The media and fans camped outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital for weeks waiting for the Prince and Princess of Wales to welcome their first baby in 2013. Prince George was finally born at 4:24pm on 22nd July and Kate reportedly wanted to keep the news private for a lot longer than the palace usually would.
According to biographer Christopher Andersen, “It was customary to proclaim a royal birth to the waiting world without delay”. Interest was especially high since the Waleses’ firstborn would be a future monarch and high in the line of succession.
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An official press release was distributed that evening and the traditional formal notice of George’s birth was displayed on an easel in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace. For those four hours, William and Kate were free to soak up every moment of being new parents and bonding with their son, before the his birth turned into a public occasion.
Andersen remarks that it had taken a month before King Charles’s name was revealed in 1948 and Prince William had been a week old when his was shared. The Waleses had apparently “already settled on a name” but William “in particular was in no rush to let the world at large in on it”.
The couple emerged on the steps of the hospital with Prince George a day after he was born and following visits from Carole and Michael Middleton and King Charles and Queen Camilla. When he was asked if their newborn son had a name yet, Prince William replied, “Wait and see.”
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The next day they confirmed he was called George Alexander Louis. Kate’s insistence on delaying the birth announcement was an early indication of her and William’s more modern approach to royal life. It also started a new tradition for the family, as they waited a similar amount of time when Charlotte and Louis were born.
Prince Harry and Meghan also left it several hours before sharing the news of Archie’s birth in 2019. Making a speedy announcement might be traditional but it makes total sense that they would all want to keep it to themselves for a bit, especially given the very public elements of being a royal parent.
Stepping outside to face a crowd shortly after giving birth and posing for photographs while holding your newborn baby is a situation the rest of us can only imagine.
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On the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast in 2020, the Princess of Wales reflected on this moment with George and said it was “slightly terrifying, I’m not going to lie”.
She said, “Everyone had been so supportive and both William and I were really conscious that this was something that everyone was excited about and you know we’re hugely grateful for the support that the public had shown us, and actually for us to be able to share that joy and appreciation with the public, I felt was really important.”
“But equally it was coupled with a newborn baby, and inexperienced parents, and the uncertainty of what that held, so there were all sorts of mixed emotions,” the Princess added.
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