The Duke of Cambridge has said in the past that he would be happy with two children but the Duchess, who is 32, is one of three siblings which may have influenced her opinion of what constitutes the perfect family.
Women’s fertility declines rapidly after the age of 35, but the Duchess will only be 33 when her second child is born, giving her plenty of time to try for a third.
The Duchess has reportedly told friends she would like “at least” three children to give Prince George and her second baby the chance of having the sort of family environment she had.
The Duchess is just 20 months older than her sister Pippa and less than five years older than her brother James. They remain incredibly close and rarely go more than a month without meeting up at the family home in Bucklebury, Berks.
Prince George’s brother or sister is likely to be born in April or May, meaning there will be almost exactly the same age gap as there is between the Duchess and Pippa Middleton.
The Prince of Wales said today he was “thrilled” at the news that he is to be a grandfather again, as he spoke for the first time about the Duchess’s pregnancy.
Visiting a Prince’s Trust project in south London, he was congratulated by Toying Owoseje, 26, who shook his hand after he was introduced to her sister Damilola, a young entrepreneur.
The Prince smiled and said: “What did I do? It’s not here yet! No, it’s wonderful, we are very happy. It’s splendid, very exciting.”
With the Queen’s birthday falling on April 21, Elizabeth is already the bookies’ favourite for the new baby’s name if it is a girl.
There remains the possibility that the Duchess could be carrying twins, and the bookmaker Coral has halved the odds on a double pregnancy to just 10-1 after a customer placed a £1,000 ($1,750) bet on twins.
Seven in ten bets are being placed on the baby being a girl, while Philip and Charles are heavily-backed names for a boy.
The Duchess had been due to appear on Wednesday at the Invictus Games, the event for wounded servicemen organised by Prince Harry, but she is unlikely to be well enough to attend after Kensington Palace announced she was suffering from severe pregnancy sickness, as she did with Prince George.
A Kensington Palace spokesman said no decision had yet been made on whether the Duchess would attend the Games, or whether she will be able to carry out her first solo foreign tour, to Malta on September 20-21.
The Duchess is being seen regularly by doctors who are treating her at home in Kensington Palace.
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据朋友透露，凯特王妃之所以两年内生两个孩子是因为其计划在35岁前生第三胎。
威廉王子曾表示，有两个孩子他就很满足了。而今年32岁的凯特王妃由于受家庭影响，认为3个孩子才能组成最完美的家庭。
女性的生育能力在35岁后会迅速下降，而凯特王妃生下第二个孩子时也才33岁，完全有足够的时间准备生第三胎。
据悉，凯特王妃曾经告诉朋友们，她希望“至少”能生三个孩子，这样她的长子乔治王子以及即将出生的第二个孩子能够有机会拥有和凯特一样的家庭环境。
凯特王妃比妹妹皮帕仅仅大20个月，比弟弟詹姆斯年长也不超过5岁。三个人的关系一直非常亲密，并且每个月一定会在他们位于伯克郡巴克伯里村的家里聚会一次。
凯特王妃的第二个孩子预计在4月份或5月份出生，意味着这个孩子与乔治王子的年龄间隔和凯特与妹妹皮帕的年龄间隔几乎相同。
查尔斯王子当天表示，听到自己要再次当爷爷的消息，他“激动不已”。这是他首次提到凯特王妃怀孕一事。
查尔斯在出席伦敦南部的王子信托基金项目活动时，得到了朋友的祝贺。查尔斯笑着说：“我做了什么?孩子都还不在这里呢!不过真的太棒了，我们非常开心，非常激动。”
由于伊丽莎白女王的生日在4月21日，因此伊丽莎白已经成为博彩公司最热门的女孩名字。
不过凯特王妃也有可能怀的是双胞胎。在一位顾客压上1000英镑(1750美元)赌双胞胎后，博彩公司Coral已经将赔率减半为10-1了。
7/10的投注都赌凯特王妃怀的是女孩，而菲利普和查尔斯则是支持率非常高的男孩名字。
凯特王妃本来预计会在9月10日出席由哈里王子专为伤残军人组织的“不可征服运动会”，但是在肯辛顿宫宣布凯特王妃和之前怀乔治王子时一样出现了严重的妊娠反应后，她不太可能有精力参加该项活动了。
一名肯辛顿宫发言人称，目前还没有决定王妃是否会参加运动会，以及是否能在9月20至21日到马耳他进行首次单人外交秀。
凯特王妃目前正在肯辛顿宫定期接受医生检查。
