London, Jul 13: The expected arrival of Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge. and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge's baby later this month will be a royal birth like no other in history.
Not just because of the global fascination with the event, but because it will be the first time that a newborn royal daughter would have equal status to that of a newborn royal son.
It is more than two years since Prince William and Catherine Middleton were married at Westminster Abbey, emerging as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
After their fairytale wedding, the couple threw themselves into royal duties, including a visit to the South Seas late last year to mark the Queen's diamond jubilee.
Duty also called for an heir and when Catherine checked into hospital in December with severe morning sickness, the news was out - rather earlier than planned - that the couple were expecting a child.
After that initial blip, Catherine glided through the rest of her pregnancy, cutting a serene and stylish figure as she carried out a solo engagement when she named a cruise ship in June.
"May God bless her and all who sail in her," she said, laughing with delight as she smashed a champagne bottle against the ship's hull.
Now all eyes are on the private Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London, where the baby is due to be born.
William is expected to be with Catherine in the delivery suite.
In former years they wouldn't have been alone - tradition required the Home Secretary (Interior Minister) to be present to ensure no baby-swapping took place.
Royal historian Hugo Vickers said this tradition lived on until as recently as the birth of Queen Elizabeth II, and her late sister, Princess Margaret, who was born in 1930.
"Luckily, these days the Home Secretary doesn't have to be present," Vickers said. "But he did have to be present for example when the Queen was born, although not actually in the room."
"One poor Home Secretary had to spend three weeks in Scotland waiting for Princess Margaret to be born, because she arrived rather late," said Vickers.
After their baby is born, the Duke and Duchess are due to take up residence in a wing of Kensington Palace, home to William's late mother Diana, Princess of Wales.
William will commute back and forth from the Welsh island of Anglesey, where he is in the final few months of his contract as a search and rescue pilot with the Royal Air Force.
Their baby, of course, was always going to be special.
But this one will be unique - the first case of gender equality in a thousand years of royal history.
Until now a son has automatically taken precedence over a daughter, even if the daughter is the older sibling.
But this royal birth will be different, Hugo Vickers said.
"In the past, a boy would always have taken precedence over his sister, even if he had four or five older sisters."
"The birth is a new situation because of the Succession to the Crown Act. Whatever sex the child is, it will be the future monarch after Prince Charles and Prince William - whether it be a boy or a girl," he said.
The new baby will be third in line to the throne, after Prince Charles and Prince William himself.
Prince Charles is already 64, and there's been speculation that when the 87 year-old Queen Elizabeth II dies, the monarchy will skip a generation.
This would see Prince William, who is 31, taking up the throne instead of his father.
But Hugo Vickers, who is well connected in royal circles, said this is out of the question.
"There is no possibility that Prince Charles will be passed over, nor should he be passed over," he said.
"He will come to the throne in the fullness of time, better experienced than any of his predecessors, certainly including the present Queen who was very young at the time she came to the throne," said Vickers.
