LIVE BLOG — IT’S A BABY GIRL, A PRINCESS OF CAMBRIDGE

We now move to live blogging of the events in London. The most recent updates will appear at the top of the page. NOTE: Unless otherwise specified all times shown are EDT (Eastern Daylight Time)

1:15PM UPDATE:

• The Cambridge family has headed home to Kensington Palace.

• We will leave this live blog shortly to work on bringing you a post about what Kate wore this afternoon.

Kate is wearing a Jenny Packham dress, her pearl drop earrings and shoes that I haven’t looked for yet. The dress looks like a bespoke creation, perhaps a lightweight silk. I’m not sure if one could call the design dégradé, it more properly might be termed a “placed print.”

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  Ben Stevens/i-Images

12:30PM UPDATE:

• Georgina Brewer of ITV reports that the photo of all 4 Cambridges many are hoping for won’t happen. From Georgina’s Twitter feed: “No George as Kate William and baby leave! Shame. Not the shot all media were looking for. George gone to bed and returned to KP.”
• Kensington Palace is confirming Kate will leave the hospital this evening with her new baby girl; that should happen at approximately 1:30pm EDT/10:30AM PDT (6:30 local time in London.)
• In some photos Prince George seems a little nonplussed, in others he looks quite comfortable.

 

11:30AM UPDATE:

• The Daily Mail’s photo laden story with George arriving at the hospital is here.
• Prince William did indeed bring Prince George back to the Lindo Wing to meet his new sister.

10:30AM UPDATE:

• UPDATING: It will be Prince William we’ll see shortly, he is going home to spend time with Prince George.
• There is increased activity at the Lindo Wing, and while there’s no confirmation the family will be leaving soon, it seems likely a recap of live streams will be helpful:
  • REUTERS: http://www.livestation.com/reuters?source=redirect
  • ITV: http://www.itv.com/news/story/2015-05-02/duchess-of-cambridge-gives-birth-to-a-baby-girl/
  • ABC: http://abcnews.go.com/live  (biggest picture)
  • TELEGRAPH: http://bit.ly/TelgphLIVE
  • HUFFPO UK: http://bit.ly/HuffPoLIVE
  • US WEEKLY: http://www.usmagazine.com/royal-family/royal-baby
  • SKYNEWS: http://news.sky.com/watch-live

• Here you see just some of the media at the Lindo Wing. Our thanks to Roya Nikkah for sharing her photo!

9AM UPDATE:

• Her Majesty is in N. Yorkshire today for a ceremony and parade with The Queen’s Royal Lancers. We’re guessing the choice of that vibrant pink coat wasn’t by accident.

• Here is a look at the official announcement at Buckingham Palace.

• And a look at the crowds lined up to see the easel in person.

• The Sun has a video with legendary royal photographer Arthur Edwards reacting to the news that Kate had a girl.

 

8AM UPDATE:

• Media has been told that *if* they will be coming out today, we will have 30 minutes notice.
• There are reports that Kate’s hairdresser, Amanda Cook Tucker, has arrived at the Lindo Wing. This could well point to a ‘today departure,’ I will try for verification.

We will continue to repeat the live stream information, in addition to the feeds we have embedded and viewable here on the blog. This first is ABC News, just click the arrow to get it rolling.

Other live feeds:

• The Telegraph’s feed is here
• Sky News has its live feed up
• Reuters live feed is now up, viewable here
• Hello! magazine’s feed and live blog are up, click here to see them
• Us Weekly‘s live stream is up as well, click here to see it

More Newsbytes:

• Alistair Bruce of Sky News, “More Than the Spare to the Heir.
• Another charity of which Kate is patron, The Art Room, has also sent a congratulatory tweet.

• We also had the appearance of the completely unofficial ‘town crier,’ proclaiming the news and ringing his bell.

7AM UPDATE:

• How intense was the interest in the royal baby? From Peter Hunt of the BBC:

• And the official announcement is posted by footmen at Buckingham Palace as seen in this tweet from Sky News.

• The media at the Lindo Wing.

The biggest questions at this point:

• will the Middletons come for a visit?
• will Prince George come to visit his sister?
• will Kate and the new Princess be staying the night in the hospital, or will we see her with William and the new baby on the steps of the Lindo Wing later today?

Royal Photographer Mark Stewart made this observation just moments ago.

We’ll continue to post the livestreams that are up for those just joining us.

• ABC‘s feed is here
• The Telegraph’s feed is here
• Sky News has its live feed up
• Reuters live feed is now up, viewable here
• Hello! magazine’s feed and live blog are up, click here to see them
• Us Weekly’s live stream is up as well, click here to see it

• Congratulations from the RAF Association.

• It must be one of the first gifts for the Princess, a Scouting babygro; it comes from the East Sheen Atlantic Beaver Scouts, shared by Simon Carter of UK Scouting

• Just as they did when Prince George was born, the Royal Navy sends its congratulations from the sea. From the RN Twitter feed: “HMS Lancaster, known as the ‘Queen’s Frigate’, sent a message of congratulations to @KensingtonRoyal on the new birth.”

6AM UPDATE:

• Kensington Palace wants to hear from others welcoming a new member of the family.

• Hello! magazine has a piece on previous Princesses of Cambridge.

• This is the scene at the Lindo Wing, as shown on Reuters Live Feed, a shot other than the door.

• Congratulations are pouring in, many of them on Twitter.  Well-wishers include Help for Heroes, an organization Princes Harry and William have been involved with

• And a charity of which Kate is patron, Place2Be

• Here is how the Kensington Palace announcement looked on Twitter.

• Kate has had a baby girl, a Princess of Cambridge.

 

5AM UPDATE:

• We’ll continue to post the livestreams that are up for those just joining us.
  • ABC‘s feed is here
  • The Telegraph’s feed is here
  • Reuters live feed is now up, viewable here
  • Hello! magazine’s feed and live blog are up, click here to see them
  • Us Weekly’s live stream is up as well, click here to see it
• If wondering what the live feed shows, it is essentially the Lindo Wing door and general activity at that entrance to the hospital. Below, ABC’s shot, just click the arrow to activate it.

• Royal Photographer Mark Stewart shared a screen grab showing how popular the royal birth is on twitter, with the RoyalBirth and Duchess of Cambridge out-trending David Beckham.

4am UPDATE:

• Live blogs that are up:
  • The Daily Mirror’s is here
  • The Sun’s live blog is here
  • The Huffington Post’s live blog is here
  • People magazine’s live blog is here

• The media have arrived en masse, you can see the press pens filling up in this photo from Max Foster of CNN

• The Daily Mail explains background on why this baby will be 4th in line for the throne; that story is here.
• The UK Press Association reports family members have been briefed on the latest news.

3:45am:

• Kate’s labor is reported to be “progressing normally.” From The Sun’s live blog: “The duchess’s labour is “progressing normally” in one of six air-conditioned delivery rooms on the third floor of the building, where giving birth naturally costs up to £10,000.
• For those wondering what Prince George is doing, Simon Perry of People magazine shared this information:

• People magazine’s story may be seen here

3:15am update:

• Two live streams are up:
  • Click here for ABC’s feed is up with a lovely, clear photo & some soothing background music.
  • The Telegraph’s feed is up here

•  Broadcasters have started doing live shots from the Lindo Wing, below you see Max Foster of CNN broadcasting to the US.

• People magazine’s Monique Jessen noted that there were 21,600 tweets in the two hours following Kate’s admission to the hospital.
• 9NEWS Australia’s Tom Steinfort shared this picture of the armed police presence at the hospital

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  Tom Steinfort, 9News Australia (@TomStewinfort)

2:45am EDT:

• Jennifer Peros of Us Weekly shared this photo of the scene outside the Lindo Wing.