It's a BOY! Duchess of Cambridge gives birth to a healthy future King

An overjoyed Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are the proud parents of a healthy baby boy, and the nation celebrates the birth of a future king. The couple’s son weighed 8lb 6oz and was delivered at 4.24pm today at the private Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington with his proud father, Prince William, looking on. Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well and will remain in hospital overnight, said a spokesman for the palace. Palace sources said the couple chose to delay the public announcement of the birth to allow them to spend 'quality time' together. William's father, Charles, the Prince of Wales said this evening: 'Both my wife and I are overjoyed at the arrival of my first grandchild.   'It is an incredibly special moment for William and Catherine and we are so thrilled for them on the birth of their baby boy. '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.'

It had been planned that the birth would be announced on an easel placed outside the gates of Buckingham palace but, in the event, the press were informed by a statement from the Royal household sent out at 8.30pm GMT. The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news. The long-awaited baby will be given the title His Royal Highness and be known as Prince of Cambridge, after the Queen moved earlier this year to change almost a century of royal tradition. She issued a formal proclamation in January to end a convention brought in by George V which meant that a royal title was restricted to the children of the sovereign and the children of the sovereign’s sons.
The new baby is third in the line of succession, relegating his proud uncle, Prince Harry to fourth, and great-uncle, Prince Andrew, to sixth – although he may not become sovereign for half a century or more. Recent legislation allowing female heirs to automatically accede to the throne if they are first born will clearly not affect the Cambridge’s son, but will have a bearing on any of his children.