A simple tweet just won’t do for the royal baby. When Kate Middleton and Prince William welcome their first child — whose due date is July 11 — the royal couple plan to first drop the big news to the world in very old fashioned style. A St. James Palace aide tells Us Weekly that, with much pomp and circumstance, a framed announcement will be placed on a wood and gold easel just behind the gates of Buckingham Palace shortly after the baby arrives. (The same wooden easel was last used for William’s 1982 birth; the Prince turns 31 this Friday, June 21.)
The declaration will first be printed and then signed for medical staff at St. Mary’s Hospital and transported (with police escort!) to the Palace, where it will be quickly framed and then displayed. All press releases will go out after the easel reveal. “Although an electronic release will go out, we want there to be a degree of theatre about the birth announcement,” a Palace rep tells Us. “This is the birth of the third in line to the throne so it is very important. It is an extremely important occasion.”
What will be on that declaration? The baby’s gender, weight and time of birth — but the royal’s name, however, will be revealed at a later date. (The future King or Queen’s title: HRH Prince or Princess of Cambridge; the spouses of two years say they do not yet know the baby’s gender.)
“While it is a deeply personal and private event, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge realize this is a time of national celebration and that there will be vast interest in the baby,” a royal aide tells Us. “They realize many people will want to share in their happiness.”
Before the public announcement, Queen Elizabeth, British Prime Minister David Cameron and other members of the royal family and Middleton family will find out the big news.
The Duchess, 31, is expected to give birth naturally unless nature intervenes. And the royal father-to-be plans to be present for the birth, a royal aide tells Us. “The expectation and hope is that he will be there for the birth,” the aide says of the Royal Air Force Search and Rescue Helicopter pilot, still stationed in Anglesey, Wales. Kate’s mother Carole Middleton and sister Pippa Middleton are also expected to be present, a source adds.
The baby will be delivered by Royal Household official Surgeon-gynecologist Dr. Alan Farthing and Dr. Marcus Setchell, the Queen’s Surgeon-Gynecologist.
