i'm toure. right now, labor day. the duchess begins her 14th hour in a hospital as the world awaits news of a new king or queen. where does the race conversation go from here? members of congress express concern about what's being called the money of the future. do you know what a bit coin is? might be time for you to learn. and i'm luke russert. all that plus a dog. are you one of the millions who viewed this video? if not, we'll get you in the loop today on "the cycle." that's so cute. look at that. it's for the baby. >> i'll see what i can do. >> thank you.

>> it hasn't quite appeared yet. >> six hours' time. >> you might be right. all eyes are on st. mary's hospital in london where the world awaits, or at least some in the world await, the royal baby. the same wing where princess diana gave birth to prince william 31 years ago. prince william is said to be there by kate's side. her mother and sister pippa are also expected to be in the delivery room. when the baby is born, the queen will be notified by phone. if it happens overnight, the queen will not be woken up and we'll all have to wait until she does. after the queen, the middletons and the prime minister are told. our first indication of the birth will be the movement of the official birth notification. throngs of media are staked outside the hospital waiting for the signed medical bulletin to leave st. mary's. it will be driven two miles to buckingham palace. it will then be placed on a

golden easel outside the palace. is this real? this is how we'll learn if it's a boy or a girl, the time of birth, the baby's weight, and any additional comments. when prince william was born, it read, blue eyes and cried lustily. sounds healthy. the birth will be marked by a 62-round gun salute at the tower of london and a 41-round gun salute in green park. mixing modern technology with tradition, an electronic press release will be sent out via the twitter. whether boy or girl, this royal baby will be third in line to the throne. our nbc royal watcher is outside the hospital. what's going on over there? >> reporter: toure, i never thought i'd hear somebody introduce me as the nbc royal watcher. i have to say it's been over 14 hours since some paparazzi tweeted early this morning they'd seen a convoy of cars, no

ambulance, just civilian cars swing into the side entrance of this hotel. not, of course, where we were all waiting here in front of the hospital, i should say. that was followed by a short statement from kensington palace confirming kate was indeed in early stages of labor. several hours later, as you mentioned, there was a note saying that she was -- everything was proceeding normally. that's been it. we're in that zone now where the birth could happen now, within minutes, or hours or go into tomorrow morning. we simply don't know. everyone who thinks they know is simply speculating. except for kate herself. the excitement, however, even amongst the more hardened of us, the press corps, is palpable. it really is starting to feel like the adrenaline is pumping. one of the reasons for that is that there isn't going to be anymore updates here until, as you mentioned, that palace

official exits that door behind me carrying that birth certificate and hand carries it to buckingham palace, placing it on that antiquated wooden easel inside the palace court for all to see. by the way, it's the same easel that announced the birth of the baby's father, william, 31 years ago. for now, the future king or queen of great britain is still a very unborn, unnamed baby, we think. meanwhile, the betting shops here, toure, are going bonkers. hundreds of thousands of dollars have been bet on the favorite names. george, if it's a boy. alexandra, if it's a girl. and the baby's age when he or she, get this, first goes on a date at a nightclub. by the way, 16 years of age is the odds on favorite. back to you. >> all right, jim. royal baby watcher fits you well, sir. this new royal baby will be of the house of windsor. it's a phrase you're bound to

hear a lot this week. one of the most infamous houses in british history. henry tutor picked up the crown off the battlefield during the disputed war of the roses. it was the 15th century, the house of york versus the house of lancaster, and his armies cut down the last york king, took the throne, and married a york princess in an attempt to unite england. like all good stories, it didn't end there. the plight of henry's queen, elizabeth of york, is the focus of a new novel by historian and author philipa gregory, the queen of royal fiction. the book is called "the white princess." it goes on sale tomorrow. excellent timing. very smart of you to come out with this book right as kate is having her baby. your publisher must be so pleased. but the question to you is, are people more excited for this baby than they were for the birth of william or charles, the previous heirs to the throne? >> well, i think because you

yourself are demonstrating, you know, everybody is getting more excited each time, the excitement seems to be going more and more worldwide each time. why you should all be so utterly thrilled in america, i cannot imagine. but you obviously are. and i'm glad you're having such an exciting day. you know, i'm glad it's 14 hours in. if she has a long labor, i could come back here, do it tomorrow if you like. could be a long, long time. i'm glad you're all taking it with such enthusiasm. >> you know, reading this, what i found fascinating is besides being a $380 million injection into the british economy, this birth is also a real symbol for those of us who are millennials. this is probably the most prominent millennial birth of all time. i'm not going to give kim and kanye the credit. i would impose this question to you. how important is this birth and this sort of idea that the monarchy plays in british society that these two folks are

sort of the apoth yoe sis of what we want our citizen read to be. military man, beautiful girl, dignified. this baby coming through. how much of that is important to this society in the u.k. and how much of that is needed at this moment? >> i think they're good role models, especially for their generation, as you say. he's clearly a serving military man and clearly very courageous and very skilled. you know, she seems perfectly nice. the thing is, once you start wanting people to be as it were ordinary role models, and in an ordinary monarchy, then you move away from the things i find interesting about them, which is their despots and tyrants and they dominate society, as despots and tyrants do. you have to say they seem a very pleasant young couple. the only thing you can get excited about is the clothes and the fact they got engaged and got married and now they're going to have a baby. i'm sure after this one they'll probably have another one. they've got a nice puppy as

well. but you start focusing on very ordinary things. that's the trap of celebrity media. >> well, you talk about domination and your book, of course, is about strong women. i was speaking to a colleague here about that and about some of the history. you had kate the commoner, princess diana, who battled in certain ways with the crown. queen elizabeth, who became queen at just 25. talk to us about that legacy of a certain type of strong female presence, but we're now obviously in a different era of feminism and the potential if we have a female here. >> i think what's been very interesting is that over the last 50 years or so, people have started to look at the history of women, so prior to that, what you had what a history of england, what was absolutely dominated by the doings of men. commanders, kings, diplomats, politicians. they would all be men because until 1920, women didn't even have the vote. what i've done is i've gone back in time and looked at the

history of women and what they were doing in a sense behind the scenes, what they were doing as conspirato conspirators, as secret seekers after power. there is a history there which can be discovered. in "the white princess," what we see is what the women were doing behind the scenes and how they were seizing power and dominating events, which is a story that hasn't been told really until now. >> your cousin's war series, which is the prequel to the new novel, is being flipped into a tv series airing next month on starz. let's watch a clip of that. >> some of us are still loyal to our own house. >> these are different times, lady margaret. king edward will bring us peace. >> he is a pretender. he's taken the throne by force. >> he is the king. those who speak against him are guilty of treason. >> so what else can we expect from this series?

>> well, what you had there was actually one of the sort of secret stars is of it, janet mcteer. she plays the mother of the white queen. the white queen is the wife of edward iv. in a sense, the unity of the house of york that's just won the throne absolutely unwraps because nobody can stand her and nobody can stand her mother. the young woman you saw there, that's margaret bofart. she's going to give birth to the boy who will be henry tutor, who will ultimately invade england. you have this big, powerful piece of english history told very much through the eyes of the women who were not just passive observers of it but were making the histories a it went along. >> all right. congrats on the book and the show. thank you very much for being here. don't forget to watch "the white queen" starting next month august 10th on starz. one of our producers got a sneak

peek this weekend. she is hooked. we, of course, will continue to keep an eye and bring you any royal baby news as it happens. luke russert says that it will take the throne in 2065. we'll check that. >> over/under. >> all right. up next, reaction to president obama's very moving remarks on trayvon martin and race in america from friday. now that he's added his voice to the conversation, will there be action? we'll get into all that as "the cycle" rolls on. it's monday, july 22nd. weekdays are for rising to the challenge.

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from tampa to raleigh, houston to new york, thousands

of demonstrators in more than 100 cities gathered over the weekend calling for justice for trayvon and pressing for federal civil rights charges against george zimmerman. at one of the rallies organized by the national action network and msnbc's reverend al sharpton, trayvon martin's parents protested along with jay-z and beyonce. >> i'm not naive about the prospects of some grand new federal program. i'm not sure that's what we're talking about here. i do recognize that as president i've got some convening power. there are a lot of good programs that are being done across the country on this front. how are we doing a better job helping young african-american men feel that they're a full part of this society and that

they've got pathways and avenues to succeed. i think that would be a pretty good outcome from what was obviously a tragic situation. >> so where do we go from here? let's bring in kahlil ohio mamo author of "the condemnation of blackness," and paul finkel, who specialized in race relations and the first amendment. kahlil, my question is for you. for years, african-americans have relied upon marches, demonstrations, and rallies. i think as we continue to grow older and of course more sophisticated, we have developed a more complex strategy. one includes, for example, the naacp has a petition that's now reached over 1.4 million signatures urging the justice department to file -- press civil rights charges against zimmerman. you also have the question of, and hopefully you can help us

answer this, what other things should folks be considering in terms of long-term systemic change that doesn't have much to do with zimmerman? >> i want to point out, first of all, that the verdict itself is the context for bringing all these people together, but the larger focus of our attention should be on the zimmerman mindset. the zimmerman mindset will require robust, engaged, sustained, and long-term re-educating the american public about the difference between an individual who does something and a group of people who share the same racial identity. at the end of the day, that's what got zimmerman into this mess. he stereotyped, he profiled the entire race of african-americans. that is a deeply entrenched historical problem. it was the basis for winning political campaigns at the start of the jim crowe era in the 1980s. it was the basis of the root of social science and the way in which we use predictive, statistical formulas back in the

turn of the 20th century. so we have been doing this kind of thinking about black people's criminals for a century or more. >> paul, i want to pick up on that point, that century of history which obviously is the context for those remarks. now there's a discussion of a federal agenda. i just want to put up on the screen for your reaction some of the items that may go in there. you could have legislative oversight for stand your ground laws. senator durbin is doing that in the coming months. you could look to the end racial profiling act, which has 15 cosponsors in the u.s. senate. or the democracy restoration act, which goes to felony enfranchisement, which has been a big racial disparity issue. you could also renew the voting rights act. more broadly, you could fund the criminal justice system and public defenders rather than cut them under the sequester. what is your reaction to those kind of federal priorities? >> well, i think all of those things are things that the federal government ought to be doing. i'm not sure if any of them will

alleviate the kind of historical problem of viewing african-americans as inherently criminal. it actually goes way back to the colonial period. it's always been with us. so it's something that, again, requires education. it requires integration. but the other piece of this is that there has to be an economic component to change that will actually give african-american males in inner cities the belief that they can actually some day find a job. one thing to do in doing all of these other changes is to have realistic student loan programs that allow people who are poor, black and white, to get an education and find jobs. the other thing is to figure out how to bring jobs to people, how to have people be able to get jobs. there's a front page story in the "new york times" today about mobility within cities. some cities it takes people four hours to get to a job.

they can't succeed. they can't get ahead. so part of it is systemic about the way white people view blacks. the other part of it is systemic about the way we shut off power people, black and white, and other minorities from having a leg up in the economy. >> professor, something we've heard a lot since the president east speech is this idea of having a conversation about race. we often get press releases for all different types of things, a lot of them mundane. i do not get one from a republican member in congress about the president's speech. i spoke to a few aides over the weekend. they said, honestly, it's difficult for us to do that because there's this worry of saying something wrong that could blow up in our face and we don't want -- it's easier for us not to comment at all. isn't that part of the problem, though? if we're going to have this conversation, how do we get to a place where a lot of white americans feel comfortable discussing it where they won't

be vilified for misspeaking or having a viewpoint that could be considered outside of the mainstream? >> well, i think one of the ways is for those republicans to start actually interacting with some of their non-white constituents and go to meetings where there are people who are not white, put non-whites on their staff, learn to get along with and speak with and communicate with other people. i was watching one of your earlier shows on the subject. one of the white commentators was saying, i grew up going to school with black people. black people were part of my community. i'm not uncomfortable with them. i think to a great extent, large numbers of white people are uncomfortable being around blacks. the other issue, of course, is to allow for an open forum where people will not be jumped on because the way they use language bothers other people, but at the same time, to listen to what other people say about

the use of language. part of the conversation that the president wants to have has to be a conversation where people are actually listening to each other. i do, by the way, think that the president is right. there needs to be a conversation. and he needs to take the lead using the presidency as what teddy roosevelt called the bully pulpit. he can get the media attention. he can get the television to listen to him. and he can begin a conversation where people will actually talk to each other. i think it's very sad that the party of abraham lincoln is afraid to talk about race. i think it's sad that the party that brought us emancipation and civil rights legislation in the 1860s and '70s that crushed the ku klux klan in the early 1870s, that that party is afraid to talk about race. they should be reaching back into their history and heritage and doing a much better job. >> that's an excellent point. of course, they've been a different party since 1964. professor, let me get to you.

really glad to have you on the show. really admire your work. this encapsulates what you're talking about around bias. how do we overturn that? >> well, i want to pick up on a point that professor finkelman just made, which is that if we have a supreme court right now that has essentially put affirmative action on life support, we're not creating the long-term systemic education environment where diversity is not just valued but the kind of deep sustained conversations about the history of this race in this country can happen. i taught in the heart of klan country in indiana for six years teaching mostly white students in very large classes. this was kind of ground zero for the kind of work that needs to happen in our country. i can tell you with direct testimony that many of those students were profoundly uncomfortable not just taking a

class where u.s. history was essentially a gateway to understanding class and racial inequality in america, but by a professor who happened to be black with the last name mohammed. that's a lot to chew on. in that context, if you think about -- you get over that at 17 or 18. by the time you're 20, 30 years old, you have a more inclusive sense of the world. there's no shortcuts to that. because we haven't been doing it, because we stripped humanities from much of our educational k through 12 systems, we're not historically literal enough to have a context for this. when the president kept saying context matters, context matters, context matters, we can't even begin to have a conversation across the color lines about what it means for african-american boys and men to be at a tremendous societal disadvantage. it just isn't about food stamps or poverty. it's about how they're viewed in the world. >> thanks so much to you both for joining us today. up next, the politics of all of this.

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stop the presses. breaking news from london about the royal baby. jim, are you there? do you hear me? it's royal baby time. all right. i think we're expecting an announcement about the royal baby any minute now. that's why the excitement is going on outside of st. mary's hospital. luke, are you still excited about this thing? >> we just got the five-minute warning, which is nice. the royal baby was able to give us a five-minute warning. we have the five-minute warning coming forward. i am quite excited for this. jim is back. jim, give us an update on what's

happening there. >> reporter: it's extremely confusing right now. we've been given this five-minute warning. we understand that the five-minute warning is for information that should be coming through our iphones and blackberries. this is an electronic piece of information. it's probably going to be the announcement of the birth that has been imminent for some time. everyone's got their cameras now bracketed on the front steps of the lindol maternity ward entrance behind me. we're not sure if anybody is going to come out at this point to make a statement or simply wait for the actual -- somebody just fell behind us here. several -- probably 10 or 15 feet. -- that the individual will come out. he's a spokesperson. he's a palace official. he's designated to carry that

medical certificate to buckingham palace about 2, 2 1/2 miles away. what may happen is we get the alert on our phones, and then we get more information from that alert. then he comes out and walks. now we're hearing it's a boy, it's a boy. this is coming across as a wave of information. we've got about 75 or 100 feet wide of journalists here. we've just heard that it's a boy. now, obviously, no one has come out yet. this is being read on people's blackberries and iphones. this has got to be the electronic announcement. you'll recall this was supposed to happen after the event, the piece of theater bringing the medical certificate, birth certificate to buckingham pal lan las. then the announcement was to be made digitally. obviously, they've switched that

around. they say to make things a little less complicated, simpler, and neater from a journalists' perspective. it's created a real flurry of confusion and of activity and of excitement. you're hearing now in the distance people, spectators, people who have come here just to support kate and william who are now applauding. >> jim, tell us more about that. we're seeing you in front of st. mary's hospital. we are also looking at nbc news images from london, people gathering. what is the scene there as you're telling us this news that it is a boy? >> reporter: there's been a constant for the past couple of hours. after it became 12 hours of labor and after people were getting off of work, it was becoming more and more evident that this was becoming this kind of a center of the universe here

in west london. people are reacting. they're reacting to the news they're hearing. they wouldn't be seeing it on their devices because this is only for the accredited press. but they're getting the word out now because they're very close to us. they're only 100 or 200 feet away. so people are reacting spontaneously to the little snippets of information coming out right now. >> jim, please stay with us there in london. we have our own resident royal expert, mr. martin bashir joining us in new york city. martin, i pose the question to you. it's a boy. that's got to be quite significant. obviously, a king is born. were more people hoping for a boy, you think, throughout england? or were they hoping for a girl? how significant is it that it's a boy? >> well, remember, in january of this year, the prime minister of the united kingdom, david cameron, had been in the process of negotiating with 18 commonwealth nations where the queen remains head of state for the rules to be changed so if a

girl was born, she would still succeed to the throne as the next in line. the prime minister said today that that's almost a done deal. so i think a lot of people were really excited about the prospect, particularly in a modern period, that a young woman would be able to succeed to the throne. now that's not going to happen because we understand the news is that it's a little boy. >> well, martin, of course this little boy won't reach the throne for many, many decades. his father still relatively young in the general scope of things. i want to talk about the excitement around just the royal family in general. it's really easy to sit back in america and go, why do they still care about the royal family? then you go over there and people are like, well, you got to understand the perspective, the place they have in our society. can you give us perspective on why this matters so much, especially to people in england? >> sure. there are two component parts. one is historical and the other is contemporary. historically, the royal family's

role during the second world war was profound for the nation. when london was being bombed, the royal family refused to retreat, refused to go to any number of residences they could have and stayed at buckingham palace. the queen mother would actually go and visit areas in south london and east london, which has been bombed, and show solidarity. we're talking about during the war. that had a profound effect on the nation's appreciation of this family. they had a galvanizing effect on the nation. and then also, there's the role of the queen. the queen has been unimpeachable in her character for the whole length of her period on the throne. of course, we celebrated last year 60 years her diamond jubilee. she has been faithful where many others have been faithless. she's held to the strictest form of responsibility and service to the nation. for those two reasons, the

british feel more positively about the monarchy than they have. it's always been around 18% in terms of public polling. i don't see that changing in any way. >> martin, obviously you're absolutely right about all the history. the queen has been an exemplary ruler. william and kate in this generation and diana seem to have also continued that line. but there was years of some behavior that wasn't quite royal or dignified, various stories that might have embarrassed the throne. apparently you're saying that has no long-term impact. >> well, i think you're drawing on the distinction between william's mother, princess diana, and his wife princess catherine. diana had a very difficult childhood. her parents divorced when she

was very young. she was very unhappy at boarding school. she subsequently developed anorexia and bulimia as an asleas le -- adolescent. she was married very young. she gave birth when she was 20, not like catherine, who is 30. catherine appears to come from a very stable, loving family life. that's clearly provided a great deal of support. the difference means that catherine has not gone to the media to explain herself. she's not leaked stories. she's not breached any of the protocols that apply to palace privacy, whereas diana did. therefore, the stories you heard emerging in it the late '80s and '90s were because of the deep unhappiness of prince william's mother. of course, in catherine's position, none of that's happened. in fact, she's now being described by many as an absolutely perfect member of the royal family. she never talks to journalists.

she has no interest in leaking stories. she's not interested in spreading any kind of information about the royal family. that means that there's a greater solidarity amongst the family. and i also think the royal family itself has learned an enormous amount from diana. they've learned that having an institution that is not related to the outside world is actually not acceptable in a modern civilized country. so i think they've learned an enormous amount. >> so for those of you just joining us, the duchess of cambridge has given birth to an 8 pound, 6 ounce baby boy. jim, do you have anymore details for us now? jim, are you there? >> reporter: first of all, that was an official -- yes, i am. do you see me and hear me? >> yes. >> reporter: okay. yes, that was an official

kensington palace memorandum. excuse me. it was a release, a press release not going much more into detail at all. the baby was a boy born at 4:24 p.m. now, that's some four hours ago. that raises all kind of questions about the difficulty of the birth. the baby was 8 pounds, 6 ounces. she is considered to be relatively sleight of figure. i'm just speculating here, but that is quite a long time. we just saw ed perkins. he's a former itn producer turned press personal spokesperson for the duke and duchess. he went into that vehicle carrying a binder. no doubt that was the actual medical certificate or what we would call in america the birth certificate signed by all of the doctors attending, which has now sped off a couple of miles in

that direction to buckingham palace. we understand, also, according to that release that the queen, prince phillip, as well as members of both families, were also on the receiving end of phone calls. the queen, of course, the first to receive a call from probably an extremely proud and exhausted prince william. back to you. >> jim, thank you so much for that report. we're going reset the table right here. the baby was born eight pounds, six ounces at approximately 4:24 p.m. today. prince william was present in the delivery room when this occurred. the queen has been called. as you see right there from the scenes in front of buckingham palace, a lot of jubilation from america's closest ally. our own resident royal expert martin bashir is here joining us, providing great commentary. martin, i want to ask you, the last time this occurred, there was a week delay before we were given the name. how important is the name?

obviously, there has to be some historical significance going back to kings who were previously around. how long do you think we'll wait in this twitter age for the name? how can they keep that a secret in this day and age? >> i think, luke, the fact that the baby was born at 4:24 p.m., which is some hours ago, is an indication of the control and media management that now applies to the modern royal family. if they choose to publish the names of this young prince imminently, they'll do so. if they choose not to, then there's any guess as to how long that will take. i think there was some speculation that if the child was a girl, then there might be the possibility of diana's name being included as one of the names of the child. that would obviously have to be cleared with various members of the family. but since that's not the case, i would anticipate hearing the name of this young prince relatively soon. >> martin, you know, i want to

keep with the idea of why we're all so excited. you're doing an excellent job of intellectualizing that. you've done it on the other side of the pond. now take us to this side of the pond. you've been in america for a long time. generally americans dislike the concept of royalty. i think that animates the beginning of royal in total. so why does this stuff, this baby being born, this royal wedding we had recently, the diana royal wedding, why does this stuff get us in america so excited? is it just fairy tale stuff come to life? >> no, this is all about the legacy of diana. diana was hugely popular here in the united states. she did things that americans felt were hugely significant, like holding babies who had contracted a.i.d.s., like doing things with people who had been injured by land mines and lost limbs. she was also an internationalist. i think the american population

particularly grew to like her. even when they read about her difficulties, it only increased their affection for a woman who seemed to have so many confrontations and obstacles and came through them. so i think this attention is a direct result of diana's legacy. of course, it's incarnated in her son william because he, in so many ways, is like his mother. he, hills, is aligned with a charity for homeless people in central london. himself and his brother have an organization that serves the victims of war injuries. these are people who have directly learned that kind of connection with common humanity from their mother. i honestly believe that the american reaction is directly related to diana's legacy, her work here, her visits here. she loved america. i remember once seeing her at the carlisle hotel here in new york when she came to give a

very important speech about cancer. she talked about the "c" word and how that for so many people was like a death sentence. again, there was that openness to engage with suffering, with weakness, with tragedy, not just always being seen as a guilded individual hiding behind very smart palace walls. that wasn't her style. and i think that in itself endeared her to a country like america, which of course prides itself not on an aristocratic system. your constitution bans such things. but on a merit ok a si. >> we're looking there at the easel where the birth announcement will be placed to let the world know about the boy who is now third in line for the british throne. martin, you did such a great job of putting diana's place into context in all this. but you didn't talk about kate, right, who is also beloved by an entirely new audience in america

and obviously over there who perhaps may be know little about diana but love her all anew, right? >> again, toure, this is in part about an individual who comes not from the aristocratic classes but actually comes from a successful middle-class family. again, that allows many people in britain and around the world to reflect in some ways upon themselves and feel that there's some commonality between this young woman, who worked hard at school, went to university, did very well in her undergraduate degree. so i think that there's kind of an openness about that. she's not part of the guilded classes. >> martin, i'm sorry to interrupt you. we see the car has arrived at buckingham palace. i believe the announcement has been handed off to a member of the british military or palace there. quick little pose on the steps, i believe, with the

announcement. has not gone forward on the easel quite yet. >> i think, luke, the individual who delivered the statement was, i believe, a member of the regiment. the individual who received it was, in fact, a servant within the palace. >> and that's going to the queen right now. is that correct? >> correct. then it will be returned and placed on the easel, that very famous easel last used in 19 -- when was william born? 31 years ago. 1982. >> quite a significant thing to see there. >> martin, i want to ask you this in terms of what this baby means. obviously, that's the central question we have here. specifically, you know the immense economic problems going on right now in england. it's a very difficult place in terms of trying to move upward in society -- >> actually, luke, it's fascinating. you spend your time in congress talking to people like

congressman kevin mccarthy, congressman paul ryan. you'll know everything they espouse about an economic theory applied in a recession has been applied in the united kingdom. what we've had in the united kingdom is a near triple-dip recession. inflation is currently 3% and rising. unemployment is about 11 -- sorry, 8.5%. zero growth for the last three quarters. some people are suggesting that part of the fascination with the royal baby has been because people have been so depressed by the economic circumstances in the united kingdom that they have been looking for some kind of relief. i believe that there's some truth in that. when you compare the united kingdom with what the president of the united states has desperately tried to do here, it's a vastly superior set of economic circumstances. the sadness is, of course, that this president has not really been allowed to do what he would

have liked to have done, which would have accelerated this nation's economic progress, notwithstanding the fact that the sequester is a self-injury to the nation's economy. >> well, martin, stay with us. we're going to go to nbc's annabell roberts, who is outside of buckingham palace. tell us what you're hearing and seeing. >> reporter: well, it's very exciting. we've just had roars from the crowds that are gathered outside the palace in the last few minutes. the easel has arrived, and they've been cheering, cheering that fact that the baby has finally arrived. we have a prince. the prince was born about five hours ago, so that means the labor took around 11 hours. the birth weight, eight pounds, six ounces. for all the people who have been waiting here all day and us journalists as well, this is great news. obviously welcome news for most people of this country. delighted that this baby has arrived safely. we understand that kate will

spend the night in hospital. she will stay there overnight. no word of yet whether she will leave the hospital tomorrow. no doubt we'll will hearing more later. >> i want to read from the statement that was put out, which officially says the name to the baby will be announced in due course. that sounds very judicious and very fair because they can take their time. from what i understand, a lot of folks in london and throughout the country would love to hear more about the baby name. >> oh, here comes the announcement. >> reporter: absolutely. you're right. you're quite right about that. remember, charles and diana took a week before they announced william's name. they were a bit quicker with harry. >> hold on one moment. >> we believe the announcement is now being put on the easel. yes, in fact, it is there. it's now being chained in to the famous golden easel in front of buckingham palace. crowd must be elated, i presume.

what do we see there? >> reporter: i can hear all the enthusiasm and cheers from over here. of course, everybody will be desperate to see the information on the easel, the color of the eyes and perhaps the hair color, things like that. plenty of people have been waiting out there for this moment. finally delighted to see the easel there. of course, it is the very same easel used 31 years ago to announce william's birth. >> there's four signatures, as best i can see on there. surely the queen is on there, prince phillip. i would also assume perhaps william and maybe kate. >> they're the doctors. >> oh, i can't see it. >> it's tough to read cursive. >> reporter: yeah, they're the doctors who were present for the birth. they have signed the birth certificate, if you like, to attest that this is the royal baby that was born. of course, in the old days, you would have had the prime minister or the home secretary present at the birth to just

attest that the baby hadn't been swapped and this was the royal prince or princess. today the doctors do that job, which is probably a lot better and a lot more comfortable. those are the signatures that are on the bottom of that on th bottom of that bulletin you can see on the easel in the forecourt of buckingham palace behind me. >> i don't know if this crosses the pond. doctors in america have notoriously bad handwriting. difficult to figure out their signatures. tell us more where you are. we're looking at this historic document that much of the world is actually somewhat united in looking at right now. a historic event for many people. tell us more about what you're seeing there outside the palace. you said people have been waiting for hours. >> reporter: has been an incredibly hot day here like in the 90s, 93, 95, which is very, very unusual for london. so i think that might have caused the crowds to thin out slightly more than you would

perhaps expect. there have been plenty of people down there, diehard fans, a lot of tourists, as well. i spoke to women from new jersey who arrived yesterday. she hoped to get a t-shirt. the t-shirt's being handed outside at the airport for people who arrive on the day that the baby's born. she was delighted to be here. hopefully for the birth today. she's had that wish. she said she was going to stay there. her husband wanted to go. plenty of crowds cheering as you can now to see the easel in the forecost you of the palace just as it was for the birth of william. >> in some ways this it is just two kids trying to make a family. 11 hours is a long time but no too long. 8.6 pounds. in some ways, this is an extraordinaire child whose life will be unlike anybody else's. a gun salute is coming you. . when does that happen? >> that will happen tomorrow. that was dependent on the time of birth, given that the birth has been announced now, that will happen at 3:00 tomorrow

afternoon. there will be cannons fired over tower bridge. another gun salute here. just in front of me at green park which is just beside the ballast. that will happen tomorrow afternoon. 41 gun salute. that will be quite something. also the bells at buckle berry church will be ringing, the little village in the countryside about an hour or so outside of london where kate was brought up. as yet, there's no sign of the middletons. we don't know where they are. we assume they were in lon dop. we don't think they were in the hospital with kate and william. obviously we'll be waiting to hear from them. we do know that will print williams was present during the birth as was his father charles was present when william was born. prince william was there for the birth which is a great moment for him and dads. >> and for those of you just joining us, quite a moment to us day across the pond. the royal baby has been born, a

boy coming in at eight pounds six ounces born at approximately 4:24 p.m. over there in the united kingdom. we don't know specifically what the baby's name is quite yet. that could be a closely guarded secret. last time this type of birth occurred, we didn't know for a week. i presume annabelle, that that would probably more likely change in this twitter social media age we live in. the odds for a name, james, george, frances, philip, alexander. i'll pose to you the question i posed to martin bashir, how important is this name? they have to pick one that has some sort of historical meaning and one that will resonate proudly amongst the english people. >> absolutely. they want to pick a name that has positive resonances. obviously you want a king who's got a good record 0 reflect the name of the king with a good record. there a couple that really aren't in consideration. george is a very popular one, of

course. the queen's father was george. we note that the queen obviously had deep love for her father. we've learned a lot about him. he's well-known. he was the wartime monarch in this country and beloved. that's why george is such a popular name. there are other ones. i think perhaps you might expect harry could be in there as a tribute to the uncle, maybe he'll be made a godfather. philip might be in there in reference to the duke of edinborough. there's also talk maybe michael might be included as one of the names. they normally have three or four names at least. michael might be in there as a reference to kate's father michael middleton. we'll have to wait a few days to find out. obviously the betting and the guessing is monstrous. huge amounts of money have been laid on this. my personal choice is alfred. i think louis might be in there,

as well. >> nbc's annabelle roberts. thank you so much for joining us right there in london. you have quite a story on your hands tonight. guys, this is quite a moment to us occasion. some of us laugh about how popular it is here in american society. >> i'm sorry. we believe we have a gentleman announcing >> a new prince. and the first grandchild of his royal highness the prince of ireland. may he be long lived, happy. god save the queen. >> well, i will say the english really know how to preserve their traditions. he's got a good job, that guy. >> we'll call him the town crier for the british monarchy.

>> all right. we've got a baby. he's 8.6 pounds. nonous yet how cute he is. but i'm sure he'll be very cute. a future king has been born. martin bashir picks up our coverage in a moment. asional have constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yes! one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues...

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we're following breaking news. the much anticipated royal baby has arrived. and those are live pictures outside buckingham palace where the royal family is celebrating the arrival of a child. a baby boy. the first child of the duke and duchess of cambridge is now the third in line to the throne. he was born at 4:24 p.m. london time. that's 11:24 a.m. here on the east coast. the announcement just placed on annesal outside buckingham palace moments ago. we don't have word of a name yet. according to a press release from the palace, we know that the baby weighed in at eight pounds and six ounces. the baby's father prince william was present for the birth. the palace reports that her royal highness and her child are both doing very well and will remain in the hospital overnight. prime minister david cameron said on twitter "i'm delighted