HI, DAD! Wills leaves a hospital yesterday after visiting a pregnant Kate Middleton.
HI, DAD! Wills leaves a hospital yesterday after visiting a pregnant Kate Middleton. (
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Kate Middleton is pregnant with the future king or queen of England — who will be the first royal child born under gender-neutral rules.
Prince William and his wife announced the joyful news yesterday after she was hospitalized with morning sickness.
“Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby,” a palace statement read.
“The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Harry and members of both families are delighted with the news.”
Kate is in the “very early stages,” it said.
The child, Wills’ and Kate’s first, will be third in line to the throne behind Princes Charles and William. His or her ascension will mark a historic day for the monarchy.
Leaders of the 16 commonwealth countries last year approved changes to a 3-century-old rule to make the king’s firstborn the heir to the throne, no matter the gender.
Previously, the crown went to the royal family’s oldest son. The only way a girl could ascend was if she had no brothers, as was the case for Queen Elizabeth II.
If Wills and Kate have a girl, “it would be a very significant moment for the United Kingdom and the other 15 nations of the commonwealth,” said Carolyn Harris, a royal historian from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
“It acknowledges the great achievements of England’s great female monarchs.”
The royals revealed Kate’s pregnancy after she was admitted to a London hospital yesterday with acute morning sickness. British tabloids had been buzzing for week about the possibility of a royal pregnancy.
“It’s absolutely wonderful news, and I’m delighted for them, and I’m sure they will make absolutely brilliant parents,” Prime Minister David Cameron said.
“I’m sure people round the country will be celebrating with them tonight.”
Kate is expected to spend at least another day at King Edward VII Hospital, where she’s being treated for hyperemesis gravidarum, a condition that strikes 2 percent of expecting moms and brings nausea and vomiting. It often goes away in weeks.
Fox News health editor Manny Alvarez, a top OBGYN at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey, speculated Kate’s reaction may owe to her slight frame — and twins.
“The good news is that hyperemesis usually means a strong baby,” he said. “I have to wonder if she’s having twins.”
In the event of twins, the first baby to emerge would be heir.