Can you feel a buzz in the air this morning? That’s the ‘Beyhive’, the millions of adoring fans of the R&B superstar Beyonce, pulsating with excitement over a showbusiness event of seismic importance. She has given birth to twins.
The double birth, which reportedly took place in secret at a Los Angeles hospital last week, has provided her besotted following with the perfect chance to fawn over a performer many of them call a "goddess".
And who can blame them? After all, this is the woman who once said, "I’m more powerful than my mind can even digest".
The 35-year-old and her 47-year-old hip hop mogul husband, Jay-Z, aka Shawn Carter, were recently hailed by financial magazine Forbes as the world’s first billion-dollar showbusiness couple.
The pair, who last year earned $147-million through music, endorsement deals and other companies, already have a daughter Blue Ivy, five.
As befitting parents whom critics find unbearably narcissistic, opportunistic and publicity-obsessed, their daughter has already featured in their music videos, their endless pictures on social media and even their business development plans.
And Blue Ivy won’t be the only one wondering how things will change now she has two baby siblings hogging the limelight. So what does life have in store for the Bey-Z twins?
Practice runs and decoy hospitals
It’s been quite a drama so far. The Carters were scorched by the negative publicity when Blue Ivy was born in New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital in 2012. As the couple forked out for a lavish "executive suite", other patients complained their entourage was ‘heavy-handed’ and obstructed hospital visitors.
Now living in more celeb-friendly Los Angeles, they reportedly rented a $100 000-a-month (about rR1.2m) mansion in Hollywood, previously owned by Madonna, because it was only a five-minute drive from Beyonce’s chosen hospital, Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre. Amid rumours that the couple were terribly stressed by the then imminent double birth, their bodyguards were taking no chances, doing practice runs to the hospital.
Neighbours then claimed the couple were dispensing with hospital completely by installing their own £1-million maternity ward, including incubators and an "entire professional neo-natal wing", in their nine-bedroom home.
Could it have been an elaborate decoy to hide the couple’s hospital choice?
In the event, it appears Beyonce actually gave birth at a different hospital — UCLA Medical Centre. Her sister Solange, Jay-Z and Blue Ivy were spotted there last week and security outside its maternity ward was ramped up. It’s understood the twins have not yet come home from hospital.
Sources have revealed that "Bey and Jay are thrilled and have started sharing the news with family and closest friends". But no official word or obligatory heavily-styled pictures yet.
Who was at the delivery?
One hopes it wasn’t too fraught in the delivery room. There were reports of a rift in the family because Jay-Z and sister Solange both wished to be the sole "birth partner" during her labour.
Then, it was claimed that Beyonce was worried her father and former manager, Mathew Knowles, would turn up uninvited — as he did when Blue Ivy was born.
But the most controversial witness to the birth may have been Blue Ivy herself, who her mum reportedly wanted to share a "magical family moment" by watching her siblings being born. Insiders say Beyonce is convinced it will help Blue Ivy bond with her siblings. Experts have warned that, at five, the child is too young for what could be a traumatic experience.
Meeting the new arrivals
For clues as to who will be the first in line to coo over the newborns, look no further than the guest list at Beyonce’s recent baby shower (dubbed the ‘Carter Push Party’). The African-themed event at Beyonce’s home featured a giant tent, henna tattooing and huge balloons spelling out the word "Twinning".
It was attended by Beyonce’s former bandmates in Destiny’s Child, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, tennis champion Serena Williams, jewellery designer Lorraine Schwartz, as well as the singer’s sister Solange and their fashion designer mum Tina Knowles.
And granny won’t be far away. LA-based Tina said she "can’t wait" to become a grandmother again.
She recently revealed she buys her grandchildren drum sets and noisy toys to get revenge on her musically-gifted daughters. Twin drum sets? Lucky the Carters have a big house . . .
‘NOW WE NEED A BIGGER HOUSE’
... though, apparently, not big enough. The Carters never do anything by halves. Of course they need a bigger home now, and have offered $120-million for a vast, hilltop mansion in LA’s Bel Air neighbourhood, which boasts four pools, eight bedrooms and bullet-proof glass. The 30 000 sq ft house, which was built by the same company that revamped Claridge’s hotel in London, is just down the road from Tom Jones’s home.
The couple have reportedly spent $500 000 on a lavish nursery. "Bey and Jay knocked out a wall between two bedrooms to create a master suite-size nursery," says a source.
"They’ll have matching cribs and rockers and designer sheets worth $30 000, and a $50 000 sound system."
Beyonce has commissioned a $20 000 mural on the ceiling, complete with an array of glowing stars, the insider adds. "It’s incredible. It’s the entire galaxy above the nursery." Rather more elaborate than a few stick-on stars, then . . .
The room will also feature custom-built walk-in closets, a fireplace and its own cinema. These birds may never want to fly the nest.