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).

~

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!

Princess Leonore's Baptism (Alternatively: Stop Talking About TFIOS!)

I don't know why I am typing this, because literally everyone in the whole world knows, but this weekend the movie adaptation of John Green's best selling and much acclaimed novel The Fault In Our Stars (TFIOS, or as I sometimes call it, The Fault) came into theaters in the USA. Across the month, it will release all over the rest of the world, and everyone will cry so much that the world will flood and we will all die and it won't even be because of global warming or a Mayan apocalypse or anything. Which is all fine, but please: STOP TALKING ABOUT TFIOS.

If you were ever looking for a sure fire way to get everyone to hate you, this is it: Vaguely insult the one book or movie which is taking all of the Internet by storm. But, contrary to what you might think, I do not hate the book or John Green. In fact, I quite like and respect John. He seems like a really nice guy, his family is awesome (I'm still waiting for that first sight of Alice Green) and I watch more of his videos on the Vlogbrothers' channel than Hank's, who tends to talk about science-y stuff that goes straight over my head. To condense, if I met John Green in person, I would fangirl, which is the second highest compliment that I am capable of paying.

I also don't hate TFIOS, but this excitement for it is Harry Potter level excitement. Nothing but actual Harry Potter deserves Harry Potter level excitement. And I know that John agrees with this, because when he had to chose between his own book and the Harry Potter series, he chose Harry Potter. Like I said, I have nothing but respect for John Green.

~

The more exciting thing, for me, because royal baby, this weekend was Princess Leonore's baptism. Princess Leonore is the daughter of Sweden's Princess Madeleine and her husband Chris O'Neill, who are also celebrating their first wedding anniversary today. Leonore (Lilian Maria) was born earlier this year in New York, and baptised today at Drottningholm Palace (I may have spelt that wrong).

Also at the ceremony was Leonore's cousin, and one of my favourite royal babies, Princess Estelle. She's growing up really fast, and it's amazing to see, because I remember when she was born. I looked at pictures of her baptism online as well.

And speaking of royal babies and cousins, Prince George's cousin, Mia Grace Tindall, is a little bit older than Princess Leonore, and probably will be christened. Maybe she already has been, just in a private ceremony, but I would love to see at least one picture of Mia since that Hello! Magazine feature, and a christening seems like an appropriate situation. Not that I intend to compare royal christenings or royal babies. I love them all just the same.

That's a lie. I love Prince George the most.

N

Images: The Facebook page of Princess Madeleine of Sweden

Princess Not Named

I'd initially decided not to write today because I wasn't home for the greater part of the weekend and even now whenI am there are about five different things I should be doing. But Princess Madeleine had a baby. To paraphrase Suri Cruise, I have to cover that stuff.

Princess Madeleine of Sweden and her husband Chris O'Neill had a daughter on the 20th of February. Congratulations!
[Prinsessan Madeleine och Chris O'Neill fick en dotter den 20 februari. Grattis! That's all the Swedish I learnt from reading the birth announcements.]

The baby, as yet unnamed, is fourth in line to the Swedish throne, following her aunt Victoria, her cousin Estelle (who turned two today. Happy Birthday, Estelle!) her uncle Carl Philip and her mother Madeleine. She was born in New York, and this picture of her leaving the hospital with her parents is all the public has seen of her till now:

Ah, royal babies. The best kind of babies there are.

That being said, I do really have work to do, and so I'm not going to post a thing on this blog until Princess Claire (Luxembourg, I tweeted about it, you'd know if you follow me) has her baby.

I'm lying.

N

UPDATE: Leonore. Princess Leonore, Duchess of Gotland. It's a pretty name, but I now wonder how many times I'll confuse her with Infanta Leonor. Also, I must say, I prefer (Princess) Mia.

Speaking of, 

!!!!!!!!!! 

Isn't that awesome? Zara looks so pretty. And how cute is Mia Grace?

And while I love Prince George to bits, and he'll always be one of my favourite royal babies (Well, until he grows up, that is) I also do prefer Mia Tindall's first official picture to his. As I've said before about the Hunger Games movie, a good camera, in the hands of a photographer with skill, neither of which Michael Middleton had, can do wonders. Take note, William and Kate. And it doesn't hurt that Mia is awake and looking at the camera. Take note, George.

What a week in royal babies.

UPDATE: As predicted, Google searches for Princess Leonore still show up results about Infanta Leonor. Could be a while before they fix that. Maybe once more people know that Leonore's name is Leonore. 

And they released this picture of her!

This is the best week of my life, royally speaking. 

Good Luck With 2014.

It's the last day of 2013, and what a year it's been. There have been ups and downs and a lot more ups, and not just for the royals but for me too. Of course, no one cares about my life, so I'm just going to skip that altogether.
At the end of last year, I wrote about the year that had gone by. Write might not be the most appropriate word, though. I just stuck in a lot of pictures. Anyway, this year, instead of focusing on the past, I'm choosing to focus on the future. Mainly on what the future holds for the British Royal Family.

At the beginning of this year, there were a couple of major milestones and things to look forward to as far the BRF went. The 60th anniversary of the Queen's coronation was approaching and the Duchess of Cambridge was pregnant with the heir to the throne, who would have ruled irrespective of gender. Nothing that big is expected to happen next year, not unless you count Prince George's first birthday as an important milestone. Except, there is someone who can be quite unpredictable.

Prince Harry. As he approaches his 30th birthday, he must be starting to realise that he can't stay unmarried forever.

I really want Prince Harry to get married. I'm not the kind of girl who hankers after royalty, wishing that they were closer to her age but reasoning that an age gap of more than ten years isn't all that much (Lies). I do want to see another royal wedding in England, and I think I'll enjoy it more now that I know who Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are and understand why they would wear such ridiculous fascinators.
I don't want Prince Harry to get married to Cressida Bonas. I don't remember what I said I thought of her the last time that I wrote a post about her, but I don't like Cressida Bonas. It could just be a thing with Prince Harry's girlfriends, because I didn't like Chelsy Davy at first either, but I'm starting to miss her now that Cressida Bonas might become the new royal wife.

Here are Prince Harry and girlfriend leaving a theater in London

That being said, whatever Prince Harry does is fine with me. If he does get married, I get to watch a wedding, and if he doesn't get married, I get to heave a sigh of relief and continue to hope that something breaks the happy couple apart.

Perhaps the most important thing, according to me, that is happening next year is the Cambridges' tour to Australia and New Zealand in April. I love when royals go on tour, because that means that for the few weeks that they are in a foreign country, they make public appearances every single day. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have previously visited North America and South-East Asia, but what makes their visit Down Under so special is that this time they're taking Prince George.

No, that isn't the Cambridges and Prince George. That's the Wales's and Prince William.

There's a lot of excitement about the fact that Prince George is accompanying them. For seasoned royal watchers, the excitement is all because Prince William was about the same age - nine months - when his parents took him on his first foreign visit, also to Australia. I'm excited because it doesn't seem like there are going to be a lot of opportunities for pictures of Prince George leading up to the visit, but once in Australia, I'll be surprised if he doesn't come out in public at least twice. And public appearances mean pictures. I can't wait.

[I've written a post about a section of the itinerary for the visit on Royal Central, so you can click on this sentence to read that. Additionally, there is a link at the bottom which leads to a more comprehensive itinerary.]

Also, in the next few months, TWO babies will be born into the ever growing royal families worldwide.

The first is the son/daughter of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall. This will be the first child for Zara and Mike, the third grandchild for Princess Anne (who is already grandmother to Peter Phillips' daughters Savannah and Isla) and the fourth great-grandchild for Queen Elizabeth (who, besides the two children of Peter Phillips mentioned above, is great-grandmother to Prince George). He/she will be 16th in line to the throne, behind his/her mother and ahead of David Armstrong-Jones, Viscount Linley. There is no word from the Palace yet on the gender of the child, but I am betting that it will be a boy and that they will call him Augustus.
The second is the daughter of Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Chris O'Neill. Again, the first child for the couple, but second grandchild for the King and Queen, who are already grandparents to Crown Princess Victoria's daughter Estelle.

It is unlikely that either of these children will be given titles upon their birth. Unlike their older cousins, George and Estelle, they will have hardly any claim to the throne, and will lead as normal lives as possible, only mingling with higher-up royalty at weddings and Christmas and that sort of thing. However, despite their lack of proximity to the Crown, Zara and Princess Madeleine are two of my favourite royals, coming second and third, respectively, only to Kate. And it's no secret how much I love Prince George, so I'm certain I'll love their children too. Well, I'll blog about them when they're born, anyway.

That's all with the royal events. There is just one more thing.

In the extremely near future - tomorrow - season 3 of Sherlock airs in the UK. Fangirls on Tumblr are going completely nuts, and understandably so. It's been a two year long hiatus for them. I get restless when Order of Splendor goes on holiday for a week.
The major focus of watchers' interest this season [SPOILERS] is finding out how Sherlock survived a fall off the rooftop. They've been racking their brains for an explanation for months and months, but I honestly don't think it's that important. If there was a question as to whether he was dead or not, their eagerness for answers would be justified, but now that it is very obvious that he is alive, I'm looking forward more to seeing John reacting to Sherlock explaining how he faked his death than to actually listening to Sherlock explain how he faked his death and seeing how much of it tallies with my theory. That being said, I do not have a theory about how Sherlock faked his death.

Something that I don't understand is the disparity between the air dates in different countries. England, obviously, gets to see it first, but then it is a full two and a half weeks before it airs in America, on the 19th, by which time the English will already have seen the final episode. I highly doubt that season 3 is going to end with anything other than a cliffhanger, probably Sherlock announcing his decision to retire from active detective work, and that means that there will be a four day period during which fans on one side of the Atlantic will be pondering this new plot twist, and fans on the other side of the Atlantic will still be trying to figure out how Sherlock didn't die when he jumped off the roof at the end of season 2.

I think it's a little bit odd, but I'm not going to question the folks down at BBC.

~

So, that's all for the year. Hopefully, all of you will keep coming back on Sundays to read the nonsense that I write. Do watch season 3 of Sherlock (unless you haven't seen seasons 1 and 2, in which case watch seasons 1 and 2 first), pray that Prince Harry doesn't get married, and if you live in Australia, go out to see the Cambridges in April. God save the Queen.

Good luck with 2014.

N

Baby Tiaras

On Tuesday morning, I woke up with a splitting toothache. I made a mental note to visit the dentist the next day because I was sort of busy on Tuesday, with college and exams, but mostly because I really hate dentists. My tooth hurt like the devil, but I ignored it all day, wanting to stay as far away from the dentist for as long as possible. The next morning I woke up and had my breakfast, and it wasn't until I was eating my third slice of toast that I realised that I no longer had a toothache. Just to make sure, I banged at it with the end of my brush to check for any pain, and when there wasn't, I just went about my day as usual. That tooth hasn't bothered me since.

Let that be a lesson to everyone. Don't go to a dentist unless it's absolutely necessary, and even then put it off for as long as you can. No good can ever come out of visiting a dentist.

~

Now the big news this week, obviously, is that Princess Madeleine of Sweden, who you may remember from my post about her wedding not three months ago, is pregnant with her first child with her title-less husband, Chris O'Neill.

That was quick.

This possibly untitled baby is going to be born in the March of 2014, and I am going to have a quick roundup of all the royal babies born or conceived in this year so far.

Sacha Casiraghi (21st March, 2013)

Pictured here with his mother, Tatiana Santo Domingo. Sacha's father, Andrea Casiraghi, will be the ruler of Monaco if Prince Albert dies without a legitimate heir, but because Sacha was born illegitimately as well, I'm not sure whether he will ever be able to rule. Nevertheless, he is a royal baby, which is more than can be said about the thousands of babies born every.... hour? Minute? Second?

Baby Tindall (Due January 2014)

This is one baby that will definitely be untitled, and definitely not be King, but will have Queen Elizabeth as his/her great-grandmother anyway. Good luck, kid. 

I also, for some strange reason, hope that this child is a boy and is named Augustus. I don't know why I wish that way, but if you read about Gus Tindall in the papers a few months from now, remember; you heard it here first.

Prince George (22nd July, 2013)

I've written enough about this baby as is. I'll leave him alone for now.

Baby Elmaleh (Due Late 2013)

Like Queen Elizabeth with great-grandchildren, this baby will be Princess Caroline's second grandchild born this year. Unlike her brother, Charlotte Casiraghi intends to get married to her fiance, French actor Gad Elmaleh, before thier child is born, in the autumn, so there's a royal wedding to look forward to. Sort of. 

Maud Elizabeth Daphne Marina (15th August, 2013)

I'm not sure what this child's surname is, because her grandparents are the Prince and Princess of Kent, so they don't have a surname, but their rank in the royal family isn't high enough to warrant their granddaughter a title. Her parents are Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor, but there isn't a Windsor in sight in her name, so I'm not sure at all. That's the thing with babies. It's hard to be sure with them.

Baby O'Neill/Prince(ss) of Sweden (Due March 2014)

I'm just amazed at how quickly these two decided to have children. It took Kate and William two years after getting married, and their child would be directly in line to the throne. This baby very possibly won't even have a title. But if he/she is anything like his/her cousin Estelle, this is going to be fun.

A girl would be best, in my opinion. I mean, someone needs to continue to wear Madeleine's tiaras (Imagine that. A baby sized Modern Fringe) after she can't any longer.

~

Last week, I asked you to give my vote for the GGBI and Poltimore Tiaras a thumb-up. Unfortunately, Order of Splendor went on vacation before it announced the two tiaras that had been added to the Readers' Ultimate Choice, so I don't know whether my choices won. Thank you anyway, if you voted for me. 

Yesterday was Pippa Middleton's birthday, and she turned 30. By the time her sister was that age, she had gotten married in the wedding of the decade and was carrying the future King of England. Congratulations Pippa!

Also, next week the Duchess of Cambridge is going to be making another appearance without Prince George, at the Tusk Conservation Awards, so I will be commenting on that. If I don't forget, that is.

N