London - The Duchess of Cambridge says she doesn't know the sex of her first child - but she hopes it's a boy.
Her husband Prince William, however, would prefer a girl.
The former Kate Middleton, who is five months pregnant, made the revelation to a soldier at a St Patrick's Day ceremony on Sunday honouring the Irish Guards.
Guardsman Lee Wheeler said the duchess told him: "I'd like to have a boy and William would like a girl."
The duchess wore a green dress coat and a shamrock lapel pin as she presented sprigs of shamrock to soldiers in the annual ceremony at a barracks in Aldershot, southern England.
She suffered a minor mishap when one of her high heels became briefly stuck in a drainage grille.