A nation swoons over a Royal Baby’s arrival
As hundreds waited outside lindo Wing at St Mary's hospital in london on Tuesday for a glimpse of the day-old Royal Baby, and thousands more spent hours staring at a pair of wooden doors on their TV screens around the world, only to erupt in unbridled joy as the little one finally arrived in his mother's arms while his father beamed with pride, one thing was clear: With the birth of the Royal Baby, Britain and indeed the rest of the world is now that much more in love with the British monarchy. In fact, according to a recent MSN survey, a whopping 73 per cent of Britons believe that there would still be a royal head of state 60 years down the line. The global obsession with the yet-to-be-named, third-in-line to the British throne began last November when it was first reported that William and Catherine’s — the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge — first-born was on its way. Since then, every single aspect of the pregnancy has been reported, scrutinised and then analysed again to the very last detail. From the Duchess' maternity wear to the contours of her baby bump, no detail was considered too trivial for headlines. And so it came as no surprise that Princess Catherine's dotted blue dress, which of course was colour coordinated with Prince Willam's hands-on-daddy attire, was immediately compared to the one her mother-in-law wore when she and Prince Charles introduced baby William to the world outside that same hospital three decades ago. But of course, when it comes to the really important aspects such as the sex of the unborn, and now, the name of the child, it is not just the media that has covered it threadbare but even the bookies have had a field day. Bets worth more than a billion pounds have been placed on the Royal Baby's name, with George and James emerging as the top two choices. The speculation is expected to continue over the next few days (or it could even be weeks) until the baby's name is announced or pictures from his first photo-shoot are released to the public. But until then, the people will have to do with discussing the baby's first royal wave and which of his parents he most resembles, based on nothing more than photographs of half his face.
But while little Cambridge and his parents enjoy all the attention and the royalty's popularity ratings soar, it would be in the fitness of things to mention that the situation was not always this hunky-dory even in the recent past. The late eighties and early nineties saw a definite dip in the throne’s popularity. Aptly titled ‘Annus horribilis’, 1992 was a particularly bad year when Prince Charles divorced his first wife and England's beloved Princess Diana while Prince Andrew's estranged wife Sarah made it to the papers topless. The royal's carefully cultivated image of the model family was fast eroding, and Buckingham Palace's turgid response to lady Diana's tragic death in a car accident in 1997 really upset the people. As public opinion turned sceptical, if not hostile, the Queen took it upon herself to revamp the royal family's image. Slowly but surely, she steered the monarchy out of troubled waters and the success of her efforts was easy to gauge from the kind of love and support that she received during her silver jubilee celebrations when the entire nation celebrated.