While the Palace has confirmed that Kate Middleton is not expecting twins, a royal pair of babies have been born - in Monaco.

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Princess Charlene of Monaco has given birth to a girl called Gabriella and a boy called Jacques. The twins were born by C-section and although Gabriella was was born 2 minutes before her brother, it is Jacques who will be the future Prince of Monaco, due to male priority in Monaco's succession law.

Before the twins were born, there was some dispute whether the doctor would be able to influence which child was born first. But experts say this isn't the case. "The obstetrician will always deliver first the twin that presents itself first when the uterus is opened at the time of caesarean section," is the rather graphical explanation from Dr Patrick O'Brien, spokesman for Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

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If both babies had been the same gender, the first one born by caesarean would have taken the throne. But as the babies are a girl and a boy, the boy will automatically inherit the royal crown (although we're not sure if Prince Albert ever wears a crown).

They are 36-year-old Charlene's first children, following her marriage to Prince Albert II, 56, in 2011. Albert is reported to be the father of 2 other children who are considered 'illegitimate' by the royal family. They are Jazmin Grace Grimaldi, 22, the daughter of a Californian woman and Alexandre Coste, 10, son of a former flight attendant from Togo, West Africa.

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Prince Albert was said to have been by Charlene's side as the children were born at the Princess Grace Hospital, which is named after Albert's mum, Hollywood star Grace Kelly.

Just a few hours after the royal babies were born yesterday evening, 42 cannon shots rung around Monaco – in place of the traditional 21 that would be fired for the birth of a single baby.

The babies are the first twins in the royal Grimaldi household that dates back to the 13th Century. But they're not the only celebrity twins in the news this week...

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