As the royal couple - Prince William and Kate Middleton - gets ready to welcome their first child in July, reports emerged Sunday that William will be breaking royal tradition to accompany his wife in the labor room, to view the birth of their baby.
According to reports from NOW magazine, a royal insider has confirmed the news, and the expecting couple's decision comes just opposite to the royal tradition. However, the couple is not the first one to break the tradition. By being witness to his baby's birth, William would be following in his father Prince Charles' footsteps. (Charles was with Princess Diana during William's birth.)
"The location hasn't officially been revealed yet, but it looks likely she'll follow tradition and give birth in the private wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, London, where William and Prince Harry were both born," the insider told the magazine.
"I'm sure he'll be there," the insider added. "It's become more common recently with the Royal Family - Peter Phillips, for instance, was at the birth of his daughters Savannah and Isla."
On the other hand, regarding the method of giving birth, whether natural or C-section, the expecting couple is planning to leave everything to the hands of the doctors and destiny.
"When it comes to the birth itself, Kate will leave all the decisions to the doctors on the day about whether it's a natural birth, what pain control she'll have or if it needs to be a Caesarean," Entertainment wise.com quoted a royal correspondent telling Now magazine. "She's taken advice from the royal doctors already."
Middleton met Prince William while studying Art History at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. The couple started dating in 2002, got engaged in 2010 and tied the knot the following year. The royal couple confirmed expecting their first child in December 2012, when Middleton was admitted to hospital for experiencing a severe form of morning sickness known as Hyperemesis Gravidarum.
In January 2013, an official statement released by St. James' Palace confirmed the baby's due date to be in July. Interestingly, the baby will be arriving on the same month in which Prince William's mother Princess Diana was born (July 1). Providing more accurate details about the royal baby's arrival, The Mail on Sunday recently reported the Duchess of Cambridge's due date as July 13.
