Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard were left red-faced on Good Morning Britain when TV health expert Dr Hilary Jones recommended the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge should have sex to bring on the birth of the royal baby.

The breakfast presenters invited Dr Hilary onto the couch to talk about ways of encouraging an overdue baby to get moving, after speculation that Kate may now be overdue with her second child, but seemed to regret starting the conversation when things took a turn for the graphic.

Kate Middleton and Prince William
William and Kate are expecting their second child any day (Chris Jackson/PA)

After discussing the benefits of long walks and spicy food, Dr Hilary added: “Of course, the other thing one has to mention, at the risk of going to the Tower, is sex and monarch in the same sentence.

“But if any woman wanted to at that stage in pregnancy, it does actually help because the man delivers his prostoglandins which are the same as the hormones you use to induce birth.”

Susanna Reid and Ben Shepherd
Susanna Reid and Ben Shephard (ITV)

As Susanna and Ben collapsed into embarrassed giggles, Dr Hilary turned to the producers of the ITV show and asked: “Is that alright? It is true, it’s medical fact.”

Susanna told him: “Our producer said you were going to mention getting romantic, but I didn’t realise you were going to go into quite so much detail,” to which he replied: “Well, let’s not beat around the bush here.”

Dr Hilary Jones
Dr Hilary Jones (Ian West/PA)

Ben tried to restore some order to the show by saying: “You’ve gone far enough. You’ve given us a good indication that a curry and a nice romantic night could actually do the trick.”

But Dr Hilary had the last word: “Absolutely, I’d recommend it. Of course, that’s how it started in the first place.”