The most widely anticipated pregnancy since Princess Diana's in 1981 is official: Prince William's wife, Kate, is pregnant.
St. James's Palace announced the pregnancy Monday, saying that the Duchess of Cambridge — formerly known as Kate Middleton — has a severe form of morning sickness and is currently in a London hospital. William is at his wife's side.
News of the pregnancy drew congratulations from across the world, with the hashtag "royalbaby" trending globally on Twitter.
The couple's first child will be
third in line to take the throne — leapfrogging the gregarious Prince
Harry and possibly setting up the first scenario in which a U.K. female
heir could benefit from new gender rules about succession.
The palace would not say how far
along the 30-year-old duchess is, only that she has not yet reached the
12-week mark. Palace officials said the duchess was hospitalized with
hyperemesis gravidarum, a potentially dangerous type of morning sickness
where vomiting is so severe no food or liquid can be kept down. They
said she was expected to remain hospitalized for several days and would
require a period of rest afterward.
"The best advice for anyone suffering from (severe morning sickness)
is to get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluid," Dr. Daghni
Rajasingam, a spokeswoman for Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians
and Gynaecologists, said in a statement. "The condition usually subsides
by week 12 of the pregnancy and with early diagnosis and treatment, there is no reason why we shouldn't expect a healthy pregnancy."
The condition is thought to affect about one in 200 pregnant women, according to Britain's health department.
The news came just days after the duchess, on a royal appearance, played field hockey with children at her former school.
Not only are the attractive young
couple popular — with William's easy common touch reminding many of his
mother, the late Diana — but their child is expected to play an
important role in British national life for decades to come.
William is second in line to the throne after his father, Prince Charles, so the couple's first child would normally become a monarch — eventually.
The confirmation of Kate's pregnancy
caps a jam-packed year of highs and lows for the young royals, who were
married in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey last year.
They have traveled the world
extensively as part of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee celebrations
and weathered the embarrassment of a nude photos scandal, after a
tabloid published topless images of the duchess.
Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said the news
bookended a year that saw the royal family riding high in popular esteem
after celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's 60 years on the throne.
"We're riding on a royal high at the moment at the end of the Diamond
Jubilee year," he said. "People enjoyed the royal romance last year and
now there's this. It's just a good news story amid all the doom and
gloom."
Speculation about when the couple would start a family has been rife since their wedding.
Diana got pregnant just four months after her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. She also reportedly suffered from morning sickness for months and complained of constant media attention.
"The whole world is watching my stomach," Diana once said.
She gave birth to William in 1982
after 16 hours of labor. At his birth, William was given a baby tag
marked 'Baby Wales' and a 41-gun salute was fired in Hyde Park and the
Tower of London.
In September 1983, roughly a year after the birth of William,
Buckingham Palace announced that Diana was pregnant for a second time.
However, within a week, Diana suffered a miscarriage when on holiday at
Balmoral, Scotland.
In 1984, she became pregnant again and gave birth to Harry.
American tabloid speculation of Kate's pregnancy
has been rampant for months. One newspaper even cited anonymous sources
talking about Kate's hormone levels. Others have focused on the first
signs of the royal bump.
The palace said the royal family
was "delighted" by the news. British Prime Minister David Cameron
admitted he got a heads-up about the pregnancy,
saying he found the news "quite difficult" to keep to himself and
expressing his confidence the duo will make "absolutely brilliant
parents."
The leaders of Britain and the 15 former colonies that have the
monarch as their head of state agreed in 2011 to new rules which give
females equal status with males in the order of succession.
Although none of the nations had
legislated the change as of September, the British Cabinet Office
confirmed that this is now the de-facto rule.
Those changes make Kate's pregnancy all the more significant for the
royal family, according to Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty
magazine.
"This is the first child who will be an heir to the throne whatever sex they are," she said. "It's a new beginning."
Graham Smith of anti-monarchy group Republic called Kate's pregnancy a
"private, personal matter" for her and William, saying the flood of
media coverage was disproportionate.
"We've heard today that our future head of state is on the way. It's a
pretty bizarre way of choosing someone for public office," he said.
On the couple's tour of Malaysia, Singapore, the Solomon Islands and
Tuvalu in September, William reportedly said he hoped he and Kate would
have two children.
In the chilly night air at London's Camden market, concert goers and
shoppers seemed surprised by the news — though all agreed that it had
been widely anticipated.
"It feels a lot like a Christmas present for the nation!" said Ravian
Van Den Hil, 26, a student from Rotterdam in the Netherlands. "It makes
me feel quite happy."
Others wondered why Britain
continues to spend so much supporting the royal family. "I don't think
it's a good thing," said Stephen Jowitt, 63, as he strolled down Camden
High Street. "It reinforces a class system."
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