A little-known London photographer was the first to report the news of the Duchess of Cambridge going into labour.
Jesal Parshotam was among a crowd of paparazzi outside St Mary’s Hospital when he noticed two cars arriving at the back entrance just before 6am this morning. Parshotam, 24, from Harrow, was with his colleague Darren Sacks, 30, when a BMW and a people carrier arrived at the Lindo Wing carrying Kate and Prince William and royal protection officers.
Moments later, at 5:55am, Parshotam tweeted: “Kate Middleton has gone into hospital...” Sacks added: “World Exclusive Duchess of Cambridge is in Labour !!!”
The pair, who work for themselves, were then bombarded by tweets from across the world congratulating them on their scoop and asking questions about the Duchess’s admittance.
Parshotam, who has been in the business for two years, said: “We took a guess. It was a full moon so we thought why not come down? We stayed there from 8pm in the evening until about 5.30am.
“We were just standing outside chilling and talking and then it all happened. The cars showed up. They were very, very simple cars — it was very discreet...the protection officers jumped out and they all rushed in. It was a very swift manoeuvre. The Duchess went in and the cars were gone very quickly — within a minute. That was it.”
The pair say they failed, however, to take a picture of Kate accompanied by Prince William. “We had decided in advance we were not going to take a photo of her,” claims Parshotam. “I made that decision — she’s a woman in labour. I just wanted to photograph the commotion and convoy of cars. That was a personal decision we both made. To take a picture of her would have been over stepping the mark.
“The protection officers were surprised to see us. They asked us why we were there and questioned us.”
Parshotam, who spends a lot of time following the royals around as well as other top celebrities, added: “I guess it’s the biggest scoop of my career.
“All these agencies from around the world have been camped out since July 1 in some cases and we got it. I don’t think it’s going to get much bigger than this.”
Photographer Niraj Tanna of Ikon pictures also tweeted the news that Kate had gone into labour at 7.13am just before Kensington Palace released the official confirmation.
