to think that the four hour gap between birth and announcement...

[northlight]

was a bit much. I can quite see that the parents would want an hour or even two before they let the world in, so to speak, but the family do hold the position they do and this was also a public event. It was only an announcement, there was no expectation that the father would emerge to speak to the waiting press and it would not have affected their time with the baby in any way.

Was it a pop at the press? Understandable, given the history but there were ordinary people waiting outside the palace in the heat and it seems perverse to miss the early evening news slots.

In the interests of full disclosure, I'm not a monarchist but it's the institution, not the people, I dislike. Does anyone else find this a little off?

really?!

No. I'd imagine they wanted to make sure that family and close relatives and friends knew before Kay Burley gasped it out on Sky News.

We have absolutely no idea what was going on in that hospital. They may have had good reasons (which are nothing to do with us) why it wasn't announced sooner.

I thought it was perfectly acceptable, I'm sure someone more articulate than me will be along, but I really can't see a problem.

How vile.

Oh, for God's sake.

What?? It was only 4 hours! I think it was nice for them to keep it to themselves for a little while.

I don't see the problem, it was entirely up to them.

If the general public were daft enough to be waiting outside the hospital or the palace in the hot weather then more fool them.

Leave them the hell alone!

It was almost three hours for me second time around as I wasn't well post surgery and then we wanted some time just us knowing.

YADDDBU

No.

Some people are so impatient these days. They think they're entitled to know everything about everyone else the minute it happens.

There is so much more in the world to get pissed off about, is this worth the space in your head, really?

Is there anything left that you can have a go at them about?

FFS

You are being very unfair. There is a lot to do during the first few hours after birth and issuing a appropriately worded press release would not be top of my list.

Maybe Kate or the baby were a bit poorly and they wanted to get that sorted first?

I think it could have / would have been longer but there was a threat of it leaking (hence they changed the planned method of announcement).

I think it was a very reasonable amount of time to keep such joyous news within the family, allowing time for it to filter down to aunties, uncles, cousins, friends etc before telling the whole world. In fact, they could have kept it quiet until the following morning and I still think that would have been reasonable.

It's really not worth caring or thinking about.

What is the point of this thread really? Just another pop and Kate and Will.

They wanted to tell their parents, their siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles etc first like most people do.

I am 99.9% sure if they had announced it straight away then someone would have moaned about that too.

Its not a public event.

They are still a young couple having their first baby, wanting to cherish the moments that every other parent has, make excited calls to their families, take private photos etc.

I can't believe they came out yesterday giving interviews, thats far more than I would have done this early on.

4 hours before their brand new baby became public property....I'd have waited much longer in their positition if I could have to be honest.

(Not that I've been interested in the whole general frenzy anyway. .. woman has baby shock!!)

I thought it was lovely - for a short while they were just a new family, delighted in their little bubble with no intrusion and with their own little 'secret'. It was only 4 hours not 4 days FGS!

FWIW I also thought she looked lovely and I am a teensy bit jealous - we have very few photos of the first day of my baby and I look crap -happy but crap. In retrospect/if I was loaded I would love something I could actually put on the mantlepiece which is us as a family from that first few precious hours - not just the baby.

Totally up to them. Their baby may be a Prince but he is still theirs and why shouldn't they get some alone time to bond with their child. I didn't realise there was a time limit on when they have to make the announcement. They didn't have to show the baby off so soon but they did for the public. Why be so anti them having a few quiet hours of being a new family before the announcement?

Really? Why not write and say you want some of your taxes back for the 4 hours you were kept waiting? While you're about it, complain that you didn't get a personal message informing you directly

As Tyler says, we have no idea what happened during or after the birth and they may have wanted to a) wait till checks were done or treatment given and b) speak to a list of friends/family, before any public announcement was made. We pay for their upkeep, we don't own their souls.

I'm a string them all up from lamp posts republican, but even I don't begrudge them four hours of privacy. Four hours. Christ, I was still out cold four hours after birth!