Delight for millions as new royal baby arrives on St George’s Day

It was a mix of carnival, excitement, cheers, the town crier and a whole troupe of keen and happy fans.

Paddington doesn’t usually have Mondays like this one!

In general, when a baby is on the way and about to be born, the people it affects most of course are the mum and dad involved, their close families and friends – and, of course, the midwife!

However, when we are talking royal babies, things are very different.

And when the parents are the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, already devoted parents of George and Charlotte, it seems that half the world has tuned in waiting for the big announcement: boy or girl, new Prince or Princess and especially they want to see that picture of the day, that new family of five.

Fans, the media with cameras everywhere and ladders galore, gathered outside the Lindo wing of St Mary’s Hospital in London where the latest little royal was making his appearance – attended by their top medical team.

A new baby is always a lovely occasion and a royal one, delights millions of us, all 8lb 7oz of him.

I remember getting a call from the office one June day when I was writing about the Wimbledon Tennis Championships to ‘nip across’ London and join the throng as Princess Diana and the Prince of Wales were rumoured to be about to take their first-born home.

I did and they did.

Since Prince William will be 36 in a few weeks time, that special moment was indeed a whole 36 years ago.

And still a little newcomer into the Royal Family delights us and those who say a third baby doesn’t bring the same interest as a first, have clearly got it wrong.

What’s more, in the Middleton family, this is a double celebration year. Catherine’s sister Pippa is pregnant with her first child, expected in October.

And as for the fans, the middle-aged lady wrapped in a union flag who had been waiting on the pavement for 15 days just for yesterday’s moment, was not alone.

Weatherwise, it must have been a bit like a fortnight’s holiday – hot and cold – for them.

So babies and weddings definitely rule for the exciting months ahead.

Head of our premier family and now in her 93rd year, the Queen welcomes yet another great grandchild and if she follows her own tradition in recent times, Her Majesty will doubtless make more than one private visit to peer into the Kensington Palace crib this week and may even be offered a precious cuddle.

And as George, Charlotte, oh, and the parents, adapt to life with another very special and healthy member of it, a new Prince joining the clan, clearly the nation is in the mood to celebrate.