when the Duchess, regrettably dubbed “waity Katie” early in her royal career, might deliver the heir.

A popular one doing the rounds is a report from the Sunday Telegraph’s “impeccably sourced” diarist Richard Eden who wrote earlier in the year that Kate’s mother Carole was expecting “a Leo” according to her friends.

“The dates for the star sign, whose characteristics include loyalty and ambition, are July 24 to Aug 23.”

Another possible birth date being circulated is July 23, which follows Mondays’ full moon on the 22nd.

While it was earlier debated whether the royal baby’s birthday would be closer to his or her late grandmother Diana, or the second wife of Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall, both in July, bookies are now taking bets on an August birth bringing the suspected royal birthday closer to that of the queen mother’s, August 4.

The Sunday Express is reporting if the wait for the royal baby lengthens further, it could be months until the Queen meets her great-grandchild.

Kate’s “antenatal guru” has given an interview, telling The Telegraph she believes the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge make “a very strong team”.

The pediatric and obstetric physiotherapist to the stars confirmed she had worked with Kate throughout her pregnancy and that she was confident in the couple saying Prince Willaim “will do the right stuff on the day”.

Even the family pet, Lupo, can’t keep his head out of the royal baby rumour mill, featuring in one of the weekend’s most popular royal baby reports.

Following reports the Duchess had made a dash from her family home in Berkshire, it was circulated that emergency crews rushed to Bucklebury manor, where the Duchess is believed to be staying, after receiving reports a dog had got its head stuck in a gate.

Later reports suggested the pup was freed before firefighters made it to the house, and it is unconfirmed whether the canine in question was in fact Kate’s beloved Lupo, but it made for an amusing story among royal baby watchers for a short while at least.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all your royal baby news from Liz Burke in London.

Related stories


Home Page 4671

Who cares about the royal baby?

Who cares about the royal baby?

Tourists outside the Lindo Wing at St Mary's hospital in Paddington, London. Pic: Twitter.

As the wait for the royal baby lengthens and the world’s media remain camped out the front of St Mary’s hospital Lindo Wing where the little prince or princess is due to make their arrival with little to report but guesswork, some are beginning to question: Who cares?

The great Kate wait has been touted as a media obsession by Reuters today, but tourist groups beginning to flock to the entrance of the private wing where the Duchess of Cambridge is due to deliver confirm there is outside interest.

The question is, who in London, apart from the patient press pack, is interested in the impending royal arrival, and where better to find the answer than a black cab.

Eddie Whitman has been driving visitors and locals around the nation’s royal capital in his taxi for over seven years, and says tourist interest in the royal family has never been higher than the past few weeks.

The 35-year-old driver says that while he overhears an awful lot, talk of royal affairs and the Duchess of Cambridge’s impending delivery has dominated in-cab conversation of late.

“It started with the wedding really, but especially over the past couple of weeks, everyone asks about Kate and the baby,” he says.

So where does the interest come from?

“It’s the Americans, mainly,” Eddie says.

“Then Australian and Canadian tourists, but I guess they have more of a connection to the monarchy,” he says of visitors from the Commonwealth nations.

”Locals have some interest, but I guess they get their information from the daily newspapers so they’re not as inclined to ask.”

Interest in the royal family was renewed since Kate and William’s wedding in 2011, but it’s the royal baby that has put some locations on tourists’ must-see schedules.

“Over the past week or so I’ve never had so many people wanting to go to Buckingham Palace, because I guess that’s the closest you can get to whatever’s going on with the baby.”

Eddie had his first ever (non-emergency) request for a fare to St Mary’s hospital in Paddington from a Kiwi couple recently, and says a pair of Canadians had told him they planned on extending their stay in London in the hope to be around when the royal baby is born.

Tour groups have begun to make their way to the Lindo wing, joining reporters and camera crews soaking up the atmosphere surrounding the wait for the newest addition to the royal family to make his or her arrival.

Royal watchers have flocked from all over the world to get in on the royal baby action.

“In Tokyo the royal baby is in the news every day, so I wanted to see it and celebrate for myself,” a Japanese tourist at the hospital told The Telegraph.

“This is a very special event to be a part of. We saw on the TV that the media was waiting here and of course we were curious so we’ve come to take a look,” said Mattias Rave of Germany.

Those unable to make it down to the Lindo Wing can always catch the latest goings on from royal baby HQ in online via The Telegraph’s live royal baby watch or The Sun’s royal baby monitor.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all your royal baby news from Liz Burke in London.

Related stories


Home Page 4671

Kensington Palace: Renovating for a royal baby

Kensington Palace: Renovating for a royal baby

Like many young couples starting a family, Kate and William will tell you renovations don't always run on schedule.

Taking a stroll through the gardens of Kensington Palace, soon to become the official residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and their new little royal family, it’s easy to get caught up in the grandeur and transported via daydream to a regal upbringing.

Peering through the golden gates, most famously known for housing thousands of bunches of flowers and tributes to Diana Princess of Wales, who stayed resident at the palace following her divorce from Prince Charles, conjures up images of young Princes Harry and William playing in the palace gardens as children.

You can imagine the grand guests who graced the palace entering through those gates during the residence of Princess Margaret in the 1960s when she and husband Lord Snowdon hosted glamorous parties in the South front facing apartment visible from the Palace’s main entrance.

That is, until, the roaring of drills and thwacking of hammers bring you back to reality, or a truck nearly takes you out while walking up one of the drives to the Palace grounds.

Many young couples starting a family and moving into a new home will tell you everything doesn’t always go according to plan, and even royalty aren’t exempt when it comes to finishing off renovations in time for a new baby’s arrival.

Apartment 1A, the lavish 20-room residence where Kate and William are due to move in and raise their child, has been undergoing a major refurbishment since last year to bring it into “a habitable state”, a spokesperson from Kensington Palace told The Weekly.

Covered in scaffolding and surrounded by portaloos the section of the palace where they will live more resembles an industrial construction site than the home of royalty.

The view from the five-star Royal Garden Hotel, where enthusiastic royal stickybeaks are spread among the crowds of businessmen and holidaymakers in the hotel’s top floor restaurant overlooking the palace, is littered with cranes, trucks, and renovation debris.

Staff at the palace — a tourist attraction as well as the home of royalty — are also keen for the renovations to be complete. One palace guide told The Weekly she couldn’t remember a day working that wasn’t interrupted by loud noises from the nearby construction workers, but it wasn’t “too much of a bother”.

Party Princess Margaret, who last inhabited 1A along with her husband and their two children, decorated her section of the palace in her and fashionable photographer Lord Snowdon’s own bohemian style.

They broke from tradition to develop a modern home, with much of the details designed by Lord Snowdon himself.

But since that refurbishment almost fifty years ago the apartment has fallen into disrepair, desperate for an extreme makeover to make way for the Duke, Duchess, and baby Cambridge.

“The apartment is Princess Margaret’s old apartment,” a royal spokesperson said.

“There’s a lot of structural work to be done, that’s the bulk of it.

“There was a lot of asbestos so a lot of asbestos has had to be removed. The hot water and electrical wiring had to be replaced throughout.”

The renovations, being undertaken by private contractors by appointment of the palace, are due to be complete and ready for the young royals to move in “by the close of 2013”.

The million dollar make over will provide a modern and welcoming home for the royal baby, and plenty of places for the family dog Lupo to play on the palace grounds and gardens.

The palace’s current royal residents include the Duke and duchess of Gloucester and Prince and princess Michael of Kent.

A cottage close by to William and Kate’s South facing apartment, very near to the palace’s main entrance, has been made available for Prince Harry to move in and be close to his first niece or nephew.

Prince Harry and his brother William are said to be excited to return to the palace where they grew up as children in one of the private apartments on the other side of the palace which underwent a similar restoration prior to the birth of Prince William seeing the apartment restored to resemble its 18th-century glory after being bombed during the Second World War.

As boys, the young princes often took walks throughout the palace gardens with their mother, Princess Diana. They were also within walking distance of their nearby prep school, where baby Cambridge is expected to attend as well.

The palace is centrally located in the middle of expansive parklands between Hyde Park and Kensington Palace Gardens, and close to many trendy kid-friendly cafes should Kate need to take a break from palace living.

Until the young royals move their family into the newly refurbished apartment there is accommodation available to them elsewhere in the palace as well as their Anglesey home in Wales.

The couple are also said to spare a fair amount of time at Kate’s parents’ country manor in Bucklebury, Berkshire, where the royal baby is reported to spend its first few weeks.

Hopefully their lavish palace accommodation at Kensington is complete by the time Duke, Duchess, and the little prince or princess are ready to settle in.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all your royal baby news from Liz Burke in London.

Related stories


Home Page 4671

Lookalikes cause mayhem at Lindo Wing amid reports Kate heads to hospital

Lookalikes cause mayhem at Lindo Wing amid reports Kate is headed to hospital

A pair of Kate and William lookalikes caused a stir staging an entrance to St Mary's Lindo Wing on Friday.

After almost three weeks of tedium, the press pack stationed outside the Lindo Wing at the Paddington hospital where the Duchess of Cambridge is due to give birth will jump at anything.

On Friday afternoon the eager royal baby watch crowd were given a practice run when William and Kate lookalikes entered the front door of the private wing.

The woman sporting a baby bump and the Duchess’s signature hair style emerged from a black Range Rover outside the Lindo Wing’s front entrance with a slightly balding and sensibly dressed tall male accomplice, sending royal reporters and camera crews amassed across the road into a right royal frenzy.

Sceptics wouldn’t be had, with commentators like Sky News royal correspondent Paul Harrison pointing out it would be “highly unlikely” for William and Kate to enter the site of the royal birth through the front door.

The doubters were quickly proven right as it was revealed the pair had been recruited by The Sun newspaper.

The tabloid is crowing over the stunt with the Saturday edition’s front page headline screaming “It’s a ploy!”.

The press pack were nonetheless kept on their toes when shortly after the prank reports emerged that a helicopter was headed from Bucklebury, Berkshire where the Duchess is reported to be holed up in her family’s country home.

The reports caused some to jump to conclusions that the Duchess was being transported to either Kensington Palace or the hospital where she is due to deliver the heir to the throne.

Conflicting reports that Kate had made her way from her parents’ mansion by car or helicopter, and with or without William, were quickly quashed for their inconsistencies, and royal officials refused to comment on speculation.

The Palace has again confirmed they will send a notification once the Duchess “has been safely admitted to hospital”, and details of the birth will be announced on a sign erected outside Buckingham Palace shortly following the young royal’s arrival.

Until then, any guesswork over the royal couple’s whereabouts and rumours over their birth plan remain just that, but it’s unlikely speculation will cease as the great Kate wait continues.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all your royal baby news from Liz Burke in London.

Related stories


Home Page 4671

What did you do to bring on labour?

What did you do to bring on labour?

Mum-to-be Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, in London last month.

As the world waits for Kate to give birth, Zoe Arnold shares some tips to induce labour.

It seems ‘Waity Katie’ is exacting her revenge … with representatives from the world’s media literally camping outside her hospital, waiting for the delivery of her baby.

We can all assume the Duchess is now officially overdue, after the Queen jokingly remarked her heir had better come before she went off on summer holidays.

The pressure! Forget the media: when one’s Granny-in-law happens to be HRH — it must be hard not to feel a teeny bit of stress about the most anticipated birth since … ?

Many Mums have been there: the due date comes, then goes. You feel a tug, a pain, a rumble … then nothing. Your belly will tighten … then nothing again.

It’s frustrating: your legs are swollen, your back is sore, the Moses basket is made up — you are ready! — but your baby is not.

In the days after my firstborn was due, my midwife gave me a number of natural remedies to start the ball rolling.

I drank pineapple juice (it’s supposed to soften the cervix) — nothing.

I drank red raspberry leaf tea (an expensive disappointment).

I walked (my back screamed in pain).

I had acupuncture (alleviated back pain, but no baby).

I ate the spiciest curry known to man (truly awful, but it had a worse effect on my husband than me).

Finally, I was prescribed castor oil to get things, ahem, moving. Joyfully it worked, and my daughter was born later that day — six days overdue.

Another friend, a good 20kg heavier, was told to take her husband to the bedroom and, well, go for it! As much as you can “go for it” when you feel about as amorous as a beached whale. It didn’t work, and her scheduled caesarean went ahead.

My friend’s not alone; with another swearing a combination of an afternoon romp and an evening curry was what finally spurred on her baby to come out, 10 days late.

So the Duchess has her options open.

Maybe she’s at home, drinking raspberry leaf tea and practising yoga. Or taking bumpy car rides on her parent’s farm.

Or she might be able to switch off and enjoy the calm before the storm.

Savouring the lovely last days of anticipation, where all you can think about is this little person who you already love so much.

Your say: Did you wait patiently, or try every trick in the book to get labour started? Did anything work?

Related stories


Home Page 4671

Aussie mums create age appropriate underwear for tweens

Aussie mums create age appropriate underwear for tweens

BlossyBloom underwear is designed to keep mums and daughters happy.

It’s a scenario that is only too familiar to many mums — your 12-year-old daughter needs a bra, but the racks are packed with lacy, push-up, padded contraptions that leave them looking like a Victoria’s Secret model.

With two tween daughters, Melbourne mum Jo Konstandinou was looking forward to taking her girls shopping for their first bra but was horrified with what she found on shelves.

“It’s incredibly hard to find bras made for girls,” she tells The Weekly. “Everything is padded, push-up and lacy with moulded cups that give the girls an inappropriate shape.

“Even A-cup bras aren’t made for teens; they’re made for adult women with smaller breasts, to make them look sexy for adult men. It’s very hard to find something to buy your 12-year-old daughter that doesn’t sexualise them.”

Fed up with what was on offer, Jo was contemplating what to do about it when her friend Josie Chapman rang with a wonderful idea she had been working on for a few months — if no one would make age appropriate bras for their daughters, they would make them themselves.

In January 2013, BlossyBloom was born, with the help of a third friend Rebekah Hancock.

BlossyBloom founders Josie Chapman, Jo Konstandinou and Rebekah Hancock.

The brand sells a range of bras, and matching undies, without padding or underwire in a range of fun colours and patterns that young girls love.

“They are beautiful and comfortable and girls just love them” Jo says. “They’re fun and a bit grown-up, but they don’t sexualise them at all. It’s something mums and daughters can be happy with.

“We know these girls are growing up and becoming women, but it’s just way too early to turn them into sex objects. This way they can start feeling like grown-ups without looking like them too.”

BlossyBloom underwear is available online at blossybloom.com.au.

Related stories


Home Page 4671

Royal baby wrap: Is today the day?

What did you do to bring on labour?

Mum-to-be Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, in London last month.

Okay, okay. So we’ve been asking that question for a while now.

Since the beginning of the month and particularly since the Duchess’ reported July 13 due date passed with no sign of the heir’s arrival, royal baby watchers have been on high alert.

But now The Daily Telegraph seems to think we had it wrong all along and the first child of Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, could be due to make its royal entrance today.

The London broadsheet now says “well-placed sources” have disclosed that staff at St Mary’s Hospital, where the royal baby is to be born, were told the date was July 19, which is still in line with the palace’s only confirmation that d-day would be “mid July”.

“A small number of staff at St Mary’s who might be called upon when the Duchess gives birth were told they had to remain teetotal for a month before the Duchess’s due date,” the Tele quotes a source as saying.

“They were told the due date was July 19, meaning they couldn’t drink from June 19 onwards.

“Only a handful of people were told, because there are very few hospital staff who might be needed in the case of an emergency.”

No doubt those handful of people are eagerly awaiting the arrival, as is the rest of the world.

Also itching for a celebratory ale are members of the media who have been stationed outside the Paddington hospital’s Lindo Wing, where the Duchess is due to give birth.

The ever-growing press pack is growing weary of the wait, and late last night their royal baby watch exhaustion turned into paranoia, with fears journalists and camera crews had set up camp in the wrong spot.

Following reports that Kate had spent the weekend at her parents’ country home in Bucklebury, Berkshire, The Telegraph reports royal aides have confirmed that while the Duchess is planning to have her baby in the private Lindo Wing at St Mary’s in Paddington, “a contingency plan for her birth at the Royal Berkshire Hospital, where she was born in 1982, remains in place”.

If Kate goes into Labour at her family home, it is likely she would be sent to the nearby hospital rather than taking the long trip to London, meaning the press could miss their long awaited photo op.

“It is still a possibility that she could give birth there, though that would only be in extremis, as the expectation is that she will go to St Mary’s.”

So the press pack stays at their stations.

Our favourite royal watchers, Margaret and Terry, are staying put too. The very dedicated 59-year-old Terry Hutt has spent his seventh night on a wooden bench opposite the Lindo Wing’s entrance and he’ll stay there for “as long as it takes”, he told The Weekly.

Mr Hutt says he doesn’t mind the wait and it gives his wife a break from him.

While the press, royal watchers, and members of the royal family including the Queen and the Duchess of Cornwall are eagerly awaiting the birth, some are not so enthused.

The Queen’s cousin, 88-year-old Margaret Rhodes has had to be coaxed into celebratory mode by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, whom she told she wasn’t the least bit excited about the baby.

“Everybody has babies, and it’s lovely. But I don’t get wildly excited.” she said, before an incredulous Amanpour reminded her of the significance of the heir’s arrival.

After an incredulous Amanpour reminded her of the significance of the heir’s arrival Ms Rhodes reluctantly admitted “yes all right, I’m prepared to be excited”.

London businesses are also preparing contingency plans for when the royal arrival commences, which will first be confirmed by the palace “when the Duchess is safely admitted to hospital”, a royal official told The Weekly.

Baby superstore Mothercare on London’s bustling Oxford St has a team at the ready to completely change the store’s setup to mark the royal arrival, with their back of store reserves stocked full of royally themed gifts and babywear, waiting to launch an extravagent display as soon as the birth is announced.

“It will take us about an hour and the store will look nothing like it does now,” a staff member told The Weekly.

“If people haven’t heard about the birth by then, they’ll know if they see the [store’s] window.”

Until the announcement comes and the royal easel announcing details of the baby’s birth is erected outside Buckingham Palce, the great Kate wait continues.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for all your royal baby news from Liz Burke in London.

Related stories