Much of the UK is agog with bated breath. No, it’s not to find out who will win the forthcoming election, but instead to find out who will be the newest member of the royal family.
The Duchess of Cambridge is due to give birth in the coming week – although the actual due date of her second child is a closely-guarded secret. All bets are on: date, time, boy or girl, weight, name, hairy or not hairy, how quickly the Duchess will appear in public post-partum – the lot.
No doubt as labour is announced we will be treated to a blow-by-blow, minute-by-minute account of the action on rolling news channels from outside the hospital walls. And hopefully the mum-to-be will labour for long enough for devoted royalists to book their tickets to the capital in time for the royals’ hospital exit following the birth.
Poor Kate. Unless you are Victoria Beckham, being hugely pregnant is not glamorous at the best of times. It’s bad enough being in a room of eagle-eyed relatives when your due date looms – every twitch, breath and lumbersome movement is scrutinised. By the time you are ready to pop the last thing you feel like doing is thinking about what appropriately maternal-yet-gorgeous outfit you will be making your post-birth appearance in. The Duchess knows that when she leaves hospital everything down to her eyebags will be scrutinised. While she has a team of people at the ready to make her ready, it must still be a fairly gruesome experience.
But that’s the rub of being a royal, and potential future Queen at that. Kate knew what she was signing up for and she carries off her duties with an air – sometimes – of ‘Grey hair? Don’t care!’ When Prince George was born she left the hospital with – gasp – a visible tummy. While tabloid gossip columnists reeled in shock and their readers lapped up the scandal, mums across the UK and beyond gave a silent cheer. Kate might be royalty, but she is also human and she’s not afraid to let it show once in a while.