So what happens now the Duchess Of Cambridge . St James’s Palace has recently announced that the Duke And Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their first child, see more at: https://royalcentral.co.uk/?p=384.
The first phase, now an announcement has been made, is the most important for Royal watchers and that is ‘baby development’. Their Royal Highness’s office will make statements throughout the pregnancy terms testifying to the health and wellness of both baby and mother. At this point naming and even birth place are still being decided.
As a little side note, it was decided in 2011 at the Commonwealth meeting that the first child of TRH The Duke And Duchess Of Cambridge, completely regardless of gender, would one day be Sovereign. This was the biggest change to the devise of succession forhundreds of years. They abolished what is known as Male Primogeniture, where all sons of the Monarch have priority of succession over any females regardless of whether the Monarch’s eldest child is indeed female. Put quite simply here, if the Duke and Duchess
Of Cambridge were to have a baby girl, that girl would one day be our Queen.
Now is the most important phase for the Cambridges and the entire Royal Family. The actual birth. When the time comes for Catherine to give birth, it may be in one of the Royal Palaces or it may well be in a hospital, whatever happens the strange custom of having the Home Secretary (senior politician) in the neighbouring room has at least been abolished (this was done as there have always been fears of baby-swaps throughout the Monarchy’s history) – this was abandoned and regarded as ‘silly’ by the time the birth of Prince Charles came.
The next step is an announcement of birth and the most important part – the name. The title (if the baby turns out to be a boy) has already been sorted thanks to the 1917 letters patent created by King George V. The letters patent dictates that the following people are entitled to the style of Royal Highness and the title of Prince/Princess: ‘All children of the Monarch, all grandchildren born to sons of the Monarch and the son of the son of the Prince Of Wales’. That last bit ‘the son of the son of the Prince Of Wales’ will be William and Catherine’s first son. If the child is a female, there is absolutely no doubt that the Monarch (whether that is the current Queen or whether it’s Charles) will issue a special letters patent granting the style of Royal Highness and the title of Princess. Either way, they will become ‘His/Her Royal Highness Prince/Princess <NAME> of Cambridge (or, if Charles has succeeded, of Wales or Cornwall)’.
A notice for the birth will be placed on the gates of Buckingham Palace and then announced from the balcony at St James’s Palace, according Royal tradition.
Perhaps the most interesting part will be the naming of the child. That is, whether Their Royal Highnesses will choose an archaic name (e.g. Henry, Edward, Richard, Philip etc.) or a modern name. Seeing as it’s likely they won’t want to put their child in the position where they could be reigning as King Jake I, I think it’s a safe bet to say that the name won’t be anything too modern! It is a Royal tradition for Royal children to have multiple forenames: (Prince William’s full name is ‘William Arthur Philip Louis’, The Queen’s is ‘Elizabeth Alexandra Mary’), perhaps a few from William’s side of the family and a few from Kate’s.
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