Oscar Vincent Pickard is a new prince in Queenstown and to celebrate his arrival so close to the royal baby's, half a world away, talented knitters have showered him with handmade woollen clothes.
The national body the Wakatipu Spinners, Weavers and Allied Craft group belongs to asked all member groups to contribute singlets for distribution to maternity wards around New Zealand to honour the new third in line to the Throne.
However, treasurer Barbara Taylor said the dozen Wakatipu members wanted to support new mums and their babies in their own community first. The group prepared a basket brimming with bootees, bonnets, blankets and jerseys for the Queenstown arrival who was closest to baby Cambridge's birth.
That lucky baby was Oscar, but just as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, went into labour a week later than expected, Mrs Pickard, at 36 weeks pregnant, said she was not expecting Oscar to enter the world until August 4 and so the royal connection never came to mind until now.
In contrast to the prolonged labour in London, the Pickards scrambled to get themselves to Lakes District Hospital on the dark and wintry morning of July 19.
Mr Pickard, a stonemason, said he remembered the four contractions his wife endured in the car while he drove from Arrowtown and two hours later in the Frankton hospital, their own cries of ''It's a boy'' were heard when all 6lb 2.5oz (2.79kg) of their first child arrived at 8.35am.
Mrs Pickard said yesterday she felt ''pretty good about it now''.
Oscar was the eighth baby to be born at Lakes District Hospital since a new model of care was introduced in June guaranteeing midwifery service and support around the clock, year-round.
Twenty-three mothers have had post-natal stays at the hospital since June, the highest number in years.
There were 66 births in the hospital in 2011-12, up from 47 in 2010-11, 52 in 2009-10 and 40 in 2008-09.
