The 'Great Kate Wait' nears end

Prince William's wife Kate has gone into labour and been admitted to hospital for the birth of the couple's first child who will be third in line to the British throne, his office said on Monday.

After weeks of feverish media speculation over the arrival of the royal baby, Kate, 31, was taken shortly before 0500 GMT on Monday to the private wing of St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, west London, where William himself was born in 1982.

"The duchess travelled by car from Kensington Palace to the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital with the Duke of Cambridge," Kensington Palace said in a statement.

"Things are progressing as normal. It wasn't an emergency."

Royal sources have said Kate has planned a natural birth with William, a Royal Air Force search and rescue helicopter pilot, to be at her side.

The sex of the baby, who will be third in line to the throne behind grandfather Prince Charles and father William, is unknown as the royal couple want it to be a surpr