THE ROYAL BABY

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 112, 7 November 1935, Page 19

THE ROYAL BABY

REJOICINGS IN LONDON

SEVENTH IN SUCCESSION

(From "The Post's" Representative.) '; \ LONDON, October 12.

The Duchess of Kent returned to her London home, 3 Belgrave Square, from the Continent and from Adsdeari, the Sussex seat of Lord Louis' Mountbatten, nine days before the birth of her son, at 2.15 a.m. on October 9. The news was immediately conveyed by telephone to Sandringham, where the King and Queen are in residence. The Home Secretary, Sir John Simon, was called to Belgrave .Square just before the doctors had arrived. The Duke of Kent, Prince and Princess Nicholas of Greece, and .Countess Toerririg, who had been: staying with her sister for the past few weeks, were also in the house. The Court Circular from - Sandringham - announced that the King and Queen had "received with great pleasure the news that the Duchess of Kent gave birth to a son this morning." It is officially stated that the weight of the Prince at birth was 6Jib. The child will rank as seventh in succession to the Throne. Prince and Princess Nicholas re-' mained .until they had seen their new grandson .'and were assured that the new .arrival arid his mother were both doing well. ■ They left at- about a quarter'to four, th,T Duke of Kent going, to-the door to see them off. ; ;.,;r;/TH:E.ANNOUNCE3aENT. /, Soon-after dawn the announcement was outside the Home Office. A car,, pulled up, and an official holding a rolled sheet of paper alighted. He rang. A night atten3ant opened the door, and for a few minutes they

stood together ;in, the lobby. The attendant then appeared with the paper pinned to a notice-board, and this lie hooked on the wall. A .-policeman strolled across from near the Cenotaph, and saw the bulletin. He stopped a 'taxi-driver and drew his attention to the news. They .were the first of hundreds, to read it. V

The news was also communicated to theLordMayorof London. The Lord Mayor's secretary was in attendance, and after, delivering the message to the Lord.Mayor and Lady Mayoress he prepared an announcement which, was posted on the door, of the Mansion House.

| One of the first outside the Royal Family to be informed was Archbishop Germanos, Permanent Delegate to London from the Patriarch of Constantinople. The everrt had been prepared for by members of the ■ Greek Orthodox Church in London. Many days ago they purchased candles which were blessed at the church and in accordance with tradition ' they were lighted in the morning. The happy event was made known by the firing of the" Park arid Tower guns. The latter salute of 41 guns was fired by detachments from A and B Batteries of the Honourable Artillery Company. DOCTORS AND NURSES. The Duchess's doctors, Mr. G. Gilliatt and Mr. A. E. Gow, were summoned to Belgrave Square late on Tuesday night. The two nurses, Miss Louie Roberts, of Wilmslow^ and.Miss Ethel. Smith, who came to England recently from Yugoslavia, were both in attendance.

Mr. Gilliatt, Harley Street specialist, is surgeon at the Samaritan Free Hospital for Women, obstetric and gynaecological surgeon at King's College Hospital, gynaecologist at St. Saviour's Hospital, examines for the .Central Midwifery Board, consultant gynaecologist, Bromley Cottage Hospital, and the Maudsley Hospital, and consultant obstetrician to the Deptford Borough Council. He is a fellow of the College of Obstreticians and Gynaecologists, and also of the Royal Society of Medicine. At one time he was resident medical officer and obstetric surgeon at Queen Charlotte's Lying-in Hospital. He has held several important appointments at Middlesex Hospital.

Mr. Gow was appointed by the Duke of Kent about two months ago to be Physician-in-Ordinary to his household. He is in practice at Upper Harley Street. Mr. Gow is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, member of the Royal College of Surgeons, Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, and member both of the' Association of Physicians of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Medical Association. For many years hg_ has been closely associated with St. Bartholomew's Hospital. • He is co-author with Lord Horder of "Essentials of Medical Diagnosis."

Nurse Smith has tended the two sons of the Duchess of Kent's sister, Princess Paul of Yugoslavia, for four years. Trained at ,Tunbridge Wells, Kent, she went in 1931 to Belgrave. She met the Duchess of Kent the summer before last at Lake Bohinj, where the Royal couple became engaged, and was among the first to congratulate them. She was a guest at the Duchess's wedding in London. Nurse Roberts was for many years district nurse in W.ilmslow, where she has a private nursing practice. She attended Princess Paul at the birth of her two sons. It was then that she met the Duchess of Kent.

The Prince of Wales offered his congratulations in the evening. He remained at the house for about ten minutes, and saw his sister-in-law and the infant Prince. Fraternal bonds between the Prince and the Duke of Kent are particularly close, and the Prince is likelx to be the principal

godfather to his nephew.

; So great was the rush of congratulatory telegrams and messages at the Duke of Kent's home that extra staff were called in to deal with them.. THE BABY'S TITLE; There is . speculation' as to the title which will be taken by 'the child. H^ will not be known as the Earl of St. Andrews—one of his father's, titles— as would.have been the case if his father had not been a, member of the Royal Family. Mr. C. F. J. Hankinson, the editor of "Debrett's Peerage," says

j "It may <be taken as certain that the baby will, according to the; Christian name he is given, be",known as .'Prince George of ;Kent," or 'Prince Charles of Kent.1 A subsidiar; title will not' operate until " the 'third -generation," when, by a proclamation of July, 1917, the title of Prince is limited. There is an analogous position in the .case of the Duke of Connaught and his descendants. His son took the title of Prince Arthur of Connaught. It was not until the next generationt.iat the heir took the courtesy title of the Earl of Macduff." . -■■■■■■; One of the telegrams ■to the Duke from the Bath Club announced that "your son has been elected a junior member of the club, so that in swimming and squash he may, we hope, continue the family tradition." ' ,: There were enthusiastic cheers at the luncheon of the Electrical Association for Women, when' Lady Brooks gave the toast of "The new baby." The British Beekeepers' Association sent a gift of honey. It was preceded by a telegram saying: "Congratulations on happy event from British Beekeepers' Association. Honey following." GIFT FROM QUEEN. The "Daily . Telegraph" announces that the cradle and the baby ; basket were the Queen's own gift. She desired that everything for the baby should be white. The cot' is made of wicker work, with delicate;hangings of white chiffon, trimmed with lace and ribbons. The hood is trimmed in the same way. The basket has been de-

signed to match. The layette is the gift of • the women members of the Royal family. They have made the larger part of it themselves. For weeks the Queen, the Duchess of York, the Princess Royal and other relatives have been crocheting and knitting small garments. A.great part of this October layette : consist of "woollies." • There are long clothes and short, and many dainty little frocks, with hand embroidery and tucks. Jugo-Slav peasants made and presented to the Duchess some nursery linen, beautifully embroidered. "ALWAYS WANTED A BOY." The news was received with rejoicing 'in Belgrade and Paris. A close friend of the Duchess of Kent in Paris is quoted by Reuter as saying, "She always wanted a boy.".-. The order of succession to,the British throne: is:—The Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Margaret Rose, the Duke of Glouticulars of the latest shoipsETAOlN— cester, the Duke.of Kent, his heir, the Princess Royal, Viscount Lascelles, the Hon. Gerald Lascelles. ; ■