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.
