If ever there was a salutary lesson in the dangers of social media, I have learned it today.

Last night, in the mad rush to break the historic news of Kate delivering a future king, I got my duchesses in a twist.

I reported on Twitter that the Duchess of Cornwall had given birth to a baby boy, weighing 8lbs 6ozs. I have nearly 8,000 followers but, fortunately, Prince Charles isn't one of them (yet).

It should, of course, have been the Duchess of Cambridge and, despite deleting the tweet within seconds, my royal gaffe has today made it into print in the Metro newspaper.

It may be elsewhere for all I know because once the horse has bolted, there's clearly little point in slamming the stable door.

As a father-of-four myself, I am, naturally, delighted for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. They have much to look forward to.

I am also very pleased indeed for Prince Charles that he doesn't have to go back to changing nappies and getting up in the early hours to dispense the gripe water.

The lesson to be taken from all of this is that social media is a wonderful, modern way of spreading news rapidly - but it still requires the old-fashioned journalistic discipline of checking the facts. I, therefore, consider myself to have been well and truly disciplined.

My only consolation is hearing that a radio reporter is also red-faced this morning for telling his listeners that the news of the birth would be formally announced by "eagle".

He clearly misread the word easel. However, a golden eagle swooping down from the roof of Buckingham Palace with a sheet of parchment in its talons would have been far more impressive than sticking the historic document on a golden easel at the gates.