Pregnant Duchess struck down by severe sickness
Joy as Duchess is expecting another little prince or princess
PRINCE William and Kate have announced they are expecting their third child, to the delight of both their families.
In a statement yesterday, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said they were “very pleased” to share the news.
But they added Kate, 35, has the severe morning sickness she suffered in her previous pregnancies. She is being treated by medics at Kensington Palace.
The Queen and Prince Philip, plus Prince Charles and Camilla, who are all on holiday in Scotland, were yesterday said to be “delighted with the news”.
While Prince Harry gave a thumbs up as he arrived for an event in Manchester and said: “Fantastic. Great. Very, very happy for them.”
Asked about the duchess, he said: “I haven’t seen her for a while, but I think she’s OK.” Just weeks ago, during a tour of Poland and Germany, Kate hinted another child could be on the cards.
After being given a present designed for newborns, while in Polish capital Warsaw, she laughed and turned to William, saying: “We will just have to have more babies.” But she showed no signs of the acute morning sickness, called hyperemesis gravidarum, in public last week when she viewed a Princess Diana memorial garden at the Palace.
The baby is likely to be due next April or May, which would make the child three years younger than Princess Charlotte, born on May 2, 2015.
And the baby will be fifth in line to the throne, after brother George, four, and sister Charlotte, two.
Kate’s uncle Gary Goldsmith, 52, suggested the royal couple would follow in the Queen’s footsteps by going on to have a fourth child. The millionaire businessman, 52, said: “It’s
I doubt she will stop at three, they are having such fun with them GARY GOLDSMITH, KATE’S UNCLE, ON BABIES
the best news I’ve had so far this year. She’s a natural mother. I wonder if she will stop at three? I doubt it. They are having such fun with the babies.”
As with her previous pregnancies, the duchess was forced to make a public announcement early after sickness meant she had to pull out of an official engagement.
She was due to meet families at the Hornsey Road Children’s Centre in North London yesterday lunchtime, but was instead being looked after by doctors at her London home. Mum Carole Middleton was seen leaving the
Palace in a Land Rover, after spending the day there with her daughter. The duchess has cancelled all engagements in the next few days but is still hoping to take Prince George to his first day of school on Thursday morning, at Thomas’s Battersea in South London.
A Palace spokeswoman said a decision would be made nearer the time, and those on future engagements would be made on a case-by-case basis. A source said of the school run: “Of course, like any mother, she’d love to be there.”
Hyperemesis gravidarum occurs in less than 2% of pregnancies but often requires supplementary hydration, medication and nutrients via a drip.
Kate was hospitalised with it in December 2012, seven weeks pregnant
with George. Two years later, when she became pregnant with Charlotte, her medical team were ready and treated the duchess at home.
Kate was later able to resume royal duties both times, carrying out several engagements from when she was about four or five months pregnant until around a month before her due dates.
She and William have just moved their family permanently to the Palace, having previously spent more time at their country home Anmer Hall in Norfolk, where George started nursery.
They bowed to increasing pressure to carry out more royal duties in support of the Queen, 91, and at the start of the year said George would attend school in London. Just last week they said they would be embarking on a “busy autumn programme”. Plans include an overseas visit in November, which William may now have to undertake alone.
Following yesterday’s announcement, also tweeted by the Palace, the next one is expected at the 12-week stage, with details of the month the child is due.
Given the pair’s choice of traditional royal names so far, bookies were last night favouring Victoria and Alice for a girl, and Arthur and Henry for a boy.
The baby is expected to be born in the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, West London, where Kate had her two previous, natural births.
A Downing Street spokeswoman yesterday passed on Theresa May’s congratulations at the “fantastic news”.
Meanwhile the couple will today learn the verdicts of their privacy case against French Closer magazine and three photographers, who took and published topless photos of Kate as the pair holidayed in the South of France in 2012.
A five-year-old girl made Prince Harry wipe his feet before entering her house yesterday. He obliged for Lilly-Anne Flores as he visited a veterans village in Newton Heath, Manchester, created by BBC1 show DIY SOS. Her dad Simon, 37, said: “She’s the princess of the house.”