A large majority of the British public have said they would be comfortable if the royal baby, born yesterday, grew up to be gay, a survey has shown.

The survey by Stonewall found that 83% of the British public would be neutral, comfortable or very comfortable if the future King turned out the be gay.

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, said: “Millions of people will be celebrating [yesterday’s] news, just as millions last week celebrated the news of equal marriage in England and Wales. Happily, since last week every child born in Britain is born into a society where gay people are now equal in law.”

If the royal baby did turn out to be openly gay, he would be the first in British history to do so.

Kate Middleton and Prince William announced the birth of their son yesterday at St Mary’s Hospital in London at 4.24pm. The baby, who is third in line for the throne, weighed 8lbs 6oz.

The couple are expected to leave the hospital at 6pm this evening.

Under new succession laws the baby would have remained third in line to the throne regardless of gender, and the gender of any subsequent siblings.

Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg argued strongly for the constitutional change at the start of the year.

Mr Clegg said the old rules belonged to “a bygone era” and reflected “old prejudices”.