The royal baby has arrived

LONDON -- Get ready for a 62-gun salute, watch the water in the fountains turn blue, let the fireworks and street parties commence: The royal baby has arrived, and it's a boy.

Prince William and Duchess Kate's first baby, a future monarch, was born today at 4:24 pm local time in London's private wing of St. Mary's Hospital, the palace announced. The announcement said the baby weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces, and William was present for the birth.

Mother and baby were both doing well, the announcement added. The name was not immediately announced and may not be known for up to a week.

ROAD TO PARENTHOOD: Will and Kate's life together

The news was supposed to be first announced in the traditional manner, on fancy paper with a Buckingham Palace letterhead on a gilded easel at the palace front gates. Instead, it went out by electronic press release first, to the royal Twitter feed and websites, and then proclaimed from every TV and computer screen in the country.

After that, the framed announcement went up on the easel at the gates, watched and cheered by a growing crowd despite what was being called the hottest day in London in years.

But the baby's great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, was the first to get the news from her grandson, by encrypted phone to the palace, and just in time, too. She's scheduled to leave on her annual vacation at her Balmoral estate in Scotland at the end of this week.

The palace announcement said the royal family, including the queen's husband, Prince Philip, the baby's grandfather, Prince Charles the Prince of Wales, his wife, Camilla Duchess of Cornwall, and William's brother, Prince Harry, and other family members have been notified and are "delighted."

Prince Charles issued a statement saying he and Camilla are "overjoyed" and "thrilled" for the couple. "Grandparenthood is a unique moment in anyone's life, as countless kind people have told me in recent months, so I am enormously proud and happy to be a grandfather for the first time and we are eagerly looking forward to seeing the baby in the near future," the first-in-line to the throne said.

Prime Minister David Cameron came out of Number 10 to hail the "wonderful news" and the "important moment in the life of the nation."

There was no word yet on whether Duchess Kate's mother and younger sister, Carole and Pippa Middleton, were at the hospital for the birth.

The duchess was expected to spend at least one night overnight at the hospital, but it's not clear when she and William and the baby will emerge for the customary pose before the media, after three weeks of waiting, outside the hospital.

The birth of the royal baby was a model of the careful blend of traditional and modern exemplified by this royal couple in the dozen years they've been a couple. Plans call for a multi-gun salute near Buckingham Palace, probably on Tuesday, blue water running in the fountains, blue lights at the top of iconic buildings, fireworks and street celebrations throughout the land.