Duchess Catherine hopes she is pregnant with a boy.

The royal is expecting her first child later this year and while handing out symbolic shamrocks to members of the Irish Guards at the annual St. Patrick's Day ceremony on Sunday, Catherine revealed she wants a son while her husband Prince William is hoping for a daughter.

"I asked her do you know if it's a girl or a boy and she said not yet. She said 'I'd like to have a boy and William would like a girl.' I asked her if she had any names and she said no," said Guardsman Lee Wheeler. Catherine - who was known as Kate Middleton before her marriage - also told Sergeant Thomas Laven she is prepared for many sleepless nights.

It was recently claimed the couple are expecting a girl, after a well-wisher presented her with a white teddy bear during an official visit to Grimsby, north England and she said, "Thank you, I will take that for my d... for my baby." Sandra Cook, who was standing next to a woman who gave Kate the cuddly toy, said, "As she handed it over I distinctly heard Kate say, 'Thank you, I will take that for my d...' Then she stopped and corrected herself to say, '... for my baby.'"