It’s a Girl! The Royal Baby Has Arrived

So, she’s arrived: an 8-pound 3-ounce baby girl, born to Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William at 8:34 a.m. London time, after a two-and-a-half-hour labor. Her name won’t be announced until the Queen has approved Catherine and William’s choice (it can take days), but tabloid and bookmakers’ favorite is Alice—though Elizabeth, Diana, and Victoria are in the running.

Meanwhile, the roiling Union Jack—draped crowds and hundreds of jostling media are encamped on the hallowed curbs outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s hospital in Paddington, awaiting the traditional (well, since Prince George arrived in 2013) pageant of Royal Baby rituals to unfold. First will be the Visitation of the Grandparents, to be expected today, with much attendant ado about what Carole Middleton will wear. (It was an Orla Keily print tea-dress last time, but it’s a chillier sunny day today.) Then the Going Home, possibly tomorrow, if the parents decide to stay overnight and do their baby-bonding in private, as they did with George. On the other hand, George now exists, so will they want to get home to Kensington Palace to introduce him to his sister? In that scenario, speculation is running that the appearance on the steps will happen around 6:00 p.m. tonight.

Whatever happens, Catherine has managed to perform yet another royal duty to her uncannily perfect standards. By producing a boy first, she ensured that the next-but-two heir to the British throne will be a King and not a Queen, which would have been more fun—and certainly an history-making first—since the law of the realm has recently been changed so that a first-born girl would inherit the Crown in the same way as an eldest boy. The newborn Princess of Cambridge (the title she definitely owns on birth) now stands fourth in line to the throne after her grandfather Prince Charles, father the Duke of Cambridge and brother Prince George. The reshuffling down the family pushes Princess Beatrice downthe list. Perhaps they’ll make it up to her by making her a godmother?

In any case, Kate’s coup has done the British nation another favor by taking the country’s mind off the interminable—and pretty dismal—party-political wrangling which seems to have been going on for at least as long as Kate was brought low with morning sickness. Yes, there is a United Kingdom general election next Thursday, May 7. That outcome is far from certain, since polls say that no party is popular enough to win outright. What’s definite, though: Few abroad will know or care. The news from these shores today and for the foreseeable future will be dominated by the baby who was born in Paddington this morning.