Exclusive: Kate's shock birth plan!

The duchess surprises stuffy royal advisors, opting for a simple birth suite rather than five-star luxury.

Beyonce shut down an entire wing of a New York hospital when she had her daughter Blue Ivy. In Kate Moss and Gwyneth Paltrow’s maternity ward, pampered mums give birth bathed in soft candlelight, then toast their new bub with champagne breakfasts.

But despite having access to the best medical care money can buy, the future king or queen of England will be born in a humble public hospital in the suburbs, if the Duchess of Cambridge has her way. In a move that came as a huge surprise to the royal family, especially their stiffly traditional advisors, Kate is reportedly determined to have her baby in a hospital close to her family home, rather than giving birth at exclusive St Mary’s, where her husband Prince William and brother-in-law Prince Harry were born. It’s believed the future heir to the throne will be born in Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, where Kate herself and younger sister Pippa were delivered.

While the palace has yet to confirm full details of the July birth, close friends of the duchess revealed to Woman’s Day that Kate had already planned to drastically break with tradition and spend the first six weeks after the birth with her mum and dad at their family home – making the Berkshire hospital a logical choice, given its proximity to their estate. Coincidentally or not, the midwife-led maternity unit at Royal Berkshire recently underwent a $4.5 million refit, so it is stocked with all the latest technology and amenities – fit for a future king or queen, some would say!

Still, the rooms themselves are simple and practical – like any standard maternity ward in the western world – and something of a contrast to the luxurious suites at St Mary’s in Paddington, where Kate would’ve been waited on hand and foot. “The facilities at private hospitals like St Mary’s are more like five-star hotels,” leading British obstetrician Dr Penelope Law tells Woman’s Day. “The mother and partner can order whatever food they like, and they are made very comfortable in a luxury suite.