ROYAL BABY: IT'S A GIRL! BRITISH PEOPLE CELEBRATE THE ARRIVAL OF ANOTHER ROYAL BABY.

The announcement came by way of a statement released by Kensington Palace shortly after 11am. It was then posted on the palace's official Twitter page two minutes later. 

'Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter at 8.34am,' it said.

'The baby weighs 8lbs 3oz. 'The Duke of Cambridge was present for the birth. 'The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Harry and members of both families have been informed and are delighted with the news.

'Her Royal Highness and her child are both doing well.'

William and Kate’s new daughter, a younger sister for Prince George, who was born at the same hospital in July 2013, is fourth in line to the throne.

Although she is unlikely to ever become queen, it is not unheard of for a second child in the direct line of succession to accede to the throne.

Mostly recently the Queen’s own father, King George V1, replaced his elder brother, King Edward V111, who abdicated over his love for the ‘unsuitable’ American divorcee Wallis Simpson.

Thanks to a recent change in the law, the couple’s daughter cannot be superseded in her claim to the throne by any younger brother who may yet come along.

The Succession to the Crown Act, passed in 2013, means that male heirs no longer precede their elder sisters in the line of succession

A 2012 intervention by the Queen also means that the new baby will automatically become an HRH – Her Royal Highness – and be permitted to take the title of princess.

As the second child of the second heir to the throne she would, until then, only have been a Lady.

Her arrival will shunt his uncle, Prince Harry, down to fifth in the order of succession. Her great uncle, Prince Andrew, will fall out of the top five for the first time to sixth.

Many royal watchers had been desperately hoping for a girl – the last to be born in the direct line of succession was Princess Anne back in 1950.

Both Prince Charles and William’s late mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, both openly longed for a girl to add to their family. More photos after the cut...