Princess Charlotte Turns Two

photo credit: Reuters

Thursday morning update: There's news about the royals from London this morning. The Queen's husband, Prince Philip, has announced that he is retiring from public life. Prince Philip turns 96 in June and I decided to do a little math. If Prince Charles lives to be 96, he'll still be king in 2044. If William lives to age 96, he'll still be king in 2076. And if little Prince George lives to be 96, he'll still be king in 2109. (You can read about Philip's retirement here.)

Original post:
Issue dated May 15, 2017: Princess Charlotte

Nailed it! For the first time in quite a while, the main cover story is something that was on my guessing game list. (I also scored a hit with the Kelly & Ryan topline story. On the other hand, no sign of Chris Soules, which is probably a relief to Mr. Soules and his lawyers.)

Back in 2015, People also marked big brother Prince George's 2nd birthday:



This was just a few weeks after Charlotte's birth and in spite of the teaser headline about baby number 3, the Cambridges are still a family of four. Will there ever be another sibling for George and Charlotte? My guess: No. When George was born, bbc.com ran a fun article about what life will be like for the 21st century prince, including the possibility that there would be only one more baby in the Cambridge family:

At some point there may well be a younger sibling - but perhaps just the one, as the Royal Family appear to have understood the problems of producing too many young royals, all of whom require a role.

The first time I linked to this article, back when George was born, I gave the idea of "too many young royals" a "yikes," but the more I think about it the more sense it makes. Charles's siblings Andrew and Edward have certainly struggled to find productive roles, and even Prince Harry has appeared somewhat adrift at times. Royal gossip says that Prince Andrew is "desperate" for his two daughters, who are now adults, to be given full-time royal work, but there are only so many factory openings and commemorative luncheons for princes and princesses to attend. For now, Kate has broken her every-two-years pattern. Will there be another baby Cambridge? Stay tuned. (You can read the BBC article here.) 

In other recent royal milestones, Charles and Camilla celebrated their 12th anniversary on April 9, the Queen turned 91 on April 21, and Will and Kate's 6th anniversary was April 29. In addition, 2017 is the 20th anniversary of Diana's death and the retrospectives are starting. The Today show is running a Princess Diana series and ABC has a special called The Last 100 Days of Diana, airing this Sunday night, just the start of what I'm assuming will be a tsunami of coverage leading up to August 31.

Finally, I just got my copy of the new biography of Prince Charles, titled "Prince Charles, The Passions and Paradoxes of an Improbable Life." It's the first substantive bio of the Prince since 1994 and the author, Sally Bedell Smith, supposedly had unprecedented access to the prince and the people around him. I've just started reading it, if I learn anything interesting I'll let you know.