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28 March 2024

8lb 6oz Royal baby; Duchess Kate is Britain's new 'yummy mummy'

Duchess of Cambridge (GETTY/GALLO)

Published
By AFP

She transformed herself effortlessly from ordinary Kate Middleton into a future queen -- but for Britain's most famous new mother, the work has just begun.

Exhausted after giving birth, 31-year-old Kate will have little time to recover before she and Prince William present their newborn son, third in line to the throne, to the world's media camped outside the hospital.

It is a public start to a very public motherhood.

(Getty)

Despite being the daughter of a former air hostess and the first "commoner" to marry a future king since 1660, the glamorous Duchess of Cambridge has so far taken to royal life with remarkable self-assurance.

"She has many of the attributes of a natural royal performer," said Patrick Jephson, former private secretary to William's late mother Princess Diana.

Kate's beauty and charm draw frequent comparisons with Diana -- but so does the relentless hunger with which the press follow her every move.

And while hugely popular after her fairytale wedding to Prince William in 2011, she now faces the challenge of raising a future monarch in the spotlight.

(Getty)

Though her family has humble roots -- Kate's great-great-grandfather was a coal miner -- her own upbringing was a privileged one.

Her parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, met as lowly British Airways employees but later made millions from a party supplies business.

Catherine, their first child, was born in the town of Reading, west of London, in 1982.

The family lived in Jordan when Kate was a toddler -- she could reportedly sing "Happy Birthday" in Arabic before English -- before returning to Britain and setting up their company Party Pieces in 1987.

Kate was sent to the expensive Marlborough College boarding school, where she mingled in the same aristocratic circles as William.

(Getty)

But it was not until 2001 while studying history of art at St Andrews University in Scotland that she met her husband-to-be.

Known at school for being hard-working and sporty, Kate kept up her whiter-than-white image at university.

But her halo occasionally slipped, most famously at the student fashion show where she strutted her stuff in a transparent dress.

And while there were jibes about her unaristocratic background -- William's friends allegedly whispered "doors to manual" as she passed, in reference to her mother's past as a stewardess -- they were firmly a couple by 2003.

George and James top British royal baby name betting

British bookmakers installed George and James as the favourites on Monday for the name of the new royal baby boy after a bumper day of betting on the new arrival.

The majority of punters were left disappointed when Kensington Palace revealed the arrival of a son, confounding pre-birth expectations of a female newborn.

George is now the Paddy Power favourite at 6/4 followed by James (11/4), Alexander (7/2) and Louis (8/1).

But James, the name of Kate's brother, is the "red-hot" favourite with Ladbrokes, although Henry's odds have been slashed from 50/1 to 5/1.

At the other end of the spectrum, Wayne is trading at 250/1 -- although a bet was earlier placed on Kai, the name of footballer Wayne Rooney's son, at 1000/1.

The palace said on Monday that the "names of the baby will be announced in due course."

Meanwhile a new market has opened on exactly when the baby will be named.

It was a month before the baby's grandfather, Prince Charles, was named -- but Ladbrokes say it is odds-on that the name will be announced on Tuesday.
 
"But for those who think we could be waiting a week like William's announcement can take odds of 3/1," they added.

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