Royal Babies E-Book

Annie Bullen

• Herausgeber: Pitkin
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 75

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

Since their fairy-tale wedding in 2011 and the announcement in December 2012 that William and Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, were expecting their first child, the British have taken the young couple into their hearts. The first decades of the 21st century have seen a surge of pride for our Royal Family as never before and the birth of HRH Prince George of Cambridge, our future king, has been greeted with genuine joy. This celebratory and beautifully illustrated guide not only commemorates this Royal birth but looks at the history of children of the monarchy from Queen Elizabeth II to her great-grandchildren. Age-old customs, ceremonies, christenings, toys and pastimes, nannies, nurseries and the Royal line of succession are also explored, presenting an illuminating portrait of Royal children through the ages.

Leseprobe

Contents

Title Page

‘Wonderful Baby, Beautiful Baby’

The Prince Who Will Be King

Bringing Up a Future King

A Royal Destiny

Princess Elizabeth

Princess Margaret

Prince Philip

Prince Charles

Princess Anne

Princes Andrew & Edward

Royal Grannies & Nannies

Royal Nurseries

Prince William

Prince Harry

Peter & Zara Phillips

Princesses Beatrice & Eugenie

Lady Louise Windsor & James, Viscount Severn

Savannah & Isla Phillips

Royal Babies of the Past

Royal Christenings

Royal Succession

The Order of Succession

Copyright

‘Wonderful Baby, Beautiful Baby’

The miracle of new life swept away memories of a long and tiring labour. The couple, sitting closely together, wanted nothing more than to gaze at, touch and hold their baby boy. The three of them were now a family and this was a private time to be savoured. But the new parents, aware that this was no ordinary birth, knew that their peaceful interlude could not last. As they and their baby got to know each other, the pressure of public expectation outside the hospital room was growing by the minute.

While Kate and William, the Duchess and Duke of Cambridge, marvelled at the fierce rush of protective love that takes all new parents by surprise, the world waited, impatient for news of this baby, one day to be king, a child destined to live his whole life with the eyes of the public upon him.

A proud Prince Charles carries the newborn William as he and Princess Diana leave hospital for their home at Kensington Palace.

On Monday 22 July 2013, the hottest day of the year, George Alexander Louis, the new Prince of Cambridge, was born in the air-conditioned private Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington at 4.24 in the afternoon, weighing 8lbs 6oz. His parents, knowing they would have little privacy once the birth was made public, wanted to share those first precious hours alone with him. They managed to delay the long-awaited announcement until 8.30 that evening, when the nation and the world rejoiced.

Proud parents Catherine and William introduce their new baby to the world as they leave St Mary’s Hospital.

Breaking with royal tradition, an official notification of the birth was given to the press by an email sent from Kensington Palace. Only then was the framed foolscap bulletin, detailing the time of birth and the baby’s weight, delivered to Buckingham Palace through the Privy Purse door, before being fixed to an ornate gold-painted easel by The Queen’s communications secretary, Aisla Anderson, helped by a liveried footman. The easel stood on Buckingham Palace forecourt, just inside the railings. In another nod to the modern age, Clarence House then tweeted the details on Twitter.

The humid evening air outside Buckingham Palace crackled with excitement as a large and growing crowd pressed forward to take photographs of the historic document, signed by surgeon-gynaecologist Marcus Setchel, who had delivered the new Prince. Even he was moved by the birth, murmuring ‘wonderful baby, beautiful baby’s as he left the Lindo wing that evening.

Joy and genuine delight were expressed by tourists and Londoners, excited visitors and those who rushed to the palace as soon as they heard the news. A huge full moon rose above the building as the crowds heard that new father Prince William had said that he and Kate ‘could not be happier’. His own father, Prince Charles, was ‘enormously proud to be a first-time grandfather’, while The Queen was ‘delighted’ to welcome her first great-grandson who will, one day, take his own place on the British throne.

The long-awaited news that Kate, accompanied by her husband, had checked into the exclusive private wing of St Mary’s Hospital – where William was born 31 years earlier – turned that hot Monday in July into a day of fevered expectation for the British people. She and William, who stayed with her during the birth, had managed to give most of the hundreds of waiting journalists and photographers the slip, by using a side entrance when they arrived in the early hours of the morning.

The Prince Who Will Be King

Kate and William spent the first night after the birth in their private suite at St Mary’s with their newborn son. The baby Prince slept peacefully, unaware of the weight of history, past and present, on his tiny shoulders. He will be the 43rd monarch since William the Conqueror won the English Crown at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and he will eventually be the eighth monarch to descend from Queen Victoria.

Prince George, The Queen’s third great-grandchild (but first great-grandson after Peter Phillip’s girls, Savannah and Isla) will one day be Head of the Armed Forces, Supreme Governor of the Church of England, head of state of 16 countries and, possibly, if the role continues, Head of the Commonwealth, which spans 54 nations worldwide and embraces more than two billion citizens.

The happy family greet the waiting press and well-wishers with huge smiles, allowing the world a glimpse of the future king.

Prince George’s birth means that for the first time since Queen Victoria’s reign, when her great-grandson, the future Edward VIII, was born in 1894, the monarchy has three generations of heirs to the throne. In 1894 they were Queen Victoria’s son Bertie, later Edward VII, his son, who became George V, and the ill-fated Edward VIII, who abdicated in 1936. Now the heirs are Prince Charles, heir presumptive Prince William and his son Prince George.

A tender moment: Kate transfers baby George from her arms to his proud father’s. It was ‘very emotional’ and ‘special’ the Duchess said to press of the birth. ‘Any parent must know what this feeling feels like.’

Happy and relaxed, the new parents chat with the press about their young son. ‘He’s got her looks, thankfully,’ laughed Prince William.

His birth was marked by two gun salutes, at Green Park and the Tower of London, while the bells of Westminster Abbey were rung in a celebratory peal lasting three hours and technical wizardry turned the splashing water in the Trafalgar Square fountains blue.

Of all the responses to the arrival of the latest addition to the Royal Family, perhaps the most heartfelt has been that of his grandfather, The Prince of Wales. The Prince – who is close to both his sons, William and Harry, playing an enormous part in their upbringing following the tragic death of their mother, Princess Diana – was clearly overwhelmed at the news. ‘Both my wife and I are overjoyed at the arrival of my first grandchild,’ said the Prince, who was in Yorkshire with his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall. ‘Grandparenthood is a unique moment in anyone’s life, as countless kind people have told me in recent months, so I am enormously proud and happy to be a grandfather for the first time,’ he added.

The Prince of Wales, The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the baby’s maternal grandparents Carole and Michael Middleton, Prince Harry and other senior members of the Royal Family were the first to be told of Prince George’s birth, before the public announcement was made.

Royal history would have been made if the baby had been a girl. Under the new Succession to the Crown Act, girls now have equal succession rights as boys and cannot be supplanted in the line of succession by a younger brother.

Bringing Up a Future King

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, was sincere when he welcomed the ‘wonderful moment for a warm and loving couple who have got a brand-new baby boy’.

The Duchess, in her early life as Kate Middleton, was brought up in a happy and caring family atmosphere by parents who worked hard to give her and her younger brother and sister the best childhood they could. Prince William’s loving relationship with his mother, Princess Diana, was brought to an abrupt end when she died tragically in a motoring accident in Paris in 1997 when he was just 15 years old. But she had been a caring parent who loved her sons dearly, giving them the freedom and fun often denied to royal children in the past.

So young Prince George will have as normal an upbringing as possible, with two parents determined to let him enjoy as much privacy as they are able.

Although they will want his early life to be comparatively free from protocol and formality, they know they have to balance this desire with a respect for royal tradition. Their son, after all, will one day be head of state.

George will live with his parents at Apartment 1A at Kensington Palace where the 20 rooms, once belonging to William’s great-aunt, Princess Margaret, have been refurbished. The large walled garden is an ideal private playground.