LONDON: British Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha introduced their newborn baby to Downing Street on Friday, posing for pictures outside the famous Number 10 door.
Florence Rose Endellion caught the Camerons by surprise when she arrived early during their holiday to Cornwall, southwest England, on August 24.
The couple cradled their fourth child on the steps of Number 10, the prime minister`s official residence, with Cameron joking that he had already changed "hundreds" of nappies, or diapers.
The baby, weighing six pounds and one ounce (2.7 kilogrammes), was delivered by caesarean section in the Cornish capital Truro.
Ten days after she was born, she made her Downing Street debut.
Cameron bent to kiss his daughter on the head and she opened her eyes briefly, while his wife admitted their new arrival had been keeping them awake.
"Samantha and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kindness and generosity since the birth of baby Florence," Cameron said.
"We have been really, really touched by all the people who have offered their warm congratulations, and by the many cards, gifts and flowers that we have received."
The name Endellion refers to the village of St Endellion on the north Cornish coast, near where the Camerons were staying.
The Camerons already have a daughter, Nancy, six, and a four-year-old son, Arthur. Their first child, Ivan, who had cerebral palsy and severe epilepsy, died suddenly in February last year, aged six.
David Cameron is 43 and his wife is 39.
Florence Cameron is only the second child born to a serving British prime minister since 1849, after Blair`s son Leo in 2000.
In his memoirs published Wednesday, Blair recalled Leo`s arrival, giving an insight into the early months Florence can expect.
"It was weird having a small baby again, and weirder still in Downing Street," he wrote.
"But right from the off, he was carried from room to room, from the switchboard to the foreign policy unit, a pocket-sized piece of benign innocence existing in the maelstrom of the world-weary activities of government."
BDST: 1625 HRS, September 03, 2010
