First pictures of Baby Wessex are now coming in.

Prince Edward, Sophie and Viscount Severn leave hospital

The couple will now travel back to Bagshot where young Wessex will be introduced to his family home.

All three looked very well.

According to Buckingham Palace, at 5pm GMT this afternoon, Queen Elizabeth II will become Britain’s oldest ever Monarch, overtaking her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria who died in 1901 aged 81 years and 243 days.

The Queen and Prince Philip at Westminster Abbey

We’re told the Queen will spend the day quietly with Prince Philip, her husband for 60 years.

She is the world’s second-longest living monarch, after King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. Elizabeth has outlasted 11 Prime Ministers, the first being Sir Winston Churchill, and is the first to have a premier, Tony Blair, born in her reign.

However, Queen Victoria will retain the record for longest-serving Monarch ever until September 9, 2015.

Peter Hennessy, Professor of Contemporary British history at Queen Mary’s College, University of London said, “Even allowing for the improvement in medicine since Victoria, it is remarkable. I cannot think of any other head of an institution who has not put a foot wrong over such a long period of time.

“In those years, she has presided over the most dignified withdrawal from the superpower status, which is no bad legacy. The way she has adapted, without succumbing to faddish fashions, is a gift of genius.”

Elizabeth’s cousin Margaret Rhodes says it is highly unlikely she will step down early — the abdication of Edward VIII in 1936, which forced her father to take over, is still a painful chapter in Royal memory.

The author Robert Jobson says, “Abdication I don’t think is an issue, or something that’s even in consideration to the Queen. As long as she remains in good health, she will continue to be Queen until the day she dies. Otherwise the system does not really work.”

Let us hope this situation does not change until at least September 9, 2015.

Kate Middleton was pictured with Prince William yesterday while he shot pheasant at Windsor Great Park.

Kate helping William collect pheasant

The couple seemed happy to be out, despite the freezing temperatures. At one point they even snuggled up together behind a convenient hedge.

A snatched kiss behind a hedge for Kate and Wills

There have also been suggestions, via a tabloid newspaper, that Kate is virtually living with William at Clarence House.

Relationships change with time, of course, but a more stable sense of “steady as she goes” would be helped by a statement of intent from the couple and a hint of where they are going.

Otherwise 2008 will be a long year to get through without an engagement announcement.

Prince Andrew has decided on a very homely Christmas card this year which includes all members of his less than nuclear family.

Eugenie, Andrew and Beatrice on the York’s Christmas card

But where, you might ask, is Mum? Actually, the Duchess took the photo, so modestly remains hidden. Hey, there is a ten second timer on most cameras these days!

And as if one pic was not enough, there’s another on the back.

And still no Fergie. I never knew she was so shy and retiring.