The Royal Baby

I read that when the future King Edward VIII was born, in 1894, royal historians noted that it was the first time in British history that there were three generations of living heirs in the direct line of succession to the throne: Edward's father (future King George V) and his grandfather (future King Edward VII) were both alive and kicking, along with his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria herself. Assuming there are no monarchical disasters between now and next summer, the same situation will be in effect when the next royal baby is born, who will be the child of Prince William, the grandchild of Prince Charles and the great-grandchild of Queen Elizabeth.

Just a little royal trivia as my way of saying congratulations to Will and Kate on the announcement of her pregnancy. For me the most interesting part of the announcement is that there's been a significant change in the rules concerning the succession. Historically boys took precedence over girls, regardless of birth order, but the British government and commonwealth are in the process of updating that rule, so if the first-born child is a girl, she'll get to keep her place at the head of the line, even if a brother shows up at some point in the future. (More trivia:  When the current Queen's father became King after the abdication of his elder brother in 1936, 10-year-old Princess Elizabeth is said to have started fervently praying for a brother, so she wouldn't have to be Queen.) The rule change is only fitting - after the Queen's exemplary 60-year reign, who could possibly look at a newborn princess and mutter "too bad it wasn't a boy."

For what it's worth, most of the top tier royal women in the recent past, including the Queen, Princess Margaret, Princess Anne, the duchesses of Kent and Gloucester, Princess Alexandra, Princess Michael of Kent and Princess Diana, all had boys first. That doesn't mean that Kate will, too, however, and for right now I'm kind of hoping she has a girl. Now that they're actually changing the archaic boys-first rule, it would be fun to have a girl show up and actually benefit from the change.

And when will the new baby actually get to be King or Queen? If Prince William lives to be 85, it won't be until 2067 and there's a lot to think about in the meantime. As People magazine put it in their November 23, 1981 cover story announcing Di's first pregnancy, "Nannies, nappies, names and Lord knows what all..."  Let the pink and blue celebrating begin!