An exclusive video published by a regional daily paper has put paid to rumours that the Duchess of Cambridge let the sex of her unborn child slip during a visit.

Following the Duchess’ visit to Grimsby, reports began circulating that she had been given a gift by a member of the public and said “Thank you, I will take that for my d…”, giving a hint to the sex of the baby.

However, a video shot by a member of the public and published exclusively by the Grimsby Telegraph shows that she said no such thing.

The clip went live on the Telegraph’s website three days after the Duchess’ visit, with an accompanying story on the front page of the paper, and was soon picked up by the national and international media. The video has already been viewed more than 70,000 times.

Editor Michelle Lalor said: “The fact that we were the first port of call for the lady who took this important footage illustrates yet again that people trust their local paper to report fairly and accurately on matters of both local and national interest.

The video, shot by a member of the public, was published exclusively on the Grimsby Telegraph website

“The story of the apparent hint at baby’s sex was being widely covered and the Duchess had become the subject of intense speculation so, as the local paper for the area, it was our job to get to the truth first.”

On the day of the big visit, the Telegraph ran live video streams online, live Twitter updates, and regularly updated picture galleries, video and news reports.

The paper’s main story on the website recorded 19,778 views in just 24 hours – more than three times the usual figure.

The video can be viewed here.