Thursday, July 18, 2013

Names Fit for a King, or Queen

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

If there is one nation that is more tabloid-centric that the United States, it would undoubtedly be Great Britain.  Some of that is likely due to the great stain on journalism that both countries share:  Rupert Murdoch.  Both nations also have a daft institution that plays a central role in its affairs and can always be counted on for a silly news story.  The American waste of journalistic space is, of course, the United States Congress, while the Brits have never-ending dramas and absurdities that constantly bubble up from their primary tourist attraction:  the monarchy.

One of the newspapers that I tend to check out daily on the Internet is the London Daily Telegraph.   Every day the Telegraph  can be counted on to have at least one story about the royals on its front page, and while the stories often involve the sexploits or scandalous behaviors of Prince Harry, recently the newspaper has been focused  on the upcoming birth of a future King or Queen of England.  The baby of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (Wills and Kate) is now officially overdue.

The Telegraph is sponsoring a sweepstakes regarding the infant whose likeness will one day grace coins, paper money, and postage stamps in numerous countries.  The sweepstakes involves predicting the name that the happy couple will give to their little bundle of joy.

Right now the early favorite names are James and Alexandra.  There are also a lot of people predicting that if the new arrival is a girl, she might be named after the late Princess Diana, Will's mother.  "Camilla" probably isn't on the short list.

(I personally am hoping for a Patsy or Edwina - or Mick - all good British names.)

Starting with this child, rules for ascending to the throne have changed.  Under the old British primogeniture system, males always had preference, even if they had older sisters.  Now girls will have an equal opportunity to be the monarch.  If the first child is a girl, she will become Queen when her father hits the highway to heaven, regardless of how many little brothers she has.  The Queens, of course, have presided over a good chunk of British history - Elizabeth I, Victoria, and Elizabeth II have over a century and a half of rule between them.

British bookies currently are at about 60-40 that the baby will be a girl.

Growing up royal will undoubtedly be a dull, scripted life, hidden away in private schools and moldy old castles.  The child is destined to have all of the creature comforts money can buy, but damned little fun - unless, of course, Uncle Harry gets to babysit!

1 comment:

Xobekim said...

Long live Queen Pink the First!