The royal birth has prompted a backlash against some financial firms, criticised for trying to cash in on the happy event to publicise their services.

Legal & General in particular has been condemned for predicting when the baby is likely to die, based on current life expectancies.

However, the birth of the prince has also brought some useful tips which new parents and parents-to-be might be well-advised to consider.

"Life changes when you have your first child, so your financial arrangements might need to be modified as well," points out Richard Wadsworth, chartered financial planner at Carbon Financial Partners in Glasgow.

One of the first things new parents should consider is how their new offspring can be protected against financial hardship if something were to happen to one or both them.

Life insurance is so low-cost that it is a 'no-brainer' says Mr Wadsworth.

Indeed, Aviva currently offers £10,000 of free life cover per parent, per child up to the baby's first birthday, to help ensure as many parents as possible have some form of financial protection in place.

Louise Colley, head of protection sales and marketing for Aviva says: "Life insurance is probably the biggest financial security blanket that you can give your children.

Through this initiative we wanted to get it onto parents' 'to-do' lists but also give them a bit more time to think about it as they will be busy with other things when their child is first born."

She says the £10,000 was based on the annual cost of childcare for an infant under one year old.

Life insurance premiums for the longer term can be compared through sites such as Moneysupermarket.com and Confused.com.

However, a better, and equally cost effective, approach is to shop around by calling a specialist broker such as Lifesearch, where you can also get advice on the right type of protection insurance.

Kevin Carr, spokesman for Lifesearch, says: "New parents tend to take out life insurance and think that all their protection needs are covered. But they also need to think about what will happen if they become ill."

He points out that advisers can usually put together an affordable package of cover for parents to include both life and income protection.

Life insurance policies for parents that include critical illness insurance also normally provide inbuilt cover for children from the age of 30 days old, and will provide a lump sum if the child develops a serious condition such as childhood cancer or bacterial meningitis.

When a life insurance policy is taken out, it should be written in trust for the surviving parent. This does not cost more and Mr Carr points out that this way the money will be immediately accessible to the family.

The birth of a new baby will often result in gifts of money from grandparents and other relatives who want to provide a nest egg for the child's future. Junior Isas may be suggested but they offer no real tax advantages and are more restrictive than other savings plans.

When deciding where to invest for a child it is important to think long term. It may be a natural instinct for parents to be cautious with their child's money and put the money into a bank or building society but this can be counterproductive.

Its real value is likely to eroded by inflation over the next 18 to 21 years, warns Jeffrey Deans of Glasgow based Save & Invest.

He says: "When we compared the performance of a good investment fund with bank deposits over the past 20 years, the fund had achieved significantly better results, even though it had lost ground at the time of the financial crisis."

Mr Deans suggests that a good multi manager fund such as Jupiter Merlin Growth or Cazenove Diversity Tactical would be ideal for children's savings.

Investment trust savings schemes are another tried-and-tested option. Children's savings schemes, such as those from ­Baillie Gifford, enable lump sum investments from £100, or regular savings from £25 per month to be made on a child's behalf with no dealing costs.

However, Legal & General was more concerned about the royal baby's retirement planning.

It calculated Prince George has an 85% chance of living beyond the Queen's current age of 87; a 75% chance of outliving the Duke of Edinburgh's current 92 years and a 30% chance of living beyond great great grandmother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's 101 years.

Joseph Lu, head of longevity risk at Legal & General said: "It is wonderful news that the Royal baby will hopefully live a long and happy life. However, we estimate that less than a third of people, (32%) can expect to spend their retirement in good health. So lifestyle choices we make now have an increasingly important impact on how long we will need our pension income to last."