The Duchess of Cambridge, Duchess Kate Delivers A Baby Girl

Duchess Kate of Cambridge safely delivered a baby girl at 8:34 a.m. Saturday London time.

"Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter at 8.34am,"Kensington Palace announced by Twitter and email. "The baby weighs 8lbs 3oz."

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, was present for the birth.

"The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall,Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news.

"Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well."

Kensington Palace announced that the Duchess of Cambridge checked into St. Mary's Hospital maternity Lindo Wing at 6 a.m. local time. Her anticipated due date was around April 25, so she was about a week overdue.

The announcement was the previously arranged signal to the world media to rush to the barricaded press pens outside the hospital, in London's Paddington neighborhood not far from Kensington Palace.

Now the wait starts for the birth. The British public is betting it will be a princess, and no less than grandpa Prince Charles is hoping the new fourth-in-line will be a girl.

"We're hoping for a granddaughter!" he told a veteran he met at an event at Windsor Castle on Thursday.

Last time, for the July 2013 birth of the couple's first child, Prince George of Cambridge, the media spent weeks on stakeout outside the hospital, sweltering in unusual heat and getting in the way of hospital patients and staff.