William, Kate take new princess home

LONDON — It's a princess! And Britain got to see her, wrapped in a blanket, just about nine hours after her birth.

Duchess Kate of Cambridge safely delivered a baby girl at 8:34 a.m. London time Saturday.

The baby arrived after less than three hours of labor. At 5:30 p.m. London time, Kensington Palace announced that mother and baby would be leaving the hospital Saturday evening local time.

Shortly after, Prince William and Duchess Kate emerged from the hospital, posed and waved to the crowd and got into cars to return to Kensington Palace.

Kate looked fresh and relaxed as she held her baby in her arms. She was dressed in a yellow-and-white buttercup-print shift dress by Jenny Packham. Her hair was loose and flowing. She did not look as if she had just been through labor.

It was a rapid end to a long week of waiting.

"Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter at 8.34am," Kensington Palace announced by Twitter and email. "The baby weighs 8lbs 3oz."

"Prince William, 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."

Kensington Palace announced that the duchess checked into St. Mary's Hospital maternity Lindo Wing at 6 a.m. local time. Her anticipated due date was around April 25, so she was about a week overdue.

The announcement was the previously arranged signal to the world media to rush to the barricaded press pens outside the hospital, in London's Paddington neighborhood not far from Kensington Palace.

They were there to capture pictures of Prince William leaving the hospital around 4 p.m. local time, to pick up Prince George, 21 months old. He told the waiting crowds the couple were "very happy," according to British media on the scene.

Fifteen minutes later, he was back with George, carrying him up the steps of the hospital as the little prince stared with seeming amazement at the media mob and shyly waved his hand. It was the first time he had been seen in public in the U.K. since his own birth in 2013, when his parents emerged from St. Mary's with him in their arms. He waved a tiny hand then, too.

Celebrations over the news of the birth began immediately, outside the hospital and in London.

Although the news was conveyed first via social media and email (the royals have become digitally savvy), the traditional framed announcement on fancy paper was posted on an easel just inside the gates of Buckingham Palace later in the morning.

Amy Thompson, who camped outside the hospital for 13 days, said that she always knew it was going to be a girl.

"It means a lot to the people in Britain who support the royal family," she said.

She said that Princess Diana, William's mother who died in a car crash in 1997, always wanted a little girl and for that reason the baby should be called Diana. But she said she would prefer the name Charlotte.

Terry Hutt, 80, who was wearing a tailor-made suit emblazoned with a British flag pattern, said that he was delighted the new baby was a girl. "There's room for more children in their family," he said. "The main thing is that she's healthy."

The British public had bet heavily the baby would be a princess, and no less than Grandpa, Prince Charles, declared he hoped the new fourth-in-line would be a girl.

"We're hoping for a granddaughter!" he told a veteran he met at an event at Windsor Castle on Thursday.

The baby is historic because, under changed succession rules, she will be the first royal heir in nearly 1,000 years to keep her place in the succession even if her parents later have another boy.

Last time, for the July 2013 birth of the couple's first child, Prince George of Cambridge, the media spent weeks on stakeout outside the hospital, sweltering in unusual heat and getting in the way of hospital patients and staff.

This time, palace and hospital officials, seeking to avoid the craziness of the last time, decreed a new system: Media organizations reserved a spot in the press pen in advance, and only after the duchess checked in would they be allowed to gather to await the birth.

Still, some die-hard royal fans, draped in Union Jacks, started gathering days ago.

Before the birth, the atmosphere inside the hospital was "buzzing" and the nurses and midwives are excited, said Davina Johnson, 34, a mother who gave birth a few days ago and is on the same floor of St. Mary's as the duchess.

The name of the infant will likely not be announced until the day after she leaves the hospital, at the earliest.

Britain's leading politicians have been among the first to send their good wishes.

The birth of the royal baby comes as Britain is gripped by one of the closest general election campaigns — taking place Thursday — in decades. During the campaign, the leaders of the main political parties have mostly avoided talking about the royal family, a divisive issue here and not one that is a clear vote-winner.

However, early Saturday, the incumbent, Prime Minister David Cameron of the Conservative Party, was the first of the party leaders to wish the Duchess of Cambridge well.

"With the rest of the nation, I'll be wishing them well today, hoping for a healthy and happy outcome," he said. Cameron's main rival to occupy No. 10 Downing Street next week, Ed Miliband of the Labor Party, also offered his support, about an hour after the prime minister.

Congratulatory tweets peppered the Kensington Palace Twitter feed. President and Mrs. Obama offered their best wishes. Westminster Abbey bells pealed. And sailors on the HMS Lancaster, known as the "Queen's Frigate," sent their congratulations by standing on the deck spelling out the word "SISTER."

The former Kate Middleton, 33, had been expected to spend at least one night in the hospital, possibly receiving visitors such as her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, and from her siblings, Pippa and James. Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla Duchess of Cornwall, also visited her when Prince George was born.

But they left the hospital so soon there wasn't time. At least the waiting crowds got to see big brother George as he was carried into the hospital to see his mum and new sibling.

People also wanted to see whether Prince William would drive the family back home to Kensington Palace after they emerged from the hospital with the new baby and posed for the cameras. He did. Last time, Will proved to be adept with the royal car seat, suggesting he had practiced beforehand, but this time he was a pro.

After a few days at their sprawling apartment at the palace, the couple were expected to head north to Anmer Hall, their country retreat on the royal Sandringham estate in Norfolk, which has just been renovated and is near to where Will's new job as an air ambulance pilot is located.

Maternal grandmother Carole Middleton is expected to help her daughter with the new baby in the early days at Anmer Hall, as she did with George. The Cambridge nanny, Maria Teresa Turrion Borrallo, also will be on hand, and the couple may have a maternity nurse as well.

Next to watch for: The first pictures of the new baby with the family; last time, Kate's father, Michael Middleton, took the first snaps in the back garden of his home in Bucklebury outside London. The royal christening, and the pictures with the queen traditionally taken for that ceremony, will likely be in about three months time, along with the naming of the godparents for the new baby.

Maria Puente reported from Tysons Corner, Va.; Kim Hjelmgaard reported from London.