The Duchess of Cambridge has been in familiar hands for the birth of her baby boy.
Consultant obstetrician Guy Thorpe-Beeston and consultant gynaecologist Alan Farthing were the two senior royal doctors overseeing the birth of her third child today.
Both were called in for the arrival of Prince George in 2013 and Princess Charlotte in 2015.
Consultant obstetrician Guy Thorpe-Beeston (left) and consultant gynaecologist Alan Farthing (right) were the two senior royal doctors overseeing the birth
Mr Farthing, the Queen’s surgeon-gynaecologist, was engaged to BBC presenter Jill Dando when she was shot dead in April 1999.
He was a pioneer in keyhole surgery and today specialises in using the technique to treat gynaecological cancer patients.
Mr Thorpe-Beeston, surgeon-gynaecologist to the Royal Household, delivered Charlotte in 2015.
He has a Harley Street practice, and is a consultant at the Portland private hospital and at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital for the NHS.
A Cambridge graduate, he specialised in foetal medicine at King’s College Hospital, and is an expert in high-risk pregnancies and recurrent miscarriage.
Sir Marcus Setchell, who was the Queen’s surgeon-gynaecologist and who delivered Prince George, has since retired.
Midwives will also be attending to Kate at the exclusive Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, central London.
But a team of more than 20 top medical experts will also be on standby in case of an emergency.
Mr Farthing was engaged to BBC presenter Jill Dando when she was shot dead in April 1999
Theatre staff were waiting in the wings, along with a lab technician, replacement anaesthetists and paediatricians, a back-up for the consultant, and workers from a special baby care unit.
The Lindo Wing, where Kate had George and Charlotte, is a private facility offering ‘world-class maternity care’.
The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry were also born at the exclusive unit.
Kate will again be given a bespoke experience akin to a five-star hotel with en suite rooms available ‘providing a modern, homely environment in which to start your new or expanded family life’, the unit’s website states.
Deluxe rooms and suites are also available.
The latest price list, from July last year to March, states that a standard room package, including a one-night stay, costs from £5,900, while a deluxe package is £6,275 – with an extra night priced at more than £1,000 for both options.
The price of a suite of two rooms, with one used as a living room, is available on application but five years ago it cost £6,265 for a one-night stay.
The Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital is a private facility offering ‘world-class maternity care’
With standard and deluxe care packages rising by around £1,000 since the birth of their first child, William and Kate could spend close to £7,500 for a suite, with consultants’ fees on top of this.
Each room has a satellite TV with major international channels, radio, bedside phone, fridge, free wi-fi and a choice of daily newspapers.
All meals are freshly prepared in a dedicated kitchen and there is even an afternoon tea service, for parents to celebrate their new arrival.
The Lindo Wing’s internationally renowned obstetric unit caters for complex pregnancies and deliveries, as well as multiple births, and it has the benefit of being based in an NHS hospital if further complications arise, including its facilities for premature babies in the Winnicott Baby Unit.
In 2006, William visited the refurbished NHS neonatal unit at St Mary’s, cradling two tiny premature babies – one weighing just 5lb.
Diana, Princess of Wales visited St Mary’s in April 1997 – four months before her death in a Paris car crash – when she toured the paediatric intensive care unit, meeting poorly youngsters.