Prince George of Cambridge

Announcement

On 3 December 2012, Clarence House announced that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were expecting their first child. At less than twelve weeks, the announcement was made earlier in the pregnancy than is traditional because of the Duchess's admission to hospital with hyperemesis gravidarum. During this time, a couple of Australian radio jockeys attempted to ring up the Hospital, where Catherine was spending the night. They tried to put on fake British accents and mimicked the Queen and Prince Charles. The nurse who answered their call later committed suicide.

Before the birth, there was speculation the event would boost the British national economy and provide a focus for national pride. Welsh composer Paul Mealor, who composed "Ubi Caritas et Amor" for the wedding of the Duke and Duchess, composed a lullaby entitled "Sleep On", with lyrics by Irish composer Brendan Graham. A recording was made of it by New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra as a gift for the baby. Commemorative coins were issued by the Royal Mint, Royal Canadian Mint, and Royal Australian Mint; the first time a royal birth had been marked that way.

Birth

The Duchess was admitted to St Mary's Hospital, London, in the early stages of labour on 22 July 2013. She gave birth to a boy weighing 8 pounds 6 ounces (3.80 kg) at 16:24 BST (15:24 UTC) later the same day.

The birth took place in the Lindo Wing of St Mary's—the same hospital in which Prince William and his brother, Prince Harry, were born to Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1982 and 1984, respectively. Queen Elizabeth II's former gynaecologist, Marcus Setchell, delivered the baby assisted by Guy Thorpe-Beeston, Sunit Godambe and Physician to the Queen John Cunningham. The midwifery team accompanying the gynaecologists was led by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust's director of midwifery Professor Jackie Dunkley-Bent. William was by his wife's side when she gave birth.

The customary formal bulletin announcing the royal birth was displayed on an easel outside Buckingham Palace, although in a break with tradition the news was first conveyed in a press release from palace officials. Gun salutes signalled the birth in the capitals of Bermuda, the UK, New Zealand, and Canada; the bells of Westminster Abbey and many other churches were rung; and iconic landmarks in the Commonwealth realms were illuminated in various colours, mostly blue to signify the birth of a boy.

The Duchess and her baby, accompanied by the Duke, left hospital on 23 July, and the baby's name was announced as George Alexander Louis the following day. William took the full two weeks' paternity leave from his job (as a RAF search and rescue pilot) allowed by the Ministry of Defence.

Prince George's birth marked the second time that three generations of direct heirs to the British throne have been alive at the same time, a situation that last occurred between 1894 and 1901, in the last seven years of the reign of Queen Victoria.

Biography

Prince George was baptised by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace on 23 October 2013, with Oliver Baker, Emilia Jardine-Paterson, Hugh Grosvenor, 7th Duke of Westminster, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, The Hon. Julia Samuel, William van Cutsem and Zara Tindall serving as godparents. The ceremony used a font that was made for Queen Victoria's first child and water from the River Jordan. The Royal Mint issued a set of commemorative coins to celebrate the christening, the first coins to mark a royal christening in Britain.

George, with his parents, embarked on his first royal tour in April 2014, during which the Cambridges spent three weeks in New Zealand and Australia. His first public engagement of the tour was on 9 April at a playdate at Government House, Wellington, organised by the New Zealand parenting organisation, Plunket. His parents also attended. On 20 April, Easter Sunday, he met a bilby named after him at Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The BBC said at the end of the tour "there's no doubt Prince George stole the limelight".

George's first birthday party was themed around children's author Beatrix Potter, who knew and was related to members of the Lupton family, George's maternal ancestors.

On 2 May 2015, George visited the hospital of his birth after the birth of his sister Charlotte, his first public appearance in the United Kingdom. He made his first public appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace following the Trooping the Colour parade on 13 June that year, to watch a flypast by the Red Arrows on the Queen's Official Birthday.

In August 2015, Kensington Palace stated that they wanted all global media to stop taking unauthorised photographs of George, as they believed "a line has been crossed" in paparazzi methods of locating and photographing him.

In January 2016, George started his education at the Westacre Montessori School Nursery, near his family home at Anmer Hall in Norfolk. That April, he was photographed for postage stamps to mark his great-grandmother's 90th birthday, alongside his father and grandfather. On 22 April of that year, he met President of the United States Barack Obama. He was photographed with a rocking horse that Obama had given him when he was born. The encounter later prompted Obama to joke that "Prince George showed up to our meeting in his bathrobe... a clear breach of protocol."

On 20 May 2017, Prince George served as a page boy at the wedding of his aunt, Pippa Middleton, to James Matthews.

Prince George attended his first day of primary school on 7 September 2017 at the private Thomas's School in Battersea. Upon Prince George's arrival at school that day, the backpack carried by his father had the name "George Cambridge" on the tag; it was confirmed later that day that this is the name Prince George will use at school.

Prince George effect

The Prince George effect, also known as the royal baby effect, is the trend that news about Prince George has in business and pop culture, similar to his mother's. Clothing and products identified as used by George tend to sell better than before. The effect was noted during his April 2014 tour of New Zealand and Australia and many businesses have attempted to use this effect to their advantage. He was ranked No. 49 on GQ's "50 Best Dressed Men in Britain" list in 2015. In 2016, the dressing gown he wore while meeting President Obama sold out after he was seen wearing it. In September 2017 the news that the prince's school had served a Le Puy green lentil dish resulted a spike in the legume's sales.

Title and style

Prince George's official title and style is His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge. While his name was announced two days after his birth, he was, from birth, a British prince entitled to the style of Royal Highness under letters patent issued by his great-great-great grandfather, King George V in 1917, which gave the title and style to the eldest son of the Prince of Wales's eldest son. Letters patent issued on 31 December 2012 by Queen Elizabeth II extended the 1917 patent so that all children of the Prince of Wales's eldest son are princes or princesses with the style Royal Highness. As with other princes and princesses who are born to royal dukes, George's territorial designation is taken from his father's title, in this case "Cambridge", from Duke of Cambridge.