Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

It's A Boy! Prince William And Duchess Catherine Welcome No. 3

Britain's Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge pose for a photo with their newborn baby son as they leave the Lindo wing at St Mary's Hospital in London.
Kirsty Wigglesworth
/
AP
Britain's Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge pose for a photo with their newborn baby son as they leave the Lindo wing at St Mary's Hospital in London.

The Royal Baby Watch is over.

Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, welcomed their third child, and second son, Monday morning just hours after arriving at St. Mary's Hospital in London.

The baby's name has yet to be revealed, but Kensington Palace wants the public to know he's heavy and healthy. The newborn weighed in at 8 pounds, 7 ounces. He was born at 11:01 a.m. local time on St. George's Day, named for the patron saint of England who supposedly slayed a dragon some 1,700 years ago.

The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth Monday to a healthy baby boy — a third child for Kate and Prince William and fifth in line to the British throne.
John Stillwell / AP
/
AP
The Duchess of Cambridge gave birth Monday to a healthy baby boy — a third child for Kate and Prince William and fifth in line to the British throne.

Kensington Palace declared, "Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well."

"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," Kensington Palace said in a statement.

As the couple's third child, after Prince George and Princess Charlotte, the new baby is the fifth in line to the British throne after his grandfather, Prince Charles; his father, Prince William; and his two siblings.

The baby has displaced Prince Harry, his uncle, in line for the throne. He is Queen Elizabeth's sixth great-grandchild.

Royal fans pose holding a doll outside of St Mary's Hospital in London on Monday. Kensington Palace says the Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to her third child and second son.
Tim Ireland / AP
/
AP
Royal fans pose holding a doll outside of St Mary's Hospital in London on Monday. Kensington Palace says the Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to her third child and second son.

He is also the first royal to fall behind a female sibling in the line of succession due to a change in British law — established before Prince George was born — that makes birth order the determining factor in succession, rather than gender.

Kensington Palace chronicled the morning's events over Twitter, informing the public when Her Royal Highness was admitted to St. Mary's Hospital, "in the early stages of labour." And that she traveled by car from the palace to the hospital.

The palace also went a little meta, posting a picture of people waiting to take a picture — a crowd of photographers and journalists who have been waiting (and waiting) to record the royal birth.

In related news, Holly Willoughby, a British television presenter, correctly predicted the sex of the baby thanks to a "psychic banana" on her show, This Morning.

Willoughby asked whether Kate's baby would be a boy — and when she sliced the banana open, she found a Y-shape inside. Apparently, in Willoughby's meta-physical realm that means yes; a dot would have indicated that the Duchess would be having a girl.

In keeping with their family tradition, William and Kate chose not to learn the gender of the child until he was born.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Vanessa Romo is a reporter for NPR's News Desk. She covers breaking news on a wide range of topics, weighing in daily on everything from immigration and the treatment of migrant children, to a war-crimes trial where a witness claimed he was the actual killer, to an alleged sex cult. She has also covered the occasional cat-clinging-to-the-hood-of-a-car story.