The birth of a Prince

It was not until this evening that I heard the good news of the birth of a son to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge this afternoon. As with any birth one wishes the child and parents well in a purely human response. Given that this birth determines the line of succession to the throne for another generation it has a wider significance and is indeed a birth to be celebrated and for which to be thankful.

Some of the pre-natal coverage in the media does at times seem excessive,  but as a measure of interest in the Royal family then it is positive - there is of course the danger of it flipping over into something too sentimental and detracting from the serious and central role of the Monarchy.

After all the media headlines about amending the succession with the recent act of Parliament  I do feel heartened that the birth of a Prince puts that discussion into perspective. The problem now is that although the UK parliament has altered the rule sof succession many of the Commonwealth realms have not so far. As it stands that does not matter for three generations, but it does suggest the agreement between them on this matter as announced the other year has not so far been found to be consistent.

For what it is worth, and it was only instinct, I expected the child to be a boy, so in that sense it is no surprise to me.

Congratulations to the new HRH and his parents - my prayers and good wishes.

Granting an interview to the Press

Late this afternoon as I hurried towards the ortaory for Mass I was suddenly approached by a lady on St Giles Street and asked " Excuse me, are you British?"  I replied that I was and found that my interlocutor was a German journalist who asked if I was willing to be interviewed for an article she was writing about attitudes to the impending birth of the first child of TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Now of all the people to stop in the street and ask about attitudes to the monarchy - well she picked well in homing into me I think.

I said I was indeed very willing, provided I was not delayed getting to Mass. I was assured that the interview would be brief, as it proved to be.

I was asked about my attitude towrds the birth of the future monarch; it is very positive - I am a staunch Monarchist. What were my hopes for the child? I said that they were what one would hope for any child, for its health and welfare.

What name did I favour? I said I thought a boy would probbaly have a traditional name for a British monarch - perhaps not William to avoid confusion, but perhaps George, or Charles, and that a daughter again might well follow precedent - maybe Elizabeth in honour of the Queen.

That conclued the interview - along with asking my name, but not, I noticed, the all important thing in our newspapers, of one's age. I asked the lady where she came from in Germany  - from near Stuttgart I found out - and told her in a vainglorious moment, of the existence of this blog and that I had recently written about the rebuilding of the Berlin Stadtschloss. She said this was proving controversial in her country, as I knew, but she said she would look at the blog.

Royal Wedding - style and substance

The departure of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their first official overseas visit to Canada seems a suitable day on which to post my final set of reflections on their wedding.

TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

One of the official photographs.

Image: The British Monarchy on Flickr

What struck me in particular about the wedding day was the sense that this was an event with a style and panache that was traditional, combining splendour with restraint. There was not the more elaborate or emotional style of the royal weddings of the 1980s, but an emphasis on traditional values and practice in both church and state. There was a real sense of being back on course, but with two new and attractive players centre stage. The best of the old and of the new.

The last time the sovereign's grandson in direct line of succession married was in 1893 when the future King George V as Duke of York married Mary of Teck. There is a description of that day in James Pope-Hennessy's wonderful official biography Queen Mary. That was essentially a private wedding in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace. This time the scale was very different, and very much a public event as royal weddings have been since 1922. Nonetheless this seemed closer, in the best sense, to the certainties of the later years Queen Victoria's reign than some more recent marriages.

This emphasis on tradition, on service by the Duke and Duchess to the Crown and their prospective realms, the religious values stressed in the service itself, down to such details as the inclusion of the national flower emblems of the United Kingdom in the wedding dress of the Duchess, all indicate to me at least, a reassertion of a tried and tested way of doing things. The official photographs carried the same message - a happy young couple and their families, but also a real understanding of what monarchy is about.

Even within an institution based on the principal of continuity, we appear, to borrow a phrase, to be looking at a hermeneutic of continuity.

The new personal standard for the Duke of Cambridge for use in Canada.
The grant of this is in itself is both a new departure, and a reassertion of ancient tradition.
There is more about it here.

Image: Yahoo

The Royal Wedding

Well the Royal Wedding went very well indeed, as I for one expected, and, dare I say so, predicted back in November in Royal engagement.

Image from Yahoo

What I did not forsee was that press coverage in advance was not as bad as I rather feared, which is good, and even better, even I did not forsee quite such an enormous outpouring of affection and regard for both TRH the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and for what they represent, and that is very good indeed. As HM The Queen was heard to say "It's amazing." Well, actually, perhaps not, but it must still be reassuring for the Royal family and, I firmly believe, for us as a nation.

From the Ordinariateof Our Lady of Walsingham newsletter

I will write more about the Royal Wedding and share some thoughts it has engendered in coming days.