Royal Baby : Kate Expectations

With the rumoured due date of the 24th April 2015 now passed and no sign of a little brother or sister for Prince George, we thought we’d help you while away the time with a little overview into the build up for the second Royal Birth courtesy of Kate and William.

No brother or sister yet!

It’ll be a spending frenzy. The imminent birth is expected to launch some serious souvenir shopping, with an estimated £60 million being spend in the UK alone. As with George’s birth, it’s expected that Kate and Wills will licence lots of baby-related souvenirs, as they firmly believe it’s a joyous occasion to be well and truly celebrated.

The must-have gift for new borns

So expect more cutesy goodies like the Yummy Ma’am mug from MS Mugs and the Kate figurine resplendent in her ‘leaving hospital’ outfit that came with George’s arrival in 2013. Even the Royal household gets in on the act with the book ‘Shhh! Don’t Wake the Royal Baby’ and even a mini guardsman sleep suit being sold on the Royal Collection website.

Let sleeping babies lie

No Uncle Harry. The young royal has already jetted off to Australia for his attachment, so probably won’t be popping into the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s hospital to meet his new niece or nephew. In fact, he might just find out about the baby’s arrival on Twitter, as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are apparently doing away with the traditional notice board and the announcement will be made first on the @kensingtonroyal account.

As Kate apparently sips rose-hip tea to try and bring on the birth, bookmakers the length and breadth of the country are doing a fine business in taking bets for the Royal name. Favourites for a girl include Diana, Alice, Charlotte and Elizabeth (Great Gran will be pleased!) and if it’s a boy, James, Arthur and Alexander are currently top betting choices. You can even have a 500-1 punt on it being Khaleesi after the ‘Mother of Dragons’ in Game of Thrones!

What’s in a name? Game of Thrones’ Khaleesi is 500-1

We’re sure that once here, the fourth inline to the throne (poor old Harry gets pushed down another rung to fifth!) won’t want for anything, but gifts from around the world will be arriving in van loads. Amongst Prince George’s gifts were a giant fluffy squirrel, a field from one of Charles’s pals and apparently a crocodile from Australia.

This time round it’s been reported that Auntie Pippa, whose boyfriend lives and works in Geneva, was spotted buying biodegradable nappies at the princely sum of 5chf each (that’s around £4), along with ‘colour neutral’ baby grows. Whatever happened to classic gifts like muslin squares, a Sophie Giraffe teether toy and a few bottles of Calpol?

No media scrum? Who could forgot the 24 hour rolling news reports with correspondents permanently doing pieces to camera from outside St Mary’s hospital for days and days before George was born? This time the journalists have been asked to stay away until Kate is in labour, leaving just the hardy Royal supporters to camp opposite the hospital in prime position for celebrating with the nation.

Waiting for the new Prince or Princess

Now we’ve reached the end of our musings on the Royal Baby MkII and there’s STILL no news. So we’ll just have to pop the kettle on for another cuppa in our souvenir George mug and wait a little while…