The Royal Baby Countdown: Details of Palace Plans Emerge
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Comstock/Thinkstock(LONDON) — It will likely be the most anticipated, most-reported birth of the year.
Sometime around mid-July, the Duchess of Cambridge — formerly known as Kate Middleton — will give birth to a baby that will be the future king or queen of England.
The duchess made her final solo engagement last week in Southampton. Her final public appearance will be this Sunday.
Royal sources tell ABC News that plans are now in place for the royal birth. The baby is likely to be born at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, in London. That’s the same hospital where Princess Diana gave birth to Prince William and Prince Harry.
Sources tell ABC News the palace is being extremely careful in planning media coverage of the birth. The first announcement will only come after Kate has been admitted to the hospital in an early stage of labor. The palace wants to avoid media catching her being admitted while having contractions.
This will be followed by a second announcement: the birth. According to royal protocol, the public will only learn of the birth after the Queen and the Middletons have been informed.
The birth announcement will be signed on official Buckingham Palace note paper and — with cameras rolling — it will be driven to the palace where a liveried footman will put it on an easel (the one last used when Prince William was born) in the palace forecourt.
It will include sex, weight and time of birth. There may also be a few additional literary flourishes. When William was born, for example, the announcement included the words “he has blue eyes and cried lustily.”
As for the name of the baby, it will be announced when the parents decide. Since royal babies have a long string of names, royal watchers are guessing a boy would have the names Charles and Philip and a girl would have the names Elizabeth and Diana.
The Duke and Duchess do not know the sex of their baby — they chose not to ask.
Traditionally in England a girl takes the throne only if she does not have brothers. It is called the rule of primogeniture and it dates back to the 1700s. But the 16 nations of the British Commonwealth have already agreed to amend those rules in a nod to changing times and changing attitudes.
That means that the baby — boy or girl — will be third in line to the throne.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio