The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have welcomed their first child, a boy.
Kate gave birth to a baby boy weighing 8lb 6oz in London’s St Mary’s hospital on Monday at 4.24pm, Kensington Palace has confirmed.
“Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well and will remain in hospital overnight,” a statement from the Palace said.
“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 family have been informed and are delighted with the news.”
The Prince of Wales said he was “enormously proud and happy to be a grandfather”.
“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,” Prince Charles said in a statement.
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.”
Crowds gathered at the Lindo Wing where the Prince of Cambridge was delivered erupted in cheers when the news arrived, cheering “it’s a boy, it’s a prince!”
It is the first child for the royal couple who married in London’s Westminster Abbey in April 2011.
Kate was admitted to hospital at approximately 5:30 this morning. This was confirmed by the Palace two hours later in a statement saying she was “in the early stages of labour”.
The birth was announced in a statement from the palace at the same time at a birth notice detailing the birth was taken from St Mary’s hospital, which has been placed on an easel outside Buckingham Palace.
Kate announced she was expecting in December after she was admitted to hospital suffering hyperemesis gravidarum, a type of extreme morning sickness.
After a few weeks of bed rest, Kate bounced back and carried out dozens of official engagements as her bump blossomed.
She has kept a low profile since her last event on June 13, staying out of the public eye in the last weeks of her pregnancy.
When they are discharged from hospital, William and Kate are likely to take their baby to her parents’ house in Berkshire, where they will stay for six weeks so Carole Middleton can help Kate with the newborn.
After that, the new family are expected to return to their cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace until renovations to their new family home — the lavish 20-room Apartment 1A — are complete later this year.
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