Hoping for a granddaughter: Prince Charles

LONDON: Prince Charles, who is set to become a grandfather again with Prince William and Kate Middleton expecting their second child, has said he is hoping it will be a girl this time.

The heir to the throne told a 100-year-old military veteran at Windsor Castle that he hoped his second grandchild, already overdue and destined to be a May baby, would be a girl during banter about the difficulties of having a daughter.

Eric Jones, the oldest surviving member of the Welsh Guards, introduced his daughter Lynda Bateman when the Prince asked how many girls he had, said: "One - and that's enough."

In reply, Charles, 66, was quoted by the Daily Express as saying, "And we're hoping for a granddaughter!"

Babywatch at the London hospital where Kate is due to give birth is continuing.

Every false alarm and rumour sweeping the world via the internet is prompting a wave of panic among the media pack waiting outside the private Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington where the Duchess of Cambridge is due to give birth to her second child.

There was a sighting of a blacked out Range Rover flanked by police outriders near the hospital that proved to be nothing.

A similar report of a convoy of cars leaving Kensington Palace prompted one television news channel to send a helicopter into the air, leading journalists on the ground to think this must be it.