A MODERN TRADITION

GETTING A SNEAK GLIMPSE AT EXALTED NEW ARRIVALS

They have become some of the most stared-at doors in the world: the entrance to the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital.

Through those doors the newest royal baby, the third child of Prince William and Kate, the duchess of Cambridge, a son, was presented on Monday.

He follows in a growing tradition: His brother, George, in 2013, and his sister, Charlotte, in 2015, were also born at the Lindo Wing, emerging from the hospital to be greeted by a phalanx of reporters from around the world.

William himself, cradled by his mother, Diana, princess of Wales, and his father, Prince Charles, made the same journey in 1982, as did his brother, Harry, two years later. But Diana, for once, hadn’t set the trend: Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, was the first to use the Lindo Wing to give birth; her son, Peter, was born there in 1977. Her daughter, Zara, followed, in 1981.

Excitement about the latest royal birth began when Kensington Palace posted on Twitter at 8.22am on Monday that Kate had been admitted to the hospital that morning. At 1pm the palace tweeted again: “Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a son at 1101hrs.”

Around 2.30pm, in accordance with tradition, an official notice was erected on an easel in front of Buckingham Palace.

He finally emerged to cheers and camera flashes just before 6pm.

Breaths are held every time the doors open — there are often false alarms as nonroyal parents emerge. (The Lindo Wing is a private maternity ward, attached to a public hospital. It offers luxurious surroundings for paying patients.)

While the journalists wait, the bets are on, first about whether the new arrival will be a boy or a girl, and then about the baby’s name. An aeroplane towing an advertisement for a bookmaker was flying over the hospital on Monday, Reuters reported.

Among the reporters, diehard royal fans — some of whom have been waiting for weeks outside the hospital — add a splash of colour and quirky devotion, often wearing costumes festooned with the British flag.

This year, two fans came with puppets in paper crowns, one dressed as a boy and the other as a girl.

“I’ve been doing it a long, long time,” Terry Hutt, 82, holding the boy doll, said. “Every time I come. Have you had butterflies? I get butterflies.”

LEFT Royal supporters, from left, Maria Scott, Terry Hutt and John Loughrey camp outside the Lindo Wing.

ABOVE Britain’s Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge and their newborn son outside the Lindo Wing.

The media outside the Lindo Wing on April 23.

A person impersonating Britain’s Queen Elizabeth is driven past the Lindo Wing after Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, gave birth to a son.

LEFT Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, left, turns to wave at the media as she is led in with her brother Prince George of Cambridge by their father Britain’s Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.

LEFT A notice is placed on an easel to formally announce the birth of the new royal baby, in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace by two footmen.

ABOVE A traditional town crier announces the birth of a baby boy outside the Lindo Wing.