A prince’s royal beginnings
Will and Kate make public appearance with newborn
LONDON — A George, a James, a Louis, a Henry, a Charles, an Albert, an Edward or a Phillip?
Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge said they were not yet sure what to call their baby Tuesday when, to huge applause and an explosion of flash photography, they emerged for the first time in public with their newborn son and third in line to the throne on the steps of St. Mary’s Hospital.
“He’s got a good pair of lungs on him, that’s for sure,” Prince William said as he cradled his son in his arms. “He’s a big boy. He’s kind of heavy.”
As for what to call the new prince, which has been the subject of intense speculation, William said: “We’re still working on a name. We’ll have it as soon as we can. It is the first time we’ve really seen him, so we’re having a proper chance to catch up.”
Like all royal babies, the as-yet-unnamed prince will be given at least four names, any of which he can choose to use should he become King. Royal historical considerations are a major part of the naming process. It is possible that Kate may wish for the baby prince to also have names that are part of her family heritage.
Referring to the fact that the young prince was overdue by as much as nine days, having kept Queen Elizabeth and a huge number of journalists waiting, his father said, “I’ll remind him of his tardiness when he’s older. I know how long you have all been waiting out here.”
For her part, Kate, who appeared surprisingly relaxed and rested after 10 hours of labour Monday, said: “It’s very emotional. Every parent will know this special feeling.”
The subject of changing diapers came up and William confessed, with his nose turned up and Kate nodding cheerfully, that he had “done that already.”
William also joked that the baby had his mother’s good looks and her good hair, a good-natured reference to the fact that he is quickly going bald.
The couple posed for several minutes with the baby swaddled in a white blanket, waving enthusiastically to the thousands of spectators and journalists crammed in a back lane of the hospital. With a few questions politely answered, the prince placed the baby’s grey car seat in the back of their black Range Rover, and wiped his brow jokingly, before taking the wheel of the car to whisk his young family away to their relatively modest flat at the back of Kensington Palace.
However, to get there, they first had to run a gauntlet of ecstatic wellwishers and one republican holding up an anti-monarchy placard. The crowd stretched for hundreds of metres down the lane and around a corner to the busy entrance to Paddington Station. Once past the station, the prince was finally able to move at slightly greater speed toward the palace.
With the baby at her side, Kate smiled through the window to those who surrounded her and seemed to be mouthing the words, “Thank you” to everyone. Despite having been in labour only 24 hours before, the duchess appeared to be confident and comfortable, despite the frenzy that engulfed the couple.
The historic first images of the baby and his proud parents will dominate new coverage for days. No other images of the baby are expected for some time because the duke and duchess are expected to go into seclusion at Kensington and later at her parents’ mansion in Bucklebury, Berkshire.
Prince William began two weeks of state-mandated paid paternity leave Monday. When it ends he must report back to duty as a Royal Air Force search-andrescue pilot in Wales, where the young family and their dog, Lupo, will reside far from the trappings of royalty in a modest country home on an island where they are said to really enjoy living. But they will eventually move to a refurbished fourstorey, 21-room apartment in Kensington that once belonged to Queen Elizabeth’s late sister, Princess Margaret.
A parade of the baby prince’s relatives got their first glimpse of him earlier Tuesday. The first to come calling were the Duchess of Cambridge’s commoner parents, Carole and Michael Middleton. After her first cuddle with the royal baby, the prince’s maternal grandmother told reporters that “They are both doing very well. He was absolutely beautiful.”
When asked if they had provided any suggestions about the baby’s names, Carole Middleton, who was an airline stewardess when she met her husband, firmly replied: “Absolutely not.”
It is expected the Queen will meet her greatgrandson for the first time Friday before she leaves for her summer holidays at Balmoral Castle. She is not scheduled to return to England from Scotland before October. That has led to speculation that the new prince was be christened at Balmoral rather than at Buckingham Palace, which has been the royal family’s usual drill.
Although it rained heavily twice — the first rain in London in several weeks — it was an otherwise glorious day filled with pomp and pageantry of a kind that the British are peerless at creating. The morning began with the Royal Horse Guards band playing Congratulations in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace before the daily Changing of the Guard ritual. After that there were 42- and 61-gun royal salutes across from Buckingham Palace, on the Gun Wharf beside Tower Bridge and in royal parks across the kingdom.
The bells of Westminster Abbey joined in the national jubilation, pealing for three hours during the afternoon.
While it was all smiles Tuesday, the life of a royal is not only one of privilege. There is a constant, inescapable sense of public duty as could be seen when Princess Elizabeth rushed back from a holiday in Kenya to ascend the throne when her father, King George VI died.
The royals have always lived intimate moments in public such as William and Kate did with their baby outside St. Mary’s on Tuesday. But the pressures have been far greater on recent generations as the media has become more intrusive. William knows this better than anyone. His mother, Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash as she was chased by paparazzi in Paris when the prince was only 15 years old. Kate has already learned that the hard way, too when a photographer with a long range lens caught her sunbathing topless.
William’s brother, Prince Harry, and their uncle, Prince Andrew have frequently found themselves in trouble because of their behaviour, as has Andrew’s former wife, Sarah Ferguson.
Agreements will be made to give the young prince privacy when he goes to boarding school and university. But breaches have been common.
What might help is that Britain now has laws that make it an offence to take a photograph of anyone under the age of 16 without the permission of their parents.
Still, the biggest advantage the new prince may have is that his parents seem to genuinely be besotted with each other. In a break with tradition and a stab at normalcy, William and Kate have declared that they do not intend to engage a full-time nanny to assist them raise their son. It is also likely that Kate, William and their child will spend a lot of time with her parents.