Prince William plans to take two weeks of paternity leave when his new baby with the Duchess of Cambridge is born.
William, who started a new job as a pilot for East Anglian Air Ambulance last month, will continue his mandatory training in East Anglia in the run-up to the birth, Kensington Palace confirmed.
As was the case when Prince George was born, the palace will confirm when William and Kate's new arrival is on the way via email and Twitter.
Once family members including the Queen have been informed, the first public news of the birth will be posted on an easel situated at the forecourt of Buckingham Palace.
The easel featuring the formal announcement was used to confirm news of Prince George's birth in July 2013, as well as Prince William's arrival in June 1982.
It is expected that if the baby is born overnight, no public announcement will be made until the following morning.
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Kate again plans to give birth at the private Lindo wing of St Mary's Hospital in central London, and the couple are expected to make a public appearance with their new baby.
However, the palace said that it has not yet been decided whether Prince George will visit his new sibling there.
"The Duke and Duchess are hugely grateful for the warm wishes they have received from people throughout the UK and indeed around the world over the last few months," said a palace spokesperson on Thursday (April 9).
"They know that people are excited that Prince George will soon have a little brother or sister, and it means a great deal to them that so many will be celebrating this important moment for their family."
The family are expected to go to Kensington Palace for a couple of days after the birth, then move on to Anmer Hall on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
It was also confirmed that the couple do not know the sex of their baby, and do not expect to take on new staff to help look after the new arrival at the moment.
The duchess was recently quoted as saying that the new royal baby, who will be fourth in line to the throne, is due in mid-to-late April.
Kate (they/she) is a freelance writer, editor, digital editorial trainer and data technician who first joined Digital Spy as an overnight freelance sub-editor in January 2011, after studying a postgraduate diploma in journalism at Salford University while working part-time as a social researcher.
In July 2013, Kate joined the DS staff team as chief sub-editor and following six years as the site's managing editor, their role expanded to incorporate Hearst UK's entertainment portfolio (including Digital Spy and its sibling titles Best and Inside Soap) between late 2024 and early 2026.
Kate has worked as a writer and editor since 2006, with bylines syndicated across the Hearst network and at organisations including Metro. They started their career as a TV production runner for the BBC and contributed to various music websites, blogs and zines while based in Manchester.
During her time at DS, Kate has previously been a freelance sub-editor and chief sub-editor.
Kate's team at Digital Spy were proudly nominated in the Best Subbing/Production Team category at the BSME Talent Awards 2022. Over the years, she has contributed to coverage of many, many Prime Days and Black Friday/Cyber Monday, and was part of the team that launched the DS weekly TV newsletter in November 2019 – followed by the Top of the Shops e-commerce newsletter in May 2024.
Kate's screen passions include Taskmaster (their biggest career regret remains turning down the opportunity to visit the house), nature documentaries, and live sport (up there with the greatest of all soap operas although if asked to choose, it's Corrie… every time).
Her highlights while working at DS have included interviewing Stevie Nicks on the red carpet for her documentary In Your Dreams, sitting at a press roundtable with Formula 1 commentary icon Murray Walker, watching a life-sized LEGO car being driven around Silverstone, writing an album-by-album retrospective of Lady Gaga's genre-defying career for Living Legends, and raising awareness of receiving and understanding a late-in-life ADHD diagnosis through the lens of Bianca and Freddie's EastEnders storyline.
Upon remembering to log off the internet, Kate enjoys live theatre, dance and comedy, appreciating nature, baking (badly), tending a recently-rented allotment (equally badly) and pampering one very spoiled rescue cat named Jolene.
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