The world has been impatiently waiting for the royal baby to arrive, but it was claimed today the Duchess of Cambridge might not be overdue after all.

Kate’s due date was widely reported as being last Saturday, July 13, but it has now been suggested that the official due date is actually today.

The world's press has been camped outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary's Hospital in London for a fortnight to ensure they don't miss her arriving.

And social media is continually awash with rumours that she has gone into labour.

But the only confirmation from Kate has been that she was due in ‘mid-July’, and last night a source claimed she was actually given today’s date.

This means the baby could arrive as far away as August 2, because expectant mothers are only usually induced if the baby is two weeks late.

The Royal source said: ‘A small number of staff at St Mary’s who might be called upon when the Duchess gives birth were told they had to remain teetotal for a month before the due date.’

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, they added: ‘They were told the due date was July 19.’

William and Kate's private office at Kensington Palace has refused to confirm the Duchess's exact due date, although Kate herself let slip during a public walkabout earlier this year that it is 'mid-July'.

William was said to have had a few days off from his job as an RAF Search and Rescue pilot in Wales this week, which he was thought to have spent with his wife at their Kensington Palace residence.

Kate, 31, stayed at the home of her parents Carole and Michael Middleton in Berkshire last weekend, while William played in two long-standing charity polo matches. 

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The Duchess of Cornwall dropped a tantalising hint on Monday that the wait could soon be over, telling well-wishers she expects the little boy or girl to arrive imminently.

Camilla revealed during a visit to a children's hospice near St Austell, Cornwall: 'We are all just waiting by the telephone. We are hopeful that by the end of the week he or she will be here.'

However, on Wednesday the Queen appeared to suggest that the baby was already late.

She told a 10-year-old schoolgirl on a trip to Cumbria: 'I would very much like it to arrive because I’m going on holiday soon... I wish it would hurry up.'

Outside the hospital are scores of people from all over Britain and the world, who are waiting for the royal arrival.

Pat and Norman Bate took two months to get to St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington because the retired fruit and veg merchants travelled from their Liverpool home to London via Britain’s canal network  at four mph. 

Their 55ft canal boat Ellie May, is moored just behind the royal hospital, filled with bagfuls of cards and presents for the baby, and its cabin draped with bunting.

‘As soon as we heard Kate was pregnant, I said that we should aim to get there for the birth, so we left home on May 1,’ Mrs Bate said. 

‘And we hope to be here as long as it takes. After all, we’re not paying for a hotel.’

Terry Hutt is now in his second week of living on a wooden bench opposite the street entrance to the Lindo Wing, St Mary’s private maternity unit. 

The retired carpenter from  Cambridge has been a familiar fixture at major royal events for years, always dressed head to toe in Union Jack clothes beneath a Union Jack umbrella hat. The Royal Family, he says, know him as ‘The Umbrella Man’.

Terry, 78, has been here so long that, a few days ago, he felt compelled to take himself back to Cambridge for a bath and a change of clothes. He then returned to London with enough spare Union Jack kit to last him as long as it takes. 

‘What’s another week?’ he says. ‘It’s not boring and it gives my wife a rest from me.’

NBC presenter Natalie Morales has been knitting a pink bootie live on NBC’s flagship Today programme.

‘I think it may be even bigger news at home than it is here,’ she said, adding: ‘Once Kate goes into labour,’ she says, ‘we’ll be sleeping right here.’

'Everybody has babies!': Queen's cousin admits she isn't 'wildly excited' about the royal child's arrival

Royal baby fever may have gripped much of Britain and indeed the rest of the world, but as one American interviewer found out, not everyone is in a frenzy of anticipation.

When CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour asked Margaret Rhodes, the Queen's first cousin and close friend, if she was excited about the baby, her answer took the journalist by surprise.

'Not terribly,' admitted the 88-year-old, hooting with laughter.

Why on earth not? asked the incredulous Amanpour.

Mrs Rhodes, who grew up with the Queen and was present at the Queen Mother's deathbed in 2002, sighed: 'Well you know, everybody has babies.  And it's lovely.  But I don't get wildly excited about it.'

'Heir to the throne?' prompted Amanpour. 'History?'

Eventually, possibly more to move on to more interesting topics than anything else, Mrs Rhodes conceded: 'Yes, all right. I'm prepared to be excited.'

The US TV host asked Mrs Rhodes, the youngest daughter of the 16th Lord Elphinstone and his wife Mary Bowes-Lyon, sister of the Queen Mother, what sort of life the baby, which will be third in line to the throne, would have.

Mrs Rhodes said she hoped it would have 'just a jolly, happy, ordinary child's life', something she said the Royal Family managed with the then Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret.

She added: 'The king and queen in those days made an enormous effort to give -- to keep their childhood sort of sacrosanct. I mean, it was just a time for learning and enjoying.

'And I think that they have succeeded awfully well.'