The Royal Baby Is Here! It's a BOY!

[JenniferJuniper]

The last Prince George (King George VI was Prince Albert) was the Duke of Kent, Queen Elizabeth's uncle. He was quite good looking and purportedly bisexual. He was supposedly the long-time lover of Noel Coward.

Very Valentino-esque.

[WonderingInWA]

doubt it. Charles has been waiting to claim his birthright for 60 years.

If he takes the crown, my guess is it will just be to say he's BTDT. He will hopefully pass it to William so William will get the experience his mother, QE, did. A long reign. In my opinion, Charles doesn't deserve to be King and honestly, he doesn't need the role. He's done a good job raising William to take on the role, I think (one of the only things he's done right), so he should just do the coronation gig, then retire and pass down the crown to William.

[JenniferJuniper]

If he takes the crown, my guess is it will just be to say he's BTDT. He will hopefully pass it to William so William will get the experience his mother, QE, did. A long reign. In my opinion, Charles doesn't deserve to be King and honestly, he doesn't need the role. He's done a good job raising William to take on the role, I think (one of the only things he's done right), so he should just do the coronation gig, then retire and pass down the crown to William.

It's his birthright, so he deserves to be King. And unless he's too old or ill to take the throne by the time the queen dies, he almost certainly will.

[E Street Fan]

Well, yes, IF he decides to be King George, he would be the VII, unless for some reason either Charles or William decide to change their names when they become monarch. There have been 6 King Georges of GB thus far.

I think you misunderstood. I read somewhere that CHARLES plans to be King George VII, if and when he ascends the throne. I don't think George of Cambridge has given much thought to his future regnal name. ;)

[WonderingInWA]

It's his birthright, so he deserves to be King. And unless he's too old or ill to take the throne by the time the queen dies, he almost certainly will.

Of course it's his birthright. But he could abdicate. I don't think it's entirely out of the realm of possibility.

[WonderingInWA]

I think you misunderstood. I read somewhere that CHARLES plans to be King George VII, if and when he ascends the throne. I don't think George of Cambridge has given much thought to his future regnal name. ;)

Hm, I hadn't read that. But the royal family is famous for renaming their men when they come to the throne. Seems silly, if you ask me.

[lilith]

After Diana-gate, I have never thought Charles would ever take the throne. I truly think William will just be next. Camilla should never be queen consort, for so many reasons.

Why shouldn't Camilla be Queen Consort? She wouldn't be the first who had started her relationship with her husband while they were both married to other spouses, and she's behaved extremely conventionally since marrying Charles. If they had been allowed to marry each other to start with a lot of pain would have been avoided, which I think is a big part of why William had his family's support to marry Catherine, even though she doesn't have an aristocratic background.

That said, I do hope Charles abdicates and allows William to have a long reign and to ascend the throne whilst still relatively young and energetic. Even though Charles has been waiting to be king his whole life, he seems pretty happy with his estates and interests in organic farming and conservation, and he has more freedom to advocate for the causes that matter to him as Prince of Wales than he would as king.

[JenniferJuniper]

Of course it's his birthright. But he could abdicate. I don't think it's entirely out of the realm of possibility.

The abdication of Edward VIII was far more scandalous than the fact that he cavorted with a married American. I can't see Charles abdicating just because he thinks people like William better. I know we live in a media driven world that prefers to focus on the young and the popular and the beautiful, but he's been raised from birth to be king, and I can't see any reason why he's not fit for the crown. And at his age, it's probably not going to be a terribly long reign.

[tabitha2]

william likes the relative normalcy he has now. he can have years like this--work he loves, time to enjoy kate and the children, etc. then settle into is role in middle age and have the best of both worlds.

abdication is verboten for the windsors...it is a job for life and that has been trained into Charles from almost day one.

[Mela99]

Why would Charles want to call himself king George? Not that up on English kings beyond a certain point. Was there a King Charles with a shady past.

Also, I think William loves flying planes and being in the RAF. I don't think he would be fussed if his father didn't choose to abdicate.

[lilith]

Why would Charles want to call himself king George? Not that up on English kings beyond a certain point. Was there a King Charles with a shady past.

Also, I think William loves flying planes and being in the RAF. I don't think he would be fussed if his father didn't choose to abdicate.

You could say that, Charles I was beheaded by parliamentarians and his son, Charles II, was restored and very popular but a notorious adulterer whose court was very scandalous.

ETA: The last Stuart prince was also a Charles, Bonny Prince Charlie, and he invaded Scotland from the continent with plans to continue into England, so the Hanoverian Windsors wouldn't think too kindly of him either.

[louisa05]

The abdication of Edward VIII was far more scandalous than the fact that he cavorted with a married American. I can't see Charles abdicating just because he thinks people like William better. I know we live in a media driven world that prefers to focus on the young and the popular and the beautiful, but he's been raised from birth to be king, and I can't see any reason why he's not fit for the crown. And at his age, it's probably not going to be a terribly long reign.

[WonderingInWA]

Exactly. Charles is not going to abdicate to please the notions of people who worship his dead ex-wife. The abdication crisis could have destroyed the monarch as Elizabeth II well knows and I'm sure has drilled into her children.

As to Diana, there is no way they would have remained married whether Camilla was in the picture or not. They were not compatible. And she had an airport carousel's worth of emotional baggage walking into that marriage. Not saying he was perfect, but the notion that she was is denial.

Um, I didn't write the above quote about the abdication of Edward VIII. Not sure how my username got put on that one!

[tuckerphez]

Am I the only one that thinks there's a good chance Elizabeth would outlive Charles? It's happened several times in history (monarch outliving the heir apparent).

Even if Charles inherited his parents' longevity genes, he'd be King for 10-15 years at most. (As another poster said.) Remember his mother had him when she was 22. That's not much of an age difference, especially when compared to the next two generations of the royal family.

[OkToBeTakei]

Exactly. Charles is not going to abdicate to please the notions of people who worship his dead ex-wife. The abdication crisis could have destroyed the monarch as Elizabeth II well knows and I'm sure has drilled into her children.

As to Diana, there is no way they would have remained married whether Camilla was in the picture or not. They were not compatible. And she had an airport carousel's worth of emotional baggage walking into that marriage. Not saying he was perfect, but the notion that she was is denial.

[lizziesmom]

George is a popular baby name over here at the moment - it was no. 12 in 2011 according to official statistics for England and Wales. So not just an old man name here.

I had a conversation with my friend Jennifer about this yesterday. I think George sounds like such an old man name too. I said I hoped they call him Alex. Her reply was that Alexander and Alex are too uppity. I guess it takes all kinds.

Can someone please explain to this dumb American why the royal family chooses names from such a small pool of acceptable choices? Is there any chance that future children of Kate and William will have names honoring her family?

[louisa05]

lizziesmom--Just sing a chorus of "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof. As a future monarch, William and Kate's first born had to have a suitably traditional name considered appropriate for a regnal name. It is true that he could choose another name to rule under (it was suggested to Elizabeth that she do so simply because the first Elizabeth was so iconic) but his first name had to be traditional in case he uses it.

The farther away from the throne a child is upon his or her birth (or is anticipated to be) the more freedom there is in naming him or her. Thus, Princess Anne's daughter having the highly unusual name Zara. With three brothers ahead of her mother and the expectation that they would all have children, her name did not have to be suitably regnal. Likewise, Princess Anne's grandchildren by her son Peter do not have names with any royal connections whatsoever--they are called Savannah and Isla and are 13th and 14th in the succession line. They will likely continue to move down as William perhaps has more children, and Harry, and the York girls marry and have children, etc...

[OkToBeTakei]

Not sure how Alex or Alexander are uppity, very common here :lol:

George does not seem an old man name to me as probably as mentioned it's quite popular. I know quite a few wee George's and Henry's. I think names are cyclical and as mentioned on other threads the trendy made up type names are still not the norm here. Artemis discussed the demographic of that in another thread. For every Jayden you still see 10 Andrews and James. For every Courtney 10 Charlottes and Emily's.

Every 20 years or so you see Susan Pamela. Then Molly and Chloe. Popular at my kids school is Eva or Evie, Archie and Euan. 5 years ago there were Sophie's, Amy's, Alex's and Patrick's and on it goes :lol:

[fakepigtails73]

You know, my dad, who has no qualifications to speculate about the Royal Family aside from living in Europe (???), predicted that Charles will sit on the throne for a day and then abdicate, because he knows that the people want William.

I'd respect Charles if he were to do that, but I think it's highly unlikely. Looking at the longevity of the women on Queen Elizabeth's side I hope he's not in a too big of a hurry to hop on the throne. How old was the Queen Mum when she died, more than 100 or close to it, wasn't she? The Queen doesn't look so frail, it's almost a given that she'll beat Queen Victoria's record of 64 yrs (I think??) as monarch.

How Charles treated Diana during all these years was despicable; I detest Camilla, although I dislike the way so many people bash her looks because I think doing so is too easy, it's cheap and she acted vile enough during her affair with Charles that one doesn't need to focus on her physical ugliness at the expense of her (likely) inner non-beaty. I do have to admit these two are soulmates.

When I saw the pic of baby George (not crazy about the name either) I thought about Diana and how sad it was that she couldn't bask in the joy of grandmotherhood.

ETA: I totally understand the need to give this baby a very traditionnl English name, since he's 3rd in the line of succession. Bookies in Vegas had "George" in 1st place with "James" in 2nd. I would have liked "James" better, but that's just me. "George" sounds too old, it reminds me of the two President Bushes and it's my grandfather's name. I loved my grandpa (rip), but he'd be 94 if he'd still be alive, so yeah, I do think it is an "old" sounding name...

[Marianne]

When I was in school, George was the name that the boys gave to their dick... oh my god, everytime I will listen about this baby i will think at this... :embarrassed:

[OkToBeTakei]

Just discussing this at tea break at work and we realised we have 2 Elizabeth's 3 Margaret's and an Ann on duty. The one male is Edward called Eddie! We are the royals today :lol:

[WonderingInWA]

I'd respect Charles if he were to do that, but I think it's highly unlikely. Looking at the longevity of the women on Queen Elizabeth's side I hope he's not in a too big of a hurry to hop on the throne. How old was the Queen Mum when she died, more than 100 or close to it, wasn't she? The Queen doesn't look so frail, it's almost a given that she'll beat Queen Victoria's record of 64 yrs (I think??) as monarch.

How Charles treated Diana during all these years was despicable; I detest Camilla, although I dislike the way so many people bash her looks because I think doing so is too easy, it's cheap and she acted vile enough during her affair with Charles that one doesn't need to focus on her physical ugliness at the expense of her (likely) inner non-beaty. I do have to admit these two are soulmates.

When I saw the pic of baby George (not crazy about the name either) I thought about Diana and how sad it was that she couldn't bask in the joy of grandmotherhood.

ETA: I totally understand the need to give this baby a very traditionnl English name, since he's 3rd in the line of succession. Bookies in Vegas had "George" in 1st place with "James" in 2nd. I would have liked "James" better, but that's just me. "George" sounds too old, it reminds me of the two President Bushes and it's my grandfather's name. I loved my grandpa (rip), but he'd be 94 if he'd still be alive, so yeah, I do think it is an "old" sounding name...

This. Soulmates or not, she should have left him alone (and he, her) while married. And despite her having a makeover with fancy new clothes and it looks like perhaps some teeth work, she'll always be ugly on the inside for what she did to her own (former) husband and everyone else involved.

[laura oz]

I haven't read the whole thread(3 day method of potty training is intense!), so I could have missed something, but why couldn't they have worked Spencer in there somewhere? It made me sad that Diana couldn't be here to see her first grandchild. It was just a picture, for goodness sake. Anyway, I digress, I am an American and have read EVERY book about Diana I have ever been able to get my hands on - including a fictional one that had her living/hiding out in the US after faking her death which I could feel rot my brain as I read it- and seen every Lifetime or network movie about her, and girl had lots of issues going into the marriage and a whole lot more after it was over. She wasn't innocent, but she was treated badly, so she responded badly sometimes. Good grief, I feel old. I remember watching them get married on TV. It seems maybe William really married someone he loved and who could cope well with all the pressure. Congrats to the new little family! Wish the best for them, and for the little guy who will one day be king. That has to be a lot of pressure. I wouldn't want to do it.

[Buzzard]

I think Charles will abdicate, for the "good of the monarchy."

Let's assume Elizabeth lives/rules another 15 years. She's old and pretty boring. There are no shots of her riding horses on beaches, driving sexy cars, or even having the stamina to visit hospitals, schools, towns etc.

The monarchy is an outdated institution that relies on tourism and the fantasies of the world to survive. If she has 15 years and he has as short as 15 years the country is looking at an entire generation of royal snooze. In 30 years the public perception can easily turn, converting those palaces into condos.

William and Kate have the attention of the world. They're young, beautiful, and HAPPY. They look good touring the country shaking hands and smiling. They'll still be young and loved in 15 years. Not so much in 30.

[Irishy]

I like Camilla. She looks like a gamey old bird.

George is so meh. There are tons of Georges here too. It just reminds me of George Pig. Dine-nee-saw!