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| Britain's Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge hold the Prince of Cambridge, Tuesday July 23, 2013, as they pose for photographers outside St. Mary's Hospital exclusive Lindo Wing in London where the Duchess gave birth on Monday July 22. The Royal couple are expected to head to London’s Kensington Palace from the hospital with their newly born son, the third in line to the British throne. |
LONDON (AP)
-- Prince William and his wife Kate presented their newborn son to the
world for the first time Tuesday, drawing whoops and wild applause from
well-wishers as they revealed the new face of the British monarchy -
though not, yet, his name.
"We're still
working on a name. So we'll have that as soon as we can," William told
scores of reporters gathered outside St. Mary's Hospital as he cradled
the child.
The young family's debut public
appearance was the moment the world's media had been waiting for, but
the royal couple showed no sign of stress in the face of dozens of
flashing cameras. Instead the couple, both 31, laughed and joked with
reporters as they took turns holding their baby son, who appeared to
doze through it all.
"He's got her looks,
thankfully," William said, referring to his wife, the Duchess of
Cambridge, as the newborn prince squirmed in his arms and poked a tiny
hand out of his swaddling blanket, almost like a little royal wave.
"He's got a good pair of lungs on him, that's for sure," William added with a grin. "He's a big boy. He's quite heavy."
The infant is third in line to become monarch one day, after his grandfather, Prince Charles, and William.
But
for now, the media and the public were focused on getting all the
details of new parenthood they could from the couple: How they feel,
what the baby looks like, and even who changed the diapers.
Kate, wearing a simple baby blue dress, said William had already had a go at changing the first one.
"He's very good at it," she said.
Asked
how she felt, she said: "It's very emotional. It's such a special time.
I think any parent will know what this feeling feels like."
And
William poked fun at his own lack of hair when he responded with a wink
to a reporter's question about the baby's locks: "He's got way more
than me, thank God."
It was a much more
relaxed scene than the one when Princess Diana and Prince Charles
carried their newborn son, William, out to pose for photographs on the
same hospital steps in 1982.
Charles, wearing a
dark suit, tie and boutonniere, spoke awkwardly to reporters. By
contrast, William, dressed in jeans and a blue shirt with the sleeves
rolled up, joked with the assembled media and addressed some by name. At
his side, Kate waved and smiled broadly, the blue sapphire engagement
ring that had been Diana's on her finger.
The
photographs snapped Tuesday are likely to be reprinted for decades as
the baby grows into adulthood and his role as a future king, and
onlookers were elated to witness the historic moment.
"William
gave us a wave as they drove away, so it was perfect. Days like this
really bring the country together," said Katie Allan, 26, from Bristol,
England.
The couple re-entered the hospital to
place the child in a car seat before re-emerging to get into a black
Range Rover. With William at the wheel, they drove away. Palace
officials said they will head to an apartment in Kensington Palace and
spend the night there.
The birth marks a new
chapter for William and Kate, who had enjoyed a quiet life away from the
public eye in Anglesey, Wales, since their wedding in April 2011.
The
couple had been living in a small Welsh cottage while William - known
as Flight Lieutenant Wales - completed his term as a search-and-rescue
pilot.
Now that they are a family, they are
moving to a much larger apartment in Kensington Palace in central
London, where William spent most of his childhood and where it will be
much more difficult to keep a low profile and avoid the press.
Earlier
Tuesday, William's father, Charles, and his wife, Camilla, as well as
Michael and Carole Middleton - Kate's parents - visited the young family
at the hospital.
Charles called the baby "marvelous," while a beaming Carole Middleton described the infant as "absolutely beautiful."
It
was not immediately clear when Queen Elizabeth II would meet the
newborn heir. The queen was hosting a reception at Buckingham Palace
Tuesday evening, and was due to leave for an annual holiday in Scotland
in the coming days.
Meanwhile, much of Britain and parts of the Commonwealth were celebrating the birth of a future monarch.
News
that Kate gave birth to the 8 pound, 6 ounce (3.8 kilogram) boy on
Monday was greeted with shrieks of joy and applause by hundreds of
Britons and tourists gathered outside the hospital's private Lindo Wing
and the gates of Buckingham Palace.
Revelers
staged impromptu parties, and large crowds crushed against the palace
gates to try to catch a glimpse - and a photograph - of the golden easel
placed there to formally announce the birth.
Hundreds were still lining up outside the palace gates Tuesday to get near the ornate easel.
In
London, gun salutes were fired, celebratory lights came on, and bells
chimed at Westminster Abbey, where William and Kate wed in a lavish
ceremony that drew millions of television viewers worldwide.
The baby is just a day old - and may not be named for days or even weeks - but he already has a building dedicated to him.
Australian
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said an enclosure at Sydney's Taronga Park
Zoo would be named after the prince as part of a gift from Australia.
The government will also donate $9,300 on the young prince's behalf
toward a research project at the zoo to save the endangered bilby, a
rabbit-like marsupial whose numbers are dwindling in the wild.
British media joined in the celebration, with many newspapers printing souvenir editions.
"It's
a Boy!" was splashed across many front pages, while Britain's
top-selling The Sun newspaper temporarily changed its name to "The Son"
in honor of the tiny monarch-in-waiting.
"His
First Royal Wave" read the headline on the Times front page that
accompanied a photo of the newborn, his tiny fist poking out from the
white blanket he was swaddled in.
The birth is
the latest driver of a surge in popularity for Britain's monarchy,
whose members have evolved, over several decades of social and
technological change, from distant figures to characters in a well-loved
national soap opera.
"I think this baby is hugely significant for the future of the monarchy," said Kate's biographer, Claudia Joseph.
For some, though, it was all a bit much.
The
wry front page on British satirical magazine "Private Eye" - which
simply read "Woman Has Baby" - summed up the indifference some felt
about the news.
"It's a baby, nothing else,"
said Tom Ashton, a 42-year-old exterminator on his way to work. "It's
not going to mean anything to my life."
