Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is due to give birth to her second child later this month. Here are the answers to your pressing questions.
1. When will the royal baby be born?
The Duchess of Cambridge let slip that her due date is towards the end of April, and it has been reported that her due date is April 25. But punters putting money on it reckon Monday, April 20 is the most likely date (in Australia, one online betting agency has April 28 or 29 as the short odds).
Prince George is thought to have been born slightly late, so there is an outside chance that the baby might not arrive until May. And if April 25 is the correct due date, it's even possible royal baby No.2 could be born on May 7, the day of the UK election.
There is a tiny chance that the baby could be born either at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, if the Duchess unexpectedly goes into labour while visiting her parents in Bucklebury, or at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, if she goes into labour at Anmer Hall, the couple's country residence in Norfolk. Royal sources have said contingency plans would be put in place for either eventuality.
The Duke, meanwhile, could face a nervous two or three hour drive to the hospital, as he is currently training to be an air ambulance pilot at bases in Norwich, Cambridge and Gloucestershire.
2. Where will the royal baby be born?
Like Prince George, the royal baby will be born at the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London. The private wing of the NHS hospital charges £5,215 ($10,116) for the first 24 hours if a baby is born naturally, or £6,745 ($13,084) for a Caesarean section, plus £1,155 ($2240) for the deluxe package for each additional night.
Anna Maxted, a journalist at the UK Telegraph, who had all of her three children at the Lindo Wing, describes the rooms as basic but the care first-class.
3. What will the royal baby be called?
Having gone for a solidly traditional royal name when Prince George was born, the Duke and Duchess may choose to be a little more adventurous when they name their second child, who will be their "spare" when Prince George one day becomes heir.
The Duke and Duchess do not know the sex of their baby. If they have a girl, Alice has become the runaway favourite with punters (in Australia, SportsBet is paying $2.20), ahead of Elizabeth, Charlotte and Victoria.
If it is a boy, the betting is tending towards James, Arthur and Alexander, with Philip, Henry, Albert and Richard also fancied by some.
4. Will the Duchess of Cambridge have a natural birth?
Prince George was born by a natural delivery and the Duchess of Cambridge will be planning to have a natural birth this time around, too. She will have one of the best teams of consultants in the country looking after her, led by Alan Farthing, the Queen's surgeon-gynaecologist, who will be ready to carry out a Caesarean section at a moment's notice if there is an emergency.
Last year Sir Marcus Setchell, the recently retired surgeon gynaecologist to the Queen who delivered Prince George, told BBC Radio 4: "What happened in labour is an entirely private matter, but I do think there are certain situations when someone is giving birth that it's important...to have a specialist...in the same room to deal with anything that's immediately going to be wrong."
5. Who will deliver the royal baby?
The medical team in charge of safely delivering the royal baby will be led by Guy Thorpe-Beeston, surgeon gynaecologist to the Royal Household.
Mr Thorpe-Beeston, an obstetrician who specialises in high-risk pregnancies, has a private Harley Street practice and is a consultant at the Portland private hospital and at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in the NHS.
A Cambridge graduate, he worked at King's College Hospital in London before becoming a consultant in foetal medicine at Chelsea and Westminster in 1996.
He will be assisted by Alan Farthing, surgeon synaecologist to the Queen, who was the fiance of the television presenter Jill Dando at the time of her murder in 1999, and has been part of the Queen's medical household since 2008.
Both men were present for the birth of Prince George, though they will this time be without the services of Sir Marcus Setchell, the former royal surgeon gynaecologist who delayed his retirement to lead the time that delivered the Duchess's son in 2013.
They will oversee a team of midwives looking after the Duchess in the Lindo Wing.
6. How will the birth be announced?
After the Queen, other members of the Royal family and the Middletons have been told the good news, the royal communications team will email media organisations with the sex, weight and timing of the birth. Moments later the news will be announced via royal Twitter and Instagram accounts before a traditional paper announcement is placed on an easel outside Buckingham Palace.
Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 4.24pm — Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse)
July 22, 2013
7. When will we see the royal baby?
After the birth of Prince George, the Duchess left hospital the next day. But the length of the Duchess's hospital stay this time around will be entirely down to how she is feeling, so there is no guarantee we will see the baby within 24 hours of its birth.
The Duke and Duchess are expected to leave the Lindo Wing by the front door to give the waiting media the chance to take the photographs that will no doubt adorn the front pages of newspapers the next day.
There is no word yet on whether they intend to have Prince George with them for their first official photograph as a family of four.
8. Where will the Duke and Duchess go when they leave hospital?
Royal sources have indicated that the Duke and Duchess will spend "a couple of days" at their London residence, Kensington Palace, before driving north to their country home, Anmer Hall, on the Queen's Sandringham estate.
They are likely to be joined there by the Duchess's parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, who often stay over to help look after Prince George.
The baby's other grandparent, the Prince of Wales, and uncle Prince Harry may have to wait before their meet the newest member of the Royal family, as they will be attending the commemoration events for the 100th anniversary of the First World War's Gallipoli campaign in Turkey on the weekend the baby is thought to be due.
9. Are the Duke and Duchess taking paternity and maternity leave?
Yes. The Duke will take two weeks' statutory paternity leave from his job as an air ambulance pilot (for which he is still in training) and the Duchess will take maternity leave from her official royal duties.
After the birth of Prince George, the Duchess was back in action after five weeks, joining her husband to start the Anglesey Coastal Ultra Marathon. However she maintained a light workload for several months, and is expected to do likewise this time around.
10. How will this affect the succession?
The new baby will be fourth in line to the throne, behind the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince George.
It means Prince Harry will drop down to fifth in line, and every other member of the Royal family will be one step further away from the throne.
Because of recent changes to the laws governing succession, the baby's sex will make no difference, as boys no longer have precedence over girls. So if the baby is a girl and the couple one day have another son, that son would be behind his sister in the line of succession.
11. Will the Duchess hire a maternity nurse?
Despite rumours that the Duchess hired a night nurse last time around, royal sources have insisted that she does not intend to bring in any extra help when her second child is born.
She already has a full-time nanny, Norland-trained Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, and relies heavily on her mother Carole for extra help.
12. Will I be able to buy royal baby souvenirs?
Inevitably, the answer will be yes. Perhaps the most tasteful souvenir will be a commemorative £5 coin that is likely to be a hit with collectors. When Prince George was born the Royal Mint produced 10,000 solid silver coins, which cost £80 ($155) each, and 2,013 22 carat gold sovereigns, priced at £800 ($1552). They all sold out within days.
Babies born on the same day as Prince George were also entitled to a free "lucky" silver penny minted for the occasion.
The Telegraph, London
