A member of the royal household enters Mary Stanford entrance to St. Mary’s Hospital carrying a car seat. (ZUMAPRESS.com)
Carole and Michael Middleton arrive at the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital today. (REUTERS)
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall arrive at St.Mary’s hospital in London following the birth of the royal baby. (ZUMAPRESS.com)
Town Crier Tony Appleton announces the birth outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital. (Ruaridh Connellan/startraksphoto)
He’s a fan: Royal supporter Terry Hutt poses for a picture outside The Lindo Wing of Saint Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, west London. (AFP/Getty Images)
A royal fan with a cake outside the Lindo Wing of Saint Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, west London. (AFP/Getty Images)
The fountains in Trafalgar Square are illuminated in blue to mark the birth of the baby boy. (EPA)
SALUTE: The ship’s company of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Lancaster forms the word “BOY” on the aft deck to mark the birth of Britain’s new prince while on patrol in the Caribbean yesterday. (REUTERS)
Visitors to Niagara Falls receive notice of the birth of the royal baby indicated by the blue light illuminating the natural wonder yesterday. (Getty Images)
ROYALLY PLEASED:
Buckingham Palace officially announced (inset) yesterday the birth of a son to Prince William and his wife, Kate. (Mario Testino/Reuters)
The next king of England met his heir’s heir today!
An overjoyed Prince Charles and his wife Camilla Parker Bowles dropped by a London hospital this afternoon to get their first glimpse of the future British ruler.
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“Marvelous!” Prince Charles said of his newborn grandson, following a 26-minute visit inside St. Mary’s Hospital.
Prince Charles teased the crowd outside, hinting the newborn could be making a public appearance soon.
“Wait and see, you’ll see in a minute,” Charles told well-wishers outside St. Mary’s.
Kate Middleton gave birth yesterday to a bouncing boy, who is now third in line to the throne after his grandfather Charles and father William.
The wee royal — who’s been dubbed “Baby Cambridge” until the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announce his name — was born at 4:24 p.m. in London (11:24 a.m. New York time) after 10 hours of labor. He weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces.
“We could not be happier,” Prince William, 31, said in a statement yesterday.
William, Kate and their baby boy were spending their first day as a family today inside St. Mary’s Hospital, thanking staff for their care but making well-wishers wait for a first glimpse of the royal heir.
Kate’s parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, arrived at St. Mary’s in a black cab at about 3:02 p.m. in London (10:02 a.m. New York time) today to visit their grandchild and happy couple.
The Middletons were greeted by Jonathan Ramsay, lead clinician at the Lindo Wing at St. Mary’s, before they smiled, nodded at photographers and stepped inside.
The Middletons visited for about 70 minutes.
“He’s [the newborn] absolutely beautiful. They’re [William and Kate] both doing really well,” said Carole Middleton, as she and her hubby departed. “We’re both so thrilled.”
Yesterday’s royal birth set off celebratory lights, gun salutes and other tributes throughout Great Britain and abroad.
William thanked St. Mary’s staff “for the tremendous care the three of us have received.”
“We know it has been a very busy period for the hospital and we would like to thank everyone — staff, patients and visitors — for their understanding during this time,” William said.
The royals could wait weeks before announcing the boy’s name but will likely release a picture of the little heir today. Regardless, the future sovereign will have the title His Royal Highness Prince (Name) of Cambridge.
“The Duke of Cambridge [William] was present for the birth,” the Palace said yesterday in a statement.
“The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh [Prince Philip], The Prince of Wales [Charles], The Duchess of Cornwall [Charles’ wife, Camilla], Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news,” the statement said.
“Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well and will remain in hospital overnight.”
The family waited four hours to announce the birth so that they could have private time with the baby, according to a royal spokesperson. The official certification of the birth was brought out and displayed on a gilded easel outside Buckingham Palace to a jubilant crowd.
“Both my wife and I are overjoyed at the arrival of my first grandchild,” Prince Charles said in a statement.
“Grandparenthood is a unique moment in anyone’s life, as countless kind people have told me in recent months, so I am enormously proud and happy to be a grandfather for the first time, and we are eagerly looking forward to seeing the baby in the near future.”
Crowds began swarming Buckingham Palace in the sweltering heat early yesterday when news broke that Middleton, 31, had checked into St. Mary’s Hospital.
Well-wishers flooded the palace courtyard, where they waved flags, laid down flowers and teddy bears and sang “God Save the Queen” and “Happy Birthday.”
Deborah Beeson, a banker from the United States, was overjoyed.
“It’s wonderful. I got chills. I cried,” she told Reuters. “You know, America loves Kate. She’s just beautiful. She has dignity.”
There will be a 41-gun salute at London’s Hyde Park and 62 rounds fired at the Tower of London today to celebrate the birth.
And the prince isn’t even a day old, but he already has a building dedicated to him.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said an enclosure at Sydney’s Taronga Park Zoo would be named after the prince as part of a gift from Australia, which includes a donation of $9,300 in the child’s name to save the endangered bilby, a rabbit-like marsupial whose numbers are dwindling in the wild.
In New Zealand, a royalist group organized a national light show, with 40 buildings across the islands lit up in blue to commemorate the royal birth.
This is Queen Elizabeth II’s third great-grandchild but her first great-grandson.
“It is an important moment in the life of our nation,” said Prime Minister David Cameron. “But, I suppose, above all, it is a wonderful moment for a warm and loving couple who have got a brand-new baby boy.”
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, tweeted: “Delighted for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as they welcome their baby boy. May God bless them all with love, health and happiness.”
The royal doctor, Marcus Setchell called the future sovereign a “wonderful baby, beautiful baby.”
William first broke the news to the queen — calling her before his father and brother, according to a Palace spokesperson.
The royal family won’t visit Middleton in the hospital because it requires extra security, but the queen returned to the palace yesterday after a weekend at Windsor Castle.
Prince William will take two weeks’ paternity leave as a pilot with the Royal Air Force to spend time with his wife and baby.
He and his father, Charles, broke tradition by being with their wives during labor. William’s grandfather Prince Philip famously played squash with a friend when Prince Charles was born.
The mini-monarch entered the world in a posh pad at the hospital’s Lavish Lindo Wing. The luxury birthing suite features satellite TV, radio, Internet access, daily newspaper delivery and a safe.
Middleton has a catering staff on site that offers, among other things, a complete wine list and celebratory champagne.
The premium suite also has a living room and a guest bed, which Prince William rested on during Kate’s long labor. The new parents spent last night together at the London hospital.
Princess Diana gave birth to William in the same maternity ward in 1982.
“The choice of venue meant a lot to Prince William. He wished to honor his mother,” a royal aide told The Post.
The baby was born a little over two years after Middleton and William’s extravagant, telecast wedding at Westminster Abbey on April 29, 2011.
The due date was never discussed, but it is believed that it was July 13, making the baby almost 10 days late.
William attempted to make the birth private. The couple snuck into the hospital through a side door early yesterday morning to avoid the media, already camped in front.
Two photographers spotted the duchess and duke pull up in discreet black cars and slip through the back door at 6 a.m., during a thunderstorm.
“The protection officers jumped out, and they all rushed in,” photographer Jesal Parshotam told The London Evening Standard.
“It was a very swift maneuver. The duchess went in, and the cars were gone very quickly — within a minute. That was it.”
But Parshotam shockingly let the couple pass without snapping a photo that would have been worth a fortune. He thought it wasn’t appropriate to take a picture of a woman in labor.
Additional reporting by Tom Teodorczuk
in London. With AP.