Royal baby: How it unfolded last time

Herald online

22 Apr, 2015 09:35 PM3 mins to read

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge leave the Lindo Wing with their newborn son. Photo / Getty Images

With days until the birth of the second royal baby, we look back at the major milestones the Duke and Duchess faced the first time Kate was pregnant, with Prince George.

The royal announcement

December 4, 2012: The most widely anticipated pregnancy since Princess Diana's in 1981 is official: Prince William's wife, Kate, is pregnant.

Kate's fashion style during her pregnancy with Prince George. Photos / Getty Images

Photos: Kate's baby bump

Kate suffers acute morning sickness

December 4, 2012: The couple stunned millions around the world, including their families, with the baby bombshell hours earlier, while an anxious Prince William left hospital after his wife had been admitted suffering from acute morning sickness.

Barely eight weeks into her pregnancy, Kate was taken to the hospital just after lunch by her husband and immediately put on a drip to stop her becoming dehydrated.

The controversial phone prank incident

December 6, 2012: An Australian radio show was at the centre of a hoax call controversy involving Prince William and his pregnant wife Catherine. The Duchess was in hospital suffering from morning sickness when the Aussie DJ talked to Kate's nurse while impersonating the Queen.

The whole ordeal lead to the death of the nurse who took the phone call, finally resulting in the show being taken off air.

Kate gives birth to first child

July 23, 2013: "We could not be happier," William, the son of Charles and the late Princess Diana, said in a brief statement.

The Duchess of Cambridge, 31, spends ten hours in labour after she and William went to the private Lindo wing of London's St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, in central London at about dawn (local time). Catherine then gives birth to a healthy male heir weighing 8lbs 6oz at 4.24pm.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince George of Cambridge pose for an official family portrait. Photo / Camera Press / Jason Bell

Royal baby's name revealed

July 25, 2013: Three days later, Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate named their baby boy George Alexander Louis, sticking firmly to royal tradition with a first name used by six previous monarchs.

George was the bookmakers' clear favourite for the third-in-line to the throne as it pays apparent tribute to Queen Elizabeth II's father King George VI, the infant's great-great-grandfather, who died in 1952.

Read more: Royal baby's name revealed

Prince George keeps calm for christening

October 25, 2013: He was, in every sense, the perfect baby. Prince George, who will one day be king and head of the Church of England, was calmness personified throughout his half-hour christening at St James's Palace.

Read more:
• Prince George keeps calm for christening

British Royal Family fans from left, Terry Hutt, Julie Cain, Marie Scott and John Loughrey camp up outside the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace in London ahead of the christening.Photo / AP

Image 1 of 13: British Royal Family fans from left, Terry Hutt, Julie Cain, Marie Scott and John Loughrey camp up outside the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace in London ahead of the christening.Photo / AP