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Prince William and His Wife, Kate, Expecting a 2nd Royal Baby Another Royal Baby Is Expected for an Uneasy Kingdom
(about 11 hours later)
LONDON — Britain’s royal family announced on Monday that the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton, is pregnant with her second child, news that is likely to offer a respite from uncertainty and introspection over Britain’s future. LONDON — When the rich, the powerful and the upper crust in England contemplate their families-to-be, it is said, they aim for a minimum of two children — an heir to their estates and a “spare” should misfortune befall the first.
The duchess and Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, who is second in line to the British throne, have a son, George, whose birth last year was chronicled in exhaustive and mesmeric detail by news organizations from across the globe. To judge from the reaction on social media and news websites, the announcement of the second pregnancy seemed destined for similar treatment. So it was, in modern times, that Diana, Princess of Wales, and Prince Charles, the first in line to the throne, produced two sons before their divorce in 1996 and her death in a car crash a year later.
“George is going to be a big brother,” the Daily Mirror tabloid declared, offering to explain “why royal baby number 2 could be a tearaway.” On its website, the Daily Mail promised insights into the “world of a new royal baby: A nursery fit for a prince (or princess), a country home in Norfolk and a big brother who will one day be king.” And so it emerged on Monday that their firstborn son, Prince William, and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, who is now Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, have followed the hallowed tradition. Less than 14 months after the birth of their son, Prince George — third in line to the throne after his grandfather and his father — the couple announced that the duchess was pregnant with their second child.
A royal announcement said the duke and duchess, both 32, were “delighted,” although the duchess was said to be undergoing treatment by physicians for acute morning sickness. Her first pregnancy was also marked by the same condition, known in medical terms as hyperemesis gravidarum. But this tale of succession has quickly taken a more dramatic turn: Would their “spare” serve as insurance not only for their family’s future, but also for that of the realm?
On Monday, she canceled a planned engagement with her husband in the university city of Oxford, west of London, where the couple had been set to inaugurate a center for the study of China. She had also been scheduled to join her husband and her brother-in-law, Prince Harry, later this week at a sporting event for military service personnel recovering from injury and sickness. Word of the pregnancy came just a day after an opinion survey indicated that the “yes” vote in a referendum on Scottish independence, which is set for next week, had edged ahead for the first time, suggesting that Scottish voters might dismantle their 307-year-old union with England by seceding from the United Kingdom.
The announcement came as Britons confronted an array of charged issues, including a potential threat from British jihadists in the Middle East, the future of the union with Scotland — to be decided in a referendum next week — and the broader questions of their country’s relationship with Europe and its place in the world as a post-imperial power. “With 10 days until Scotland votes on whether to remain part of the — proudly royal — British union, could the excitement over the news that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their second baby help keep England and Scotland together?” asked Olivia Goldhill, a columnist for the conservative Daily Telegraph.
Against those imponderables, the idea of a royal birth — like royal weddings — offers the nation a chance to revive its fascination with the House of Windsor, whose popularity plummeted after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, but has rebounded dramatically since then. Alert to a potential shift in the winds of fortune, Alex Salmond, the pro-independence Scottish prime minister, pointedly offered his congratulations on Twitter to the “Earl & Countess of Strathearn,” the 14th-century title that the couple use when traveling in Scotland.
Seizing the moment on Monday, Prime Minister David Cameron offered “many congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. I’m delighted by the happy news that they’re expecting another baby.” The eagerness with which commentators leapt onto the Scottish question was not a surprise. The referendum on Sept. 18 has heightened passions north and south of the border between England and Scotland.
Pointedly, the Scottish prime minister, Alex Salmond, who is campaigning for Scotland to break away from its 307-year union with England, used the royal couple’s Scottish title in a congratulatory message on Twitter. The duke and duchess have particular ties to Scotland. The royal family’s writ — largely ceremonial but profoundly emotive — extends across the United Kingdom. The queen and her family often spend time at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and the duke and duchess, both 32, met at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
The Scottish title dates to the 14th century, according to the royal website. But will that sway next week’s vote?
The announcement came two months after the couple’s first child, Prince George, marked his first birthday in July, but it did not say when the baby was expected. British news reports said the duchess’s pregnancy had not passed the 12-week stage. “So one guesses (to borrow a royal usage) that for every Scot persuaded by the romance and charisma of the queen to change their vote, there will be another who is turned off by being told what to do by an Englishwoman, no matter how highborn,” the columnist Sean O’Grady wrote in The Independent.
Much of the immediate attention focused on the duchess’s ability to fulfill her royal duties, including a trip to the Mediterranean island of Malta that is scheduled in less than two weeks, which would be her first official overseas visit without her husband. In a different vein, there was speculation about the likely personality of the unborn royal, based on birth order. Some royal experts forecast that just as William projected a more staid image than his devil-may-care younger brother, Prince Harry, so the new royal baby could behave more rambunctiously than Prince George.
Officials in the royal household said her itinerary would be decided on what was termed a “case-by-case basis.” As third in line, Prince George stands a good chance of becoming king someday. His younger sibling — whether a sister or brother, since a change in 2011 abolished a centuries-old tradition of male precedence — will be fourth in line, with few prospects of becoming the sovereign.
The baby will be a great grandchild of Queen Elizabeth II and a grandchild of Prince Charles, the heir to the throne and father of Prince William. Whatever its gender, the child will become the fourth in line to the throne after the princes Charles, William and George. A centuries-old tradition enshrining male precedence in the order of succession was abolished in 2011. Prince Harry’s reputation has weathered an array of scandals that might have permanently damaged his brother’s. “Would people have been quite so forgiving if William had been photographed cavorting naked in a Las Vegas hotel room?” Sarah Campbell, the royal correspondent for the BBC, said, referring to a well-chronicled incident in 2012.
News of the pregnancy emerged weeks after Prince William, a former Royal Air Force search and rescue helicopter pilot, announced that he would start a new job as an air ambulance pilot next year in eastern England. At the same time, Prince Harry has been able to pursue a full military career, working as a gunner on attack helicopters in Afghanistan. For security reasons, service on active duty was forbidden for his elder brother, who is set to become a pilot for air ambulances in eastern England next year.
As her pregnancy was announced, the Duchess of Cambridge was said to be suffering from an acute form of morning sickness that has required medical treatment.
The expected birth date was not made known, though British news outlets speculated that it would be in March or April.