Contingency plans are in place in case Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, goes into labour this week while at her parents’ house in Bucklebury, Berkshire.
Catherine and William are staying with her family while the prince has a few days off from his RAF duties. And since Kate is now thought to be past her due date, there’s a chance the baby may come while she’s there.
If labour starts and progresses quickly, Kate might be taken to Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading rather than St. Mary’s Royal Hospital, which is nearly 100 kilometres away in London.
“There are contingencies in place for wherever the Duchess happens to be, and one of them is the Royal Berkshire,” a source close to the royals told The Daily Telegraph.
“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.”
That’d leave the world’s media – who’ve been camped outside St. Mary’s for weeks now – in a mad scramble to get the story.
But if Kate has her baby at Royal Berkshire, it might just confirm her status as the new people’s princess.
That’s because it’s a public hospital without a private maternity wing, and their private rooms are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and can’t be booked in advance.
This means the Duchess could end up spending her first night with her newborn baby sharing a public ward with other mothers!
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