The full horoscope of the future monarch contains rare and deeply auspicious alignments.

This is a royal heir who will grow up in challenging times but will eventually preside over an era of marvels. He will be remembered for the rest of time as the rule-breaker who became a peacemaker. William and Kate's son will find an inner reserve of strength that shapes his character and moulds him into a truly charismatic monarch.

His story will be full of hard-won victories and narrow escapes - and these same themes will run through the story of his subjects.

I base my predictions on far more than just the fact that the new arrival is a sensitive Cancerian, like his father and his departed grandmother, Diana. And, by the way, he IS a Cancerian. The Sun entered Leo (and thus the sign of Leo began), just a couple of minutes after he drew his first breath. So he is a Cancerian, through and through, even though he was born as close to the end of this sign as his father was born to the beginning of it.

He was born at the time of the Full Moon. Children born so close to the lunar culmination invariably lead charmed yet challenging lives.

There are other fascinating factors in his chart, too. Just a few hours before he was born, Venus moved from Leo to Virgo, suggesting that babies born this week will be especially blessed with clever, inquiring minds. And all this happened just as Mercury ended a particularly difficult 'retrograde phase'. Children born when Mercury is retrograde often tend to be more thinkers than doers. It is almost as if the new heir to the throne waited until he was a week overdue in order to pick up every possible astrological advantage.

He has the Moon in Capricorn, and Scorpio rising. These are slightly trickier influences: Moon in Capricorn people can be self-critical, and those with Scorpio rising can sometimes jealously guard their privacy. Readers of my regular column know that this week there is a phenomenon known as a 'Watery Grand Trine' being formed in the sky between Neptune in Pisces, Saturn in Scorpio and the conjunction of Jupiter and Mars in Cancer. Many people are calling this a 'Harmonic Convergence', and seeing it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to 'heal the world', to promote a culture of greater spirituality and to increase an awareness of the need for world peace.

This child inherits the spirit of this convergence and will carry it with him throughout his life.