Princess Diana altered a Royal tradition for her daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton, and her grandchildren, whom she never had the chance to ...
Princess Diana altered a Royal tradition for her daughter-in-law, Kate Middleton, and her grandchildren, whom she never had the chance to meet.
The late Queen is well-known for having given birth to all four of her children - King Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward - at home in Buckingham Palace. However, when it came to her own offspring, Diana chose to break with tradition.
Diana made history by giving birth to Prince William at the Lindo Wing in St Mary's Hospital on 21 June 1982. William was the first heir-apparent to be born in a hospital.
Two years later, Diana returned to the same hospital for the birth of her second child, Prince Harry.
Kate Middleton has since followed in Diana's footsteps. She gave birth to Prince George - who will also one day be King - in July 2013 at the Lindo Wing, where she also welcomed Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, reports the Mirror.Evidently pleased with her experience, Kate's younger sister Pippa also chose the Lindo Wing for the birth of her first child, son Arthur.
Interestingly, Diana was not the first member of the Royal Family to use the Lindo Wing - that honour goes to Princess Anne, who delivered both Peter and Zara Phillips in the exclusive maternity department. The Lindo Wing's rooms are highly sought-after; Amal Clooney also gave birth to her twins there.
The rooms are designed to be comfortable and functional, but not opulent. Meals are cooked by chefs, and a waiter comes round every morning to take orders for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
There's also a wine and champagne list for celebratory toasts, and the option of afternoon tea. Rooms reportedly start at a minimum of £5,215 a night, and suites are available if you apply for them - said to cost around £10,000 a night ($14,0445).
"The most vital thing the Lindo offers is discretion, with each new mother ensconced in her own en-suite room equipped with high-speed internet, radio, safe, fridge and television," Karen Yossman, who gave birth there, wrote in the Telegraph.
"I didn't see or hear another patient during the entirety of my stay." They even reportedly have blackout curtains to ensure privacy for their patients.
There was a team of 20 top medical staff on hand for the birth of Princess Kate's children, including the Queen's surgeon-gynecologist Alan Farthing, the Royal Family's surgeon-gynecologist Guy Thorpe-Beeston, neonatologist and pediatrician Dr. Sunit Godambe, physician to the Queen and head of the medical household Professor Huw Thomas, and a team of midwives including Jacqui Dunkley-Bent and Arona Ahmed, via Town and Country. Not all of them were there on the day, though.
"We had a massive team," revealed Professor Tiong Ghee Teoh, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, following the birth of Princess Charlotte. "For anything that could possibly go wrong we had a team of people behind each speciality. Everyone was sworn to secrecy about who it was."
"We were on call for three months," added anaesthetist Dr. Johanna Bray. "You never know when you need to be called-you need to be in town and available. If you are at a party you need to have your car keys at the ready. No drinking! ".