Kate shocks the palace: My baby, my way

With her little one only 10 weeks away now, the Duchess is ripping up the royal rule book.

Kate Middleton became the first non-aristocrat in history to marry an heir to the British throne, and now her child is on track to become the first royal to begin life in a commoner’s home, rather than a royal residence. Few anticipated that mild-mannered Kate would have the gumption to tip royal traditions – in place for centuries – on their head in such a manner. But with her and Prince William’s first born just 10 weeks away, the Duchess of Cambridge has never felt more ready to take on the role as mother of the third-in-line to the throne and make it her own.

In an extraordinary break with protocol, it’s been revealed that the future king or queen’s first months will not be within palace walls – where the child and Kate would’ve been waited on hand and foot by a small army of maternity nurses, nannies and ladies’ maids.

Instead, Kate, with William’s blessing, will whisk her newborn to a place where privacy and discretion are guaranteed – her mum’s house. The new parents will have a chance to bond with the baby out of the public eye at Bucklebury Manor, the $7 million country estate bought by Carole and Michael Middleton last year.

“She feels safest and most secure there. And surely it’s not a bad thing that this little prince or princess will have a taste of life outside the royal family?” a source tells Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, adding that Carole is “over the moon” at Kate’s decision to stay for six weeks while her apartment at Kensington Palace is under renovation. “Carole fully intends to be part of this baby’s life and Catherine plans to spend a lot of time with her parents,” the insider says.