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The Royal Baby: 7 FUN FACTS you didn't know!
Prince William's wife Kate Middleton, who is in labour, has been admitted to the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in London.
While the world waits breathlessly for the arrival of Britain's next prince or princess, here are seven fun facts about how the world's most famous royal family will welcome their bundle of joy.
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The Royal Baby: 7 FUN FACTS you didn't know!
The Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital is where the late Princess Diana gave birth to William, 31, and to his younger brother Harry, 28, who will drop a place in the line of succession after the birth.
The couple has chosen not to know the gender of their first child, who will be third in line to Britain's throne.
There is likely to be no more news until the official announcement of the birth. The world's press have been camped outside St Mary's for days in anticipation of the birth. Bored journalists had dubbed their vigil outside the hospital as 'the Great Kate Wait'.
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The Royal Baby: 7 FUN FACTS you didn't know!
The first the world will know of the birth is when a royal aide leaves the main entrance of the Lindo wing bearing a typed medical bulletin signed by doctors at the birth. The aide will take the bulletin to Buckingham Palace by car with police outriders.
The announcement of the gender and other details of the baby will be made by the age-old custom of placing a proclamation on a dark wooden frame on an ornate easel behind the railings on Buckingham Palace's forecourt.
The brief bulletin, on palace-headed foolscap paper, usually confirms the sex of the baby and the weight, but gives few other details. The easel will be the same one used to announce William's birth in 1982.
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The Royal Baby: 7 FUN FACTS you didn't know!
But no such details will be given until the Queen and other members of the couple's families have been informed.
The first person to be informed will be the Queen. Prince William is expected to call her from a direct, top-secret phone line from the hospital itself. The Prince will then call his father Prince Charles, his brother Prince Harry and Kate’s sister Pippa Middleton.
Kate’s parents are expected to be in the hospital at the time of the delivery.
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The Royal Baby: 7 FUN FACTS you didn't know!
The newest royal will be styled HRH Prince/Princess (name) of Cambridge.
If it is a girl, the child will make history, becoming the first female firstborn of a future monarch to take precedence over a younger brother.
A royal child usually has three names, a first name and two middle names. While the parents officially choose the first name, the name has to be approved by the Queen before becoming an official one.
Britain’s royal family famously dilly-dallies about naming their child. Prince Charles went without a name for an entire month while he and Princess Diana could not agree on a name for Prince William for a week.
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The Royal Baby: 7 FUN FACTS you didn't know!
Fountains and key landmarks will be illuminated and the news of the royal birth will be broadcast on a giant screen above central London.
The Greater London Authority has ordered the fountains of Trafalgar Square to be lit in pink or blue, depending on the gender of the newborn.
The London Eye is also expected to be illuminated -- this time in patriotic red, white and blue -- while a 62-gun salute will be fired at the Tower of London.
It has been reported that authorities at Heathrow Airport will hand out gift boxes to all passengers who land in London that day.
All children born on the same day will also be given commemorative coins by the Royal Mint.
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The Royal Baby: 7 FUN FACTS you didn't know!
Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are expected to debut their baby for the world from the steps of the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital. Thanks to the scores of media personnel posted outside, the image of the newborn will probably find its way across the world within seconds.
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The Royal Baby: 7 FUN FACTS you didn't know!
The Royal baby will be christened in a robe that is similar to the one that is being used by the family since 1841.
Incidentally, both Prince Charles and Prince William were christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Buckingham Palace.
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