Royal Babies Rule! (Well, They Will Someday)

Last week, we saw some truly horrific things happen around the world (If you don't already know what I'm talking about, good for you, ignorance really is bliss.).

But since it's almost Christmas, and I'm in a really good mood, I'm going to risk the chance of going to the darkest place in hell, and completely skim over all terrorist attacks and only talk about royal babies.

Lots and lots of royal news this month, after a relatively dry spell. To begin with, two royal babies were born - TWO.

The twin children of Prince Albert II of Monaco and his wife, Princess Charlene, were born on the 10th of December. The daughter, Princess Gabriella, was born two minutes before her younger brother, Jacques, Hereditary Prince of Monaco, but because Monaco still follows the principle of male primogeniture, poor Gabriella is only second in line to the throne. As consolation, perhaps, she was given the title of Countess of Carladès, but it's not as though she's going to appreciate that much when she's told that the reason she won't be Queen is because she's a girl.

But that's a few years in the future. For now, both Jacques and Gabriella are probably sleeping in their cradles, not really bothered about anything at all, let alone the prospect of ruling a country. The babies will be introduced to the Monegasque public on the 7th of January, which has been declared a public holiday... for some reason? Was the day Prince George was born a public holiday? Well, either way, there are some adorable pictures to look forward too.

Speaking of adorable pictures: In the spirit of Christmas, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge released three new pictures of this charmer:

The latest photos of Prince George for you! Our little Prince is pictured sitting on the steps of Kensington Palace. pic.twitter.com/kWkj9aAtTz
— Clarence House (@ClarenceHouse) December 13, 2014

He's growing up too fast, faster than I can handle. Very soon, he won't be making grumpy faces at the camera any more, and then what?

But thankfully, I'll always have this picture of George to remember him by.

Not to be outdone, the Swedish Royal Family brought in their own cute child in a knitted jumper. And they made it into a video, just to give themselves an edge in this competition between royal babies.

I give you, Princess Estelle of Sweden.



I was introduced to Princess Estelle through Order of Splendor, and I instantly adored her, She had the most sass that I have ever seen in a child, let alone a royal baby. In fact, I'm almost sorry that George came along, because that meant I paid less attention to her. But then I'm also not sorry, because Prince George.

A similar situation is going to be created next year, when Baby Cambridge No. 2 is born, and I shift my attention from George to him/her. These royals really need to stop having children in such quick succession.

Which leads me to the last piece of royal news. Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Chris O'Neill have announced that they are expecting their second child. Their first child, Leonore, will turn 1 this coming February, so that will make it two children in two years for Madeleine and Chris. Which is only a little bit better than the Cambridges - if Prince George had been born in February, they would have been two for two too (Alliteration).

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That's all for this post. I'll have more news on each of these royal babies as they are born/presented to the public/grow up, and until then I'll continue to type away about something or the other.

Happy Christmas, and best wishes this festive season if you don't celebrate Christmas. Don't forget to write to your favourite royal!

N

UPDATE: Literally minutes after I published this post (And I don't use the word literally lightly), I saw on Twitter that the first photos of Prince Jacques and Princess Gabriella had been released. Take a look.

First PICS of Monaco's twins! Albert & Charlene with babies Jacques & Gabriella http://t.co/UnMA25dUeJ via @Femail pic.twitter.com/I0vEZNtfH5
— British Royals (@britishroyals) December 23, 2014

Adorable!

Run The World, Girls.

So, another technically member of the royal family who has a Twitter is Mike Tindall. Of course, that is completely unimportant, because Mike Tindall now also has a daughter.

That's right. If you haven't read already, Zara Phillips had a baby girl on Friday. So far, there is no word from the Palace on her name, but she's sixteenth in line to the throne and so she's a royal baby too. Though, and I hate to say this because all royal babies are wonderful, not half as important a one as Prince George. 

Even though they are never going to read this, my congratulations to Zara and Mike. I wish nothing but well for them and their baby daughter. Also, I wish that the entire family shows up for some royal event so we can have pictures.

When I first read the news, my train of thought went something like this: “One more royal baby? Cool! Oh, it’s a girl. Good thing I don’t bet money on these things, because otherwise I would have lost money. This is the Queen’s FOURTH great-grandchild. Her Majesty’s getting quite old. Third great-granddaughter, though. There’ve a lot of girls being born into this family. Princess Madeleine’s going to have a girl too. Lot of girls being born into a lot of royal families. Maybe they’ll call her Margaret. If I tweet about the possibility of them calling her Margaret, will Mike Tindall read it? Does Mike Tindall read posts tagged #royalbaby?” and so on and so forth.

A mostly pointless stream of thoughts, but one stayed in my mind particularly. There are a lot of girls being born into royal families. And now, with these new laws allowing succession of the first born child of the Monarch, irrespective of their gender, they can someday be Queen, no matter how many younger brothers they have. And that got me thinking; is it possible that a society that has been predominantly controlled by men for all these years could someday be ruled over by women? 

Politics are of no interest to me, so when I say 'ruled over by', I'm talking about the heads of the seven major monarchies in Europe - Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. 

Of the current group of rulers, the ones that existed pre-abdications, three are Queens. Two of them, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Margrethe, ascended the throne at a fairly young age, due to the unexpected circumstances their fathers' untimely death without any male heirs. Queen Beatrix, however, ascended the throne after her mother abdicated in her favour, and her grandmother had been Queen before that, so the Netherlands are no stranger to a Queen's rule. But, despite a surprisingly modern ratio of kings is to queens, the scale still tips in the favour of the men.

The next generation isn't any better. Worse, in fact. No one, apart from Crown Princess Victoria, is a woman, and most of them are going to rule because they are the elder sibling and not because the laws are biased.

It is the generation after that, the generation that consists of the grandchildren of the present monarchs (except Queen Elizabeth, whose great-grandchild is the one I'm considering, because she is OLD), who range between the ages of 1/2 and 12, that, for the first time in history, there will be more Queens of European nations than there will be Kings. Just look at the list.

FUTURE KINGS

Prince Christian of Denmark, second in line to the throne. 

The most featured baby on my blog. You should know his name and his position in the hierarchy by now.

And that's all. Two. Out of seven. Hopelessly outnumbered. On the other hand, 

FUTURE QUEENS

Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, first in line to the throne.

Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands, first in line to the throne.

Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, second in line to the throne.

Infanta Leonor of Spain, second in line to the throne.

Princess Estelle of Sweden, second in line to the throne.

That's just fantastic, isn't it? And, the best thing is, I'm not so much older than them that I won't be around to see this happen. I will! 

Oh, I can't wait. Only fifty years to go.

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I'm doing a thing called the 100 Book Challenge on Twitter, where I try and read a hundred books in the year and chart my progress through tweets. So far, I've read one, but you can see how I'm coming along by following me @JustAsSaneAsMe. Also, participate in the challenge yourself. It's fun!

N