As the world waits for news, Kensington Palace has announced that Kate Middleton has gone into labor, according to CNN.
The duchess traveled by car with her husband, Prince William, from Kensington Palace to the Lindo Wing at St. Mary's Hospital, according to the office of Prince William at Clarence House. They made the announcement at 2:37 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. Approximately 90 minutes later, Kensington Palace issued a progress report.
The hospital is located next to Paddington Station and is where William and Harry were both born.
Carole Middleton, the duchess' mother, is expected to be at the hospital for her daughter.
The sex and birth weight of the baby will be posted on a notice board at Buckingham Palace, according to a Kensington Palace spokesman, though the baby's name will be withheld at that time.
The name may be announced when the family leaves the hospital, according to Max Foster, the CNN royal correspondent.
British parents have been delaying naming their newborn babies, either hoping to avoid the same name as the new member of the royal family, or to copy the name. Bookmakers in Britain are favoring the names Alexandra, Charlotte, Elizabeth, Victoria, Grace, James and George. Names for both genders are included because the couple didn't wish to know the baby's gender in advance.
The baby will have the title His or Her Royal Highness Prince or Princess, their name, of Cambridge, according to St. James's Palace, which released the information earlier this month.
Protocol for a birth in the royal family dictates that the first to know about the birth will be Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister David Cameron and the governors general of each of the Commonwealth nations, as well as the royal family and the Middleton family.
"The whole country is excited with them, so everyone is hoping for the best," Prime Minister David Cameron said. He also wished the couple his "best."
Due to a change agreed on by the leaders of the Commonwealth countries in 2011 and passed into law this year, the baby will be third in line for the throne, regardless of gender.
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