Prince William
Image courtesy of Robert Payne
Kate Middleton
Image courtesy of Nick Warner
At three minutes past nine o’clock pm on the 21st June 1982, William Arthur Philip Louis of the House of Windsor was born into the best known royal family in the world. His mother, Princess Diana endured a sixteen-hour labour to give birth to a healthy seven-pound one ounce baby. So was to begin the life of one of the most popular royals of modern times.
Not only did crowds gather outside St. Mary’s hospital in London, but also thousands of people clustered around Buckingham Palace to hear the announcement that a future King had been born. Interestingly, William was the first heir to the British throne ever to have been born in a hospital!
The next day, schools called special assemblies to announce the birth, and the British national anthem – God Save the Queen (as the ruling monarch was, and still is at the time of writing, Queen Elizabeth the Second) – was sung around the country.
The birth meant that William was second in line to the throne, behind his father, Prince Charles (Charles, Prince of Wales). In fact, William is the heir to the thrones of no less than sixteen independent states: The United Kingdom (of course), but also Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, The Solomon Islands and Tuvalu. The high proportion of Caribbean territories in this list is a hint to the expanse of the British Empire in times gone by.
Buckingham Palace
Many will know that royal families (and other ruling classes) across the world are often related. William, when crowned King, will be the first monarch since Queen Anne to be descended from Charles I (the British king who was executed after the English Civil War against Oliver Cromwell’s forces). This ancestry comes from his mother’s side – The Spencers (as in Lady Diana Spencer) are also distantly related to several American presidents and British Prime Ministers.
William is even descended from Kind Harold (Harold Godwinson), the King who died (an arrow in the eye some say) at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Although the ruling houses of England have changed a number of times in the last thousand years or so, this ancient royal bloodline is traced right through to the modern day.
Prince William’s Coat of Arms
Since the day he was born, the public have been fascinated by Prince William. How would he grow up? Would he resemble his mother or his father? How would he cope with the pressures of modern royalty in the celebrity era? What would he do as a career whilst waiting to inherit the throne?
Time, of course, would tell. One of the first major events of his life was his baptism into the Church of England (of which, when King, he will be the Supreme Governor). This happened in the music room at Buckingham palace, and was carried out by Robert Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury at the time.
William’s birth was commemorated in many different ways, from the usual British fare such as mugs, teatowels and plates through to the Royal William Rose, a flower introduced a few months after he was born.
A quick search of eBay for ‘Prince William Birth’ will demonstrate to the reader just how many items were produced – thimbles, goblets, miniature bells, spoons – a whole host of memorabilia to show just how popular this future King was from day one.
Kate Middleton
Kate Middleton was actually christened Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, and was born before Prince William on the 9th January 1982. She was born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, and is the oldest of three children.
On her father’s side, she is descended from the Lupton family, well known in Leeds for generations in commercial and municipal work. It may be a surprise to some to learn that her maternal family were working-class labourers and miners. Most, however, welcome this fact as proof that the royal family has accepted that the elitist relationship forming of old (including – to a certain extent – some forms of arranged marriages) is a thing of the past, and the world is very different today.
The Royal Berkshire Hospital
Image Courtesy of Sue Wallace