Royal baby announcement - as it happened

Time to end this live blog on the second royal baby. Thanks for reading and for your comments. You can read Rob Booth’s full story here. In brief, here is what we know.

• The Duchess of Cornwall is suffering from acute morning sickness, as she did with her first pregnancy.
• She is being treated by doctors at her apartments in Kensington Palace and will no longer joining her husband on a planned engagement in Oxford on Monday afternoon.
  
• Palace said the pregnancy had not yet reached the 12-week point, but the couple decided to make the announcement because the duchess was due to undertake public engagements that are now in doubt.

Nissan managed to produce an ad just seven minutes after Clarence House announced that William and Kate were expecting their second child, reports Campaign, with covers the advertising industry.

Radio Times has concocted a royal baby quiz asking people to match the right name to the photos.

In July, Caroline Davies, the Guardian’s Royals watcher, filed this story on royal childhood at the palace, which included details on gifts to the royal children through the years.

Down the line, Prince George got a handmade rocking horse, courtesy of Barack Obama, complete with American presidential seal on the saddle, personalised plaque, and polo mallet, its head carved from the branch of an oak tree from the White House lawn. That gift joins a crowded stable of rocking horses, including the toys Caesar and Beauty, which belonged to Elizabeth and Margaret, also on show.

George also received a tricycle, modelled on a “Boris bike”, presented by the London mayor “to acculturate him to the joys of cycling”. When older, though, he might prefer the Aston Martin given to a six-year-oldPrince Andrew, a replica of the DB5 used in the James Bond film Goldfinger, which sports rotating number plates, machine guns behind the side lights, pop-up bullet shield and smokescreen.

British media circus over the royal baby? Surely not. Here’s the Hollywood Reporter, the magazine that covers Hollywood royalty, on British media reaction.

An otherwise slow start to the week sprung into a media frenzy in the UK after the royal family announced that Kate Middleton was pregnant with child number two with Prince William.

“Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting their second child,” the Royal office Clarence House said in a statement.

Major news channels the BBC, Sky News and ITV were all quick to announce the breaking news, pushing the story to the top of their websites and poring over the limited facts released in the announcement; that Middleton was suffering from acute morning sickness and was being treated by doctors at Kensington Palace.

Novelist Hari Kunzu reveals his cynical side.

But he is not the only one to wonder about the timing. Alice Ross of the FT is another one.

The French as we know are obsessed by things royal.

My colleague, Robert Booth, has the latest update on the royal news. Here’s a snippet.

Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their second child, the Royal Family said on Monday morning. The announcement was made from Clarence House on Twitter.

“The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting their second child,” it said.

“The Queen and members of both families are delighted with the news that their Royal Highnesses are expecting their second child.”

The Duchess of Cornwall is suffering from acute morning sickness, as she did with her first pregnancy, and is being treated by doctors at her apartments in Kensington Palace. She will no longer joining her husband on a planned engagement in Oxford on Monday afternoon. They were set to open The Dickson Poon University of Oxford China Centre Building and meet members of St Hugh’s College staff.

“She is at home being looked after by the surgeon gynaecologist to the Queen, Alan Farthing, and the surgeon gynaecologist to the royal household, Guy Thorpe-Beeston,” said a palace spokeswoman.

The palace said the pregnancy has not yet reached the 12-week point, but the couple decided to make the announcement because the duchess was due to undertake a series of public engagements in the coming weeks which are now in doubt.

News of the royal baby is bad timing for the Lib Dems.

Ed Miliband has tweeted his congratulations too.

Alex Salmond has just jumped on the royal baby tweetwagon.

Not everyone was excited about the first royal baby. The Queen’s cousin, Margaret Rhodes, said at the time: “Everybody has babies.” The obvious retort is that this is not just any baby.

PA reports that Kate’s pregnancy has not passed the 12-week stage - a similar position to when she was struck by the illness when in the early stages of her first pregnancy.

A Kensington Palace spokesman said the Duchess’s attendance at future events would be decided on a “case by case” basis. Kate is scheduled to be among the guests at the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games in London on Wednesday evening along with William, Harry and the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

The following day she is due to attend a solemn Drumhead service at Lee Valley Athletics Centre with the Duke and Harry, and later with William to watch Invictus competitors taking part in matches and heats. The Duchess is due to make her first official solo overseas tour for two days in two weeks’ time, from September 20-21.

A spokesman said: “We will be planning this on a case by case basis - it’s too early to talk about Malta and Invictus.”

The great and the good are piling in with their congratulations.

David Cameron has offered his congratulations. Can Alex Salmond be far behind?

Laura Elston, Press Association court reporter, considers the question of the “spare to the heir.

The “spare to the heir” is often a difficult role to fulfil within the royal family.

Second-born royals are characteristically less cautious and enjoy the freedom that comes with not having to prepare to rule as monarch.

But the position is open to criticism as the privileged and sometimes troublesome younger sibling to a future sovereign attempts to carve out a life for themselves amid the scrutiny of being an HRH.

Prince Harry, the Duke of York and the late Princess Margaret were all spares to the heirs and each encountered criticism over their conduct.

Now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s second child will be born as next in line after an older sibling and grow up in the same position.

Unlike Prince George, this prince or princess will be free from the responsibility of one day having to become monarch.

Whereas George is expected to eventually become king, as well as head of the armed forces and the Church of England, and possibly head of the Commonwealth, the younger Cambridge sibling is likely to have a less restrictive future.

Prince Harry has traditionally been dubbed a party prince in contrast to his older brother William - a future king. It is Harry who has scuffled with paparazzi photographers and been pictured naked playing strip billiards in Las Vegas.

Perhaps this is the fillip the no campaign needs. Clairvoyant Claire Phipps is probably not the only one to raise this intriguing possibility.

Kate was due to join William in formally opening Oxford University’s £21m centre dedicated to the study of China. He will still attend, as planned, Kensington Palace said. The announcement that the couple are expecting their second child comes two months after Prince George turned one. The third in line to the throne was born on 22 July last year amid much hoopla.

Kate suffered with hyperemesis gravidarum with her last pregnancy and is suffering from the very acute morning sickness again, meaning she may need extra hydration, medication and nutrients. The couple’s second child will become fourth in line to the throne, shifting Prince Harry further down the line of succession. The Duchess of Cambridge’s announcement will throw into doubt whether she will be able to attend her first solo overseas tour, set to take place in Malta later this month.

Quick off the mark, Paddy Power is offering odds on the new royal baby’s name. The bookie makes Elizabeth its favourite along with Henry and Victoria at 10/1with Charlotte and Arthur also amongst the frontrunners at 12/1. Elsewhere, Paddy Power make it 10/11 for the baby to be female while it’s 10/11 for baby George to be joined by a younger brother. Here are the top names.

10/1 Elizabeth

10/1 Henry

10/1 Victoria

12/1 Charlotte

12/1 Arthur

12/1 William

12/1 Alice

12/1 Philip

12/1 Alexandra

12/1 Catherine/Kate

12/1 Charles

16/1 James

16/1 Mary

16/1 Frances

20/1 Albert

20/1 Alexander

20/1 Diana

20/1 Spencer

Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their second child, the Royal Family said this morning. The announcement was made from Clarence House on Twitter.

“The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that The Duchess of Cambridge is expecting their second child,” it said. “The Queen and members of both families are delighted with the news that their Royal Highnesses are expecting their second child.”

The news follows widespread expectation that the couple, both 32, were trying for a second child. Prince George, their first child, is 13 months old.