Duke and Duchess welcome new arrival: Kate and Wills adopt pet cocker spaniel but the name remains a mystery 
 
 
 
 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge now have a three-month old puppy 
 
 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have welcomed a new addition to their family - an adorable three-month old puppy. 
 
 
 
 The couple acquired the male cocker spaniel in early December and have been happily settling him in at their rented farmhouse in North Wales. 
 
 
 
 Remarkably, however, William and Kate have given palace aides strict instructions not to publicly reveal the name of their pet, arguing that it is a ‘private’ matter. 
 
 
 
 ‘He is a private pet and they do not want his name to be made public although the couple are happy to confirm that they do, indeed, have a new dog,’ a spokesman at St James’s Palace, the couple’s London headquarters, intoned. 
 
 
 
 Royal sources say the black pup is ‘a few months old’ and comes from a litter bred by Kate’s mother, Carole Middleton, who adores the breed. 
 
 
 
 ‘I don’t know whether the Middleton family dog is a boy or a girl, but the Duke and Duchess’s puppy is the result of the family dog breeding with one belonging to another breeder,’ said an aide. 
 
 
 
 The new dog is the couple’s first together and replaces Prince William’s black labrador, Widgeon, who died about two years ago. 
 
 
 
 Over the years, the Royal Family have embraced dogs as their favoured pets. 
 
 Formal portraits from the 17th century onwards show kings, queens and their children happily posing with their beloved animals, from pugs to greyhounds, King Charles spaniels to corgis. 
 
 Some pets have even merited their own portraits, and, as in many households, were considered very much members of the family. 
 
 Prince William’s black labrador, Widgeon, died about two years ago (left, stock picture) but now he has acquired a male cocker spaniel with wife Kate 
 
 When Queen Victoria’s beloved collie, Noble, died at Balmoral in 1887, he was buried in the grounds of the castle and given his own gravestone, which read: 
 
 
 
 'Noble by name by nature noble too 
 
 
 
 Faithful companion sympathetic true 
 
 
 
 His remains are interred here' 
 
 
 
 A terrier named Caesar belonging to King Edward VII was given even greater status when, having outlived the king, he walked behind His Majesty’s coffin in the funeral procession. 
 
 
 
 The current Queen is, of course, associated with the corgi. 
 
 
 
 The breed was introduced to the Royal Family by her father, King George VI, in 1933 when he bought a corgi called Dookie from a local kennels. 
 
 
 
 For her eighteenth birthday, The Queen was given a corgi named Susan from whom numerous successive dogs were bred. 
 
 
 
 Some corgis were mated with dachshunds (most notably Pipkin, who belonged to Princess Margaret) to create ‘dorgis’. 
 
 At present, The Queen owns three corgis, Monty, Willow and Holly and three dorgis, Cider, Candy and Vulcan, who travel with her everywhere, with Her Majesty looking after them herself as much as possible. 
 
 Tradition: The current Queen is associated with the corgi 
 
 Other members of the Royal Family own dogs of various breeds. The Duchess of Cornwall owns two Jack Russell terriers, Tosca and Rosie, and recently acquired a rescue pup called Beth from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home. 
 
 
 
 Spaniels are one of the oldest known breeds of dogs and are believed to have to come to the UK during Caesar’s invasion in 55 and 54 BC. 
 
 
 
 It is assumed they originated from Spain as the word spaniel is believed to have been derived from Hispania or possibly from the French phrase chiens de l’Espagnol (dog of Spain). 
 
 
 
 Spaniels were initially bred to flush game out of dense brush but by the late 1600’s had become specialized into water and land breeds. 
 
 
 
 The difference between cocker and springer spaniels is that the former are smaller, more compact, dogs and can have marginally more placid temperaments. 
 
 
 
 As a breed cocker spaniels have friendly, affectionate, happy natures and considered to be wonderful family pets. 
 
 
 
 The arrival of the couple’s anonymous new pooch is particularly timely as he will help keep Kate, 30, company while her husband is posted to the Falkland Islands for six weeks. 
 
 
 
 Search and Rescue pilot William, 29, will fly out tonight with his Sea King crew on a routine deployment to the region, leaving his wife on her own. 
 
 
 
 She is expected to spend more time in London while he is away and will largely live with her pup at Kensington Palace, the couple’s London base. 
 
 
 
 Last night betting firm Ladbrokes were offering odds of 10/1 on the dog being called Charlie, 33/1 on Bouncer and 66/1 on Fenton, after the now world-famous hound seen chasing deer in Richmond Park, which became a YouTube sensation. 
 
 
 
 The pup has not been formally revealed in public yet but has been seen being walked by the couple on beaches near their Anglesey home. ||||| Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton are welcoming a little one to their newly-formed family -- but it isn't a baby. The Telegraph reports the newlyweds have just adopted a cocker spaniel puppy, whose name has not been released. 
 
 According to the report, the puppy is barely a few months old and is the son of Kate's mother's dog, Ella. 
 
 US Weekly reports the couple was initially worried they weren't ready to take care of a pet, but after a short trial period, all fears were assuaged. 
 
 "William and Catherine fell in love with the pup instantly and it wasn't long before they decided to keep him," a Palace aide told the magazine. "He's now part of the royal fold!" ||||| Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, pose for a photograph with their son, Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge. They are with Lupo, the couple's cocker spaniel, and Tilly the retriever (a Middleton family pet) in the garden of the Middleton family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire. 
 
 August 2013 Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, pose for a photograph with their son, Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge. They are with Lupo, the couple's cocker spaniel, and Tilly the retriever (a Middleton family pet) in the garden of the Middleton family home in Bucklebury, Berkshire. Michael Middleton/Kensington Palace/Getty Images 
 
 In his first interview since Prince George’s birth, Prince William told CNN that he and the Duchess of Cambridge couldn’t wait to show off their child to the world. 
 
 Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, went into labor and was admitted to a west London hospital Monday for the much-anticipated birth. 
 
 Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, went into labor and was admitted to a west London hospital Monday for the much-anticipated birth. 
 
 Prince William and his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, welcomed an 8-pound 6-ounce baby boy on Monday, sparking sprays of blue floodlights from Niagara Falls to New Zealand for a prince descended from kings and coal miners and now third in line to the British throne. 
 
 After two centuries of monarchy dominated by imposing women — Queen Victoria and the reigning Queen Elizabeth II — the birth of the little prince heralded the coming of an era of British kings. Should the new prince live a long and healthy life and barring unforeseen events, he will follow his grandfather, Prince Charles, and father to the halls of Buckingham Palace. 
 
 From inside the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital — where Diana, Princess of Wales, gave birth to him 31 years ago — Prince William, now a proud new father, issued a brief statement saying, “We could not be happier.” 
 
 The birth at 4:24 p.m. local time — but kept secret for a good four hours — amounted to the ultimate showdown between British tradition and the 24-hour news cycle, as well as a rare nod to modernity by the world’s highest-profile monarchy. Initially, an elegant official announcement delivered from the hospital by royal courier and posted behind the gates of Buckingham Palace was to be the first word to the world. But apparently concerned about being beaten by social media, and with press in a feeding frenzy since the duchess was admitted to the hospital about 6 a.m., the palace opted to scoop itself instead. 
 
 The official announcement was posted as billed. But a speedier electronic press release — along with a tweet — were used in a last-minute decision to disseminate the news more “quickly” and “simply,” as the palace put it. Those are two words not often used to describe the British royal family. 
 
 The royal baby came as the handsome new parents, particularly the duchess — who, as the eldest daughter of run-of-the-mill Brits made good, was not born of nobility — have seemingly rebooted the Windsor brand. On Monday, evidence that international interest in the royal family has again reached the apogee of the Diana years was literally spilling onto the sidewalks. 
 
 Outside the Lindo Wing, hundreds of journalists, many of whom had staked out the hospital for weeks, did live shots into the evening in a Babel of languages. They were jostling for position for the moment of truth, expected to come Tuesday, when the couple widely known as Will and Kate walk out of the hospital and offer a first glimpse of their as-yet officially unnamed son. 
 
 Shortly after the birth, Charles issued a statement reflecting on “grandparenthood,” calling it “a unique moment in anyone’s life” and saying he was “enormously proud and happy.” 
 
 Prime Minister David Cameron called the arrival of the new prince “an important moment in the life of our nation.” 
 
 In Washington, President Obama said in a statement: “Given the special relationship between us, the American people are pleased to join with the people of the United Kingdom as they celebrate the birth of the young prince.” 
 
 The prince is set to be a million-dollar baby — or a $383 million baby, to be more precise. That’s the figure that Britain’s Center for Retail Research estimated would be the short-term economic windfall from the birth, ranging from sales of grandmotherly official teacups to a boom in champagne and beer. 
 
 Already, a photo of the duchess leaving a store with a white basket sent sales of similar items soaring. Ditto after a rumor that she had chosen a sky-blue stroller. 
 
 “The baby world has been waiting for this,” said Olivia Robinson, creative director of Mamas & Papas, a British baby outfitter. “Grandparents, mothers, are going to be watching. The high chair. The clothes. They are going to want them.” 
 
 In a celebratory nation, the birth nevertheless left a flicker of disappointment for some longing to see a princess break one of the loftiest glass ceilings — the one towering above British royal heirs. Under a change that became law this year, a firstborn girl would not have been outranked by a younger brother. 
 
 But a boy was still more than enough reason to pop a cork. In the street party that broke out in front of Buckingham Palace, Paul Armstrong, 35, a London real estate agent, chugged down the pink sparkling wine he brought in hopes of a girl, while toasting baby blue. 
 
 “We were convinced it was a girl, partly because we have such a great queen now, but hey, we’re happy it’s a boy, and if he follows in the footsteps of his grandmother, he’ll do great,” he said. 
 
 For Americans of a certain stripe, a little thing like the Revolutionary War was not going to get between them and some ownership over this birth. Some who made a beeline for Buckingham Palace conceded that their love affair with the royals was rooted in the conspicuously absent family member — Diana, who, after her breakup with Charles, died in a Paris car crash in 1997. 
 
 “I think Diana would love this and would be so excited to be a grandma,” said Cheryl Hannah, a 62-year-old Ohio retiree. 
 
 William and his wife have been splitting their time between London and Anglesey, an island off the northwest coast of Wales, where the prince has worked as a search-and-rescue pilot for the Royal Air Force. But after the birth, many expect the pressure to grow for him to leave military service and begin taking up the full-time role of king-to-be (he is second in line after his father). 
 
 The parents are poised to move later this year into Apartment 1A of Kensington Palace, formerly the home of the queen’s sister, Princess Margaret. The residence has undergone a major face lift. 
 
 The British tabloids have reported that Catherine and the baby will spend the first six weeks after her release from the hospital with her parents, in Bucklebury, 55 miles west of London. A palace spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny that report. 
 
 If it happens, it may be the first of many breaks with tradition. Catherine’s non-royal upbringing — while privileged — is expected to prompt her to try for a more “normal” life for the young prince than palace culture has traditionally allowed. The daughter of former airline workers who struck it rich in business, Catherine is also the great-great-granddaughter of a coal miner. 
 
 Diana fiercely guarded the privacy of her sons but also wanted them to have typical childhood experiences, famously taking them on outings to McDonald’s and Disneyland. 
 
 Some royal watchers expect William to be particularly protective, given his mother’s death while being chased by paparazzi. 
 
 “This is going to be the hardest part for Prince William,” said Dickie Arbiter, former spokesman to Queen Elizabeth II. “He still blames the press for the death of his mother, and he will be setting limits between the press and his child now. ” 
 
 Karla Adam in London and William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report.
– You may have heard the happy news: Prince William and Kate Middleton are the proud parents of a 3-month-old cocker spaniel. However, if you were hoping to find out what they're calling the puppy, prepare to be disappointed. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have strictly instructed aides not to reveal his name, the Daily Mail reports. Says a spokesperson, "He is a private pet and they do not want his name to be made public although the couple are happy to confirm that they do, indeed, have a new dog." Click for pictures of the "private pet."