A Royal Child Tradition, Protocol And Common Sense

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29101, 13 January 1960, Page 10

A Royal Child Tradition, Protocol And Common Sense

(By CYRIL F. J. HANKINSON. Editor of Debrett]

What does it mean to be born in a palace with 600 rooms, 10,000 pieces of furniture, 300 clocks, 250 telephones, and 260 servants. That is Buckingham Palace. There the Queen’s baby is expected to be born any time between the middle of January and the middle of February, says a Palace spokesm From the moment the baby’s first cry is heard, tradition, history and protocol—plus twentieth century Royal common sensewill dominate his or her life. The Royal baby will be the first to be born to a British reigning monarch for 102 years. Two men have the duty of telling the world the exciting news. One is Sir Michael Adeane, the Queen’s private secretary. He will telephone Mr R. A. Butler, the Home Secretary, and send cables to the Governor-Generals of the Commonwealth nations. The other is Commander Richard Colville, the Palace press secretary, who will send a formal announcement of the birth to the press. Within a few hours it is likely that 41 gun salutes will have been fired throughout the Commonwealth, whether the baby is a boy or a girl. History of Royal Births Now consider the history that surrounds Royal births. The last child to be bom to a reigning Sovereign was Princess Beatrice, in 1857, the youngest of Queen Victoria’s nine children. Until the birth of Prince Charles in 1948, it was customary for the Home Secretary to stay in a nearby room at the Palace when a Royal birth was due. This practice dates back to the time of James 11, who reigned from 1685 until 1689.

Just before he fled into exile his wife had a son. Enemies of the King said that this baby—

who became the father of Bonnie Prince Charlie—was a founding smuggled into the palace in? warming pan. But historians now discredit this story. The Sovereigns with the l ar . gest families were James II and George 111 (1760-1820), who each had 15 children. Eleven of Jamer B children died at an early age, fem all of George's daughters and seven of his nine sons lived to adult age. What of the tradition ana pro. tocol surrounding the new Royal baby? If it is a boy, he will be His Royal Highness Prince and if it is a girl, she will be Her Royal Highness Princess —. A boy would displace Princess Anne in the order of succession to the Throne and become second in line after Prince Charles. A girl would be third in succession, making Princess Margaret fourth. As Princess Margaret has not been granted any special title, it is unlikely that the new baby, if a Princess, w’ill receive one. But if the baby is a Prince, it is almost certain that he will receive a dukedom when he reaches manhood. The Queen would almost certainly like to use the title of the Duke of York, because that w»s what' her father, George VI, was called before he became King, He was known as Prince Albert before receiving his title in 1920 at the age of 24. A Stuart Name? What name is thp Queen likely to choose for the baby? Both Prince Charles and Princess Anne have Stuart names which have been out of favour since the accession of the Hanoverian dynasty, [f these Stuart names are to be continued, a boy might be called James. Favourite names for Stuart Princesses were Mary, Anne, and Elizabeth, with Henrietta and Catherine as second favourites. By tradition, the new baby will be entitled, whether a boy or a girl, to a coronet. Above the rim should appear alternately gold crosses and fleur-de-lis, the ancient emblem of France which has been used since the Kings of England were also Kings of France. But the College of Arms might think of a new design more appropriate to the twentieth century—perhaps a coronet mounted with symbols of the Commonwealth countries—rather than perpetuating ancient history. Another rule of protocol which must be easy to follow is that Royal Princes or Princesses are never bothered with any surnames or titles in signing letters or documents. They just write their Christian names. It is in the family life and upbringing of the Royal children that the greatest changes have been made. The new baby will enter a devoted family circle, vastly different from the stem and austere atmosphere in the household of Queen Victoria Prince Charles now leads a normal prep school boy’s life at Cheam School, unthinkable in Victorian days. Princess Anne, instead of being kept apart from other children, shares her lessons with two girls —Caroline Hamilton and Susan Babbington Smith—who come to the Palace every day and return home in the evening. The Princess is also member of a Brownie pack which meets at the Palace every Tuesday evening. The pack includes the daughters of a London taxi driver and a city business man.

It is a normal life that must far outweigh the burdens of being a Royal child.