Carole wins race for the f irst cuddle ... and she stays for SIX hours!
THE day-old Princess of Cambridge is ‘settling in nicely’ with her family, royal sources said last night.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge yesterday introduced their newborn – the most senior royal princess to be born for 65 years – to her brother George and to their families.
And this afternoon it is understood she will meet her great-grandmother, the Queen, when the family leave Kensington Palace to embark on a new life in Norfolk, where the monarch is in residence.
William and Kate, both of whom are said by friends to be ‘besotted’ with their new daughter, have decided on a name but want to inform the Queen personally before it is publicly released.
The wait has led to a betting bonanza, with Charlotte and Alice the clear favourites. But outsiders such as Olivia have attracted a sudden flurry of wagers.
Kate’s mother Carole and her sister Pippa were first to have a cuddle with the little princess, who appears to have inherited the duchess’s dark hair.
They drove through the gates of Kensington Palace at 11.31am yesterday and did not leave until after 6pm.
The Middletons pipped royal grandfather Prince Charles to the post, as they did at the birth of Prince George.
Charles drove himself down from Highgrove, his private residence in Gloucestershire, with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, to meet the granddaughter he had so desperately wanted.
The couple arrived, smiling and waving, at William and Kate’s residence, Apartment
‘Diana would be so proud’
1A, at 12.46pm and stayed for an hour and a half. Charles has openly spoken of his hope that his son and daughter-in-law would produce a granddaughter, saying last year: ‘I hope it will be a girl this time.’
There was a poignant reminder, too, that his late wife, William’s mother Diana, Princess of Wales, had also longed for a girl. Over the weekend her best friend, Rosa Monckton, wrote on Twitter: ‘How Diana would have loved a granddaughter.’
She later posted a picture of Diana with her daughter Dominica, who was her godchild. She retweeted a message of support that read: ‘ She would be so proud. Our queen of hearts – may she live on in our new princess.’
William and Kate remained behind closed doors yesterday but were keen to pass on their thanks for the thousands of messages of goodwill they have received.
On Saturday they had made a heart- stealing appearance on the steps of the Lindo wing of St Mary’s Hospital, Paddingt o n, wit h t hei r 8lb 3oz daughter.
A Kensington Palace spokesman said in a statement: ‘The duke and duchess are hugely grateful for the messages of congratulations they have received from people all over the world. It means a great deal to them that so many people have celebrated the arrival of their new daughter.
‘Their royal highnesses were today visited by the Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, Mr and Mrs Middleton, and Pippa Middleton.’
Kate’s father arrived at 1.38pm and stayed for three hours. There was no sign of the duchess’s brother, James.
There was, however, a visit from Kate’s midwife, Professor Jacqueline Dunkley-Bent, who was keen to check on mother and baby.
Prince Harry, who is on a month-long placement with the army in Australia, spoke to his brother and sister-in-law by phone – and possibly via ideo call. The prince, a doting uncle to his nephew George, 21 months, said of his new niece: ‘She is absolutely beautiful. I can’t wait to meet her.’ That i s unlikely to be f or another two to three weeks. Yesterday much of the talk around the royal baby was of how radiant the duchess – in a £2,000 buttercup print Jenny Packham dress and Jimmy Choo heels – l ooked, even though she had the help of her personal hairdresser.
Kate is believed to have undergone much of her labour at home in her Kensington Palace apartment, being admitted to hospital only at 6am on Sat- urday and giving birth just two and a half hours later. According to well- placed sources, the atmosphere in the royal residence was ‘surprisingly calm’ with members of the couple’s security detail even popping out for a burger at Byron on nearby Kensington High Street late on Friday evening.
William and Kate have made clear that the hospital photo opportunity will be their daughter’s last appearance for some time. The couple are fiercely protective of their children’s privacy and it is likely – apart from the possibility of a family por- trait being released in the coming weeks – to be the last time the princess will be seen in public until her christening in three or four months. Even then, that is unlikely to be a public event, with only a handful of photographs released to the media.
One of the reasons that William and Kate have chosen to bring up their children at Anmer Hall in Norfolk is that its extensive private grounds mean visitors can escape the public eye. The ten-bedroom property is on the Queen’s Sandringham estate.
CONGRATULATIONS to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the arrival of the first princess born into the monarchy in 25 years. Despite the sneers of a few Left-wing republicans, the birth of a royal baby is a cause for national celebration.
On this occasion, the wonderful images of the baby girl and her parents leaving hospital (and of Prince George) also provided a welcome distraction from an election campaign that seems to have been going on for ever.