14 royal baby rules Princess Eugenie might have to follow
This is no average first baby scenario.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank are only a few months away from welcoming their first child into the world. But this is no normal first-time parent situation, thanks to Eugenie's royal heritage. They might not be frontline working royals, but Euegnie and Jack may still be subject to a series of rules and traditions harking back years, such as...
The pregnancy is announced after 12 weeks
This royal tradition is in keeping with most expectant parents, who tend to announce their happy news once the risk of miscarriage has reduced at 12 weeks (the end of the first trimester). While we don’t know Eugenie's exact due date, we do know it’s some time in "early 2021", meaning the announcement she and Jack made about their baby a couple of weeks ago was definitely after the 12 week mark of her pregnancy.
One exception to this rule was Kate Middleton, however, who announced her third pregnancy with Prince Louis nearer the eight week mark. This was because she was suffering from Hyperemesis Gravidarum (intense morning sickness) and had to withdraw from a public engagement because of it. To avoid inevitable questions about Kate’s health, the Palace made the decision to announce the Cambridge’s third pregnancy on 4 September, 2017.
The gender is kept a secret
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank haven't shared any details about the gender of their unborn child. Generally, it's thought that royal parents don't find out (Prince William and Kate Middleton are believed to have forgone this information with each of their three children) however Meghan Markle and Prince Harry broke with this tradition when they were expecting baby Archie.
Despite telling crowds on an official visit to Birkenhead in early 2019 that they weren’t finding out the sex of their baby because they wanted it to be a “surprise”, it later emerged in an unauthorised biography written about the couple, Finding Freedom, that they did in fact know they were having a baby boy. "Harry and Meghan already had a name ready to go when Archie was born, because the couple had known all along that they were having a boy. According to a source, they settled on their son's name some time during the final week of her pregnancy," wrote authors Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand.
But whether Eugenie and Jack do or don’t know their baby’s sex, one thing is for sure: it’s royal tradition to keep it under wraps publicly. There hasn’t yet been a royal baby whose gender has been announced prior to its birth, and it’s likely to stay that way.
Royal mothers don’t usually have a baby shower
Baby showers are a typically American tradition, which means the British royal family hasn’t historically celebrated them. According to ABC news' royal expert Victoria Arbiter, the tradition is frowned upon within the royal family. "They have added pressure that they're clearly very wealthy and a lavish baby shower would be seen as highly inappropriate," she said.
Despite this, Meghan Markle had a baby shower with close friends in New York in February 2019, so perhaps Princess Eugenie will opt to do something similar.
The baby is born in a hospital
It used to be tradition that royal mothers gave birth at home, but Princess Diana was the first to break this after insisting on giving birth to Prince William and Prince Harry in hospital where it was deemed safer at the time. Diana gave birth in the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s hospital in Paddington, which is where Kate Middleton went on to have all three of her children.
It’s currently unknown where Eugenie will give birth, however speculation suggests it may well be at The Portland Hospital in central London, where Sarah Ferguson delivered both Beatrice and Eugenie. It's the same place we later discovered Meghan Markle had baby Archie.
The baby is delivered by the royal gynaecologists
Because the royal family is no average family, it has its own official gynaecologists who deliver all royal babies. The current surgeon-gynaecologist is Alan Farthing, while the royals’ consultant obstetrician is Guy Thorpe-Beeston. Both Farthing and Thorpe-Beeston helped deliver Prince Louis in April 2018, as well as Princess Charlotte and Prince George before that. In addition to the doctors, a team of midwives are also present during the labour, and are reportedly sworn to secrecy about details of the birth.
If Princess Eugenie opts to have her baby at The Portland or anywhere else, it remains to be seen whether the royal gynaecologists will play a part in her labour.
The Queen is the first to know of the birth
Outside of the delivery room itself, it’s tradition for the Queen to be the first person to hear news of a royal baby's arrival. Which makes sense, really, seeing as she’s the head of the family.
The birth announcement is displayed on an easel outside Buckingham Palace
Although technology now means the royal family can announce news of a birth via social media and emailed press releases, the original tradition of a notice on an easel placed outside Buckingham Palace still stands. The note was previously hand-written in times gone by, although nowadays it’s typed up, and it details the baby’s gender and time of birth, as well as confirmation that both mother and child "are doing well". The notice is signed by doctors at the hospital, before being safely delivered to the palace by car.
The new parents pose for pictures with their baby
Well, they do if they're some of the highest ranking royals, anyway. The nation (and the rest of the world, tbf) is ob-sessed with a royal baby, so it’s seen as only fair to give us a glimpse of the newborn once mother and baby are deemed well enough to stand up/go outside. Following births at the Lindo Wing, it’s become something of a rite of passage for the parents to pose on the steps outside the hospital ward’s door with their new bundle of joy.
Meghan and Harry broke that tradition when Archie was born, however, opting instead to present him at a photo call in Windsor Castle a few days after his birth. Being a less senior (and non-working) royal, Princess Eugenie might also do her own thing and opt to share the first photograph of her baby on her Instagram account, just as she did with the pregnancy news.
The baby is wrapped in a sentimental blanket for its first appearance
For their world debut, royal babies are traditionally wrapped in a blanket made by Nottingham-based knitwear company G.H. Hurt & Sons. The tradition hails from the Queen’s decision to wrap a baby Prince Charles in a G.H. Hurt & Sons blanket following his birth back in 1948. Years later, when Princess Diana went on to have Prince William and Prince Harry, she followed in the footsteps of her mother-in-law, as did Prince William and Kate Middleton with their three children. Princess Eugenie might not have to follow this rule, especially if she doesn't do an in-person debut for the world's media with her newborn, but she might decide it's a sweet gesture to continue the family tradition in a photo instead.
The baby is named something typically ‘royal’
Royals like to keep it in the family, and this generally means recycling names. Case in point: William and Kate named their third son Louis - one of their first son George’s middle names. Meghan and Harry went with something a little different when they chose Archie Harrison (get it? Harry's son?) and again, the world is Eugenie and Jack's oyster when it comes to picking a name for their little one.
The baby has three or four names
Having a first name and one middle name? That’s not enough! Members of the royal family usually get at least three names – four if they’re lucky (though not Archie, who was given just the one middle name). The most recent multiple-named additions to the royal family include George Alexander Louis, Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, and Louis Arthur Charles, while Queen Elizabeth herself has the middle names Alexandra Mary. So how many will Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank choose for their unborn baby, and what will they be?
The name isn’t announced for a few days
Once the baby is born, and we’re all treated to pictures of it in some shape or form, it’s tradition that the Palace goes a little quiet for a couple of days until the baby’s name is released. This is thought to be so that, firstly, the parents can come up with a name, and secondly so that the Queen can be informed of it before everyone else.
With Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Archie, we had to wait two days before finding out their respective names. But with Prince Louis, it took a little longer than that. The baby Prince was born on April 23, but his name wasn’t announced until April 27, a whole three days later.
The baby wears a special christening gown
Like many families, the royals have passed down a christening robe for new additions to wear as they get baptised. If they follow tradition, Eugenie and Jack's baby would be christened in the same royal gown its second cousins George, Charlotte and Louis were - a replica of an original robe made in 1841 for Queen Victoria's eldest daughter.
Multiple godparents are chosen
While many people are given one godmother and one godfather (or maybe two of each at a push), the royals are, of course, different. Prince George has seven godparents, while Prince Louis has six, and Princess Charlotte has five. The chosen godparents are a mix of both parents' friends and cousins, with no immediate family members having historically been picked. But we do know that Princess Eugenie and her husband have a particularly close relationship with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, so maybe they could be in with a shout to be godparents to baby Brooksbank?
Cat is Cosmopolitan UK's features editor covering women's issues, health and current affairs. news, features and health. The route to her heart is a simple combination of pasta and cheese (somewhat ironic considering the whole health writing thing), and she finds it difficult to commit to TV series so currently has about 14 different ones on the go.
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