Media outlets from around the world have descended upon a once-quiet street near St. Mary’s Hospital in the Paddington area of London, hoping to catch a glimpse of the first sign that a new royal heir is on the way.
CTV’s Ben O’Hara-Byrne is among the dozens of reporters who are now camped outside the hospital, hoping to snap the first pictures that will tell the world that the Duchess of Cambridge is about to have a baby.
“Cameras from all over the world are here, hoping to catch a glimpse of Kate on the off chance that she walks out of a car and walks up the steps into the hospital. That is probably pretty unlikely, but that is still the hope,” he told Canada AM Friday morning.
The problem for all those journalists and cameras is that no one has much idea about when the baby is due.
Prince Charles told reporters Thursday, “It won’t be long now,” but Buckingham Palace has refused to reveal the due date doctors have given the duchess.
The only statement from the Palace on the matter came in January, when it announced: "Their Royal Highnesses, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, are delighted to confirm they are expecting a baby in July."
Hints from Kate herself have suggested the due date is mid-July and, with so little to go on, that’s become the operating theory.
In the end, the official due date may not matter much since, as every mother can attest, the baby comes when the baby is ready to come. Due dates are often just a guide, especially for a mother’s first baby, which typically arrives late.
Even if reporters catch sight of Kate entering hospital, there will be no word from the Palace about what is happening until it’s all over. Only then will the Palace make an announcement.
And while for the rest of the world such happy announcements are usually made over email or Facebook, Kate and William have decided they will proclaim the birth of their child the same way that William’s own arrival was proclaimed: through a formal paper notice placed on an easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace.
The easel hasn't been used since it declared William's arrival in 1982, but it will be hauled out of the royal attic and dusted off once again for this important occasion.
The other big unknown for royal baby watchers is whether the child will be a prince or a princess. The Palace has insisted that the Duke and Duchess themselves don't know the gender. But speculation that the couple is having a baby girl has been rampant since Kate visited Grimsby back in March and accepted a teddy bear from a wellwisher, saying: “Thank you, I will take that for my d...”
Did she mean to say “daughter”? No one knows for sure.
The baby’s name has also not been decided, but the child’s title has: it will be His or Her Royal Highness, the Prince or Princess of Cambridge.
The Duchess has been preparing for the big day, according to the Daily Mail, with private pregnancy yoga sessions to help her remain strong. The paper reports that Kate might also be considering hypnobirthing, a method that helps mothers give birth naturally without pain medication, by using visualization and breathing techniques to distract oneself from the discomfort.
During the birth, Kate will have her mother at her side -- likely to be a good choice: Carole Middleton is a trained midwife, and received training in emergency births while working as a British Airways flight attendant in the 1970s.
After the birth of her child, Kate plans to stay with her parents, which will be a big break from tradition -- and the first time a future monarch will start life away from a royal residence.
Once the baby is here, the celebrations will begin to welcome the child who will be considered third in line to the throne. And thanks to recent changes in royal succession laws, the child will be the third generation of monarchs-in-waiting, after grandfather Charles, 64, and father William, 31.
