I'd been anticipating the royal birth for quite a while, especially
over last week - high alert time! So when I found out through the alert
on my phone Monday morning (yes, I get the alerts on my phone), that
Kate had been admitted to hospital for early labor (or labour here in
the UK - there were many a political joke about that one), I was very
excited!! We were here for study abroad when we got the breaking news
from Buckingham that she was pregnant, and as soon as we both found out
we'd be here for the birth, it was the perfect bookend and Kelly and I
promised we would be at Buckingham Palace for when it was announced.
I
was busy all day, so I hoped that she wouldn't just pop the baby right
on out, and fortunately, by the time I was free, they hadn't announced
the baby yet. (She technically gave birth at 6:24 pm and it was 7:15
when Kelly and I met at Buckingham, but nobody was any the wiser about
it until later.) It was at a bit after 8pm when the courier arrived at
Buckingham to post the announcement on the easel in front of the palace.
Kelly had gone to check out the news broadcast areas, and I was sitting on the curb in front of the palace gates with our bags and food when suddenly everyone started running towards the open gate on the right. I didn't even stop to look for Kelly, I just grabbed her bag and mine and swung them onto my shoulder, snatched up our food bag and open container of strawberries, and awkwardly ran like a hunchback towards the gate. Fortunately it was right behind me, so I didn't have to run far, and was only one person behind from the iron fencing. It was hard to see anything, but there was a guy who'd gotten out of the car, and after a minute or two of everyone pushing and shoving to see, a man yelled "It's a BOY!" and everyone went even more berserk than they already were.
I remember then everyone kind of ran/shuffled in this huge mob along the fencing towards the main center gate where someone set up a golden easel behind the fence (I didn't see this right away, because I'd been kind of shuffled farther behind after miraculously finding Kelly in the mob). On the easel was the [very small A4 size] paper... I mean, they couldn't have sprung for a poster size declaration with bigger writing? Anyway, after what must have been 20-30 minutes of holding my camera up above the crowd in one hand and my phone up in the other, feeling like my arms were going to fall off but having no room to lower them without bonking someone on the head, having people's faces right around my armpit region, sweating profusely from every pore, bumping and shoving and stepping on toes,...
finally we got to the front and were able to get our photo(s) before starting the perilous journey back out of the mob.
When we finally got out, it was literally a breath of fresh air, and the practically non-existent breeze felt like the most welcome windstorm. We stayed to soak in all the excitement, watch as the news broadcasters went around filming, interviewing, snapping photos, etc, and we took many of our own photos as well (until my camera died - of course my camera HAD to have low battery and die on this night of all nights). But at least I got my photos of the easel and announcement!
"Her Royal Highness, The Duchess of Cambridge, has safely delivered a son at 6:24 pm today.
Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well."
