Baby Cambridge: Musings and Suggestions

[Dman]

Correct me if I am wrong but when The Queen Dies and Charles become wont William and Catherine become automatically the Prince and Princess of Wales?

No, when Charles comes to the throne, William & Catherine will gain the title of The Duke & Duchess of Cornwall. Charles will have to grant William the title of Prince of Wales.

I hope there will be a formal ceremony in Wales in the future.

 

[cepe]

No need to beat anyone up over commenting on the activity going on in front of the hospital. It may be routine, but not everyone knows that and at some point it will be the real deal. The same with twitter posts. Not all of us have access to the monitor or twitter which will be the first indicators of something really going on....when it eventually happens

anyone can access twitter. I don not have an account but I can read all twitter accounts unless someone has limited the availability. so I do check Richard Palmer, Victoria Arbiter, BBC, etc.

I can't respond either, but I just use it for the latest news.

 

[Frelinghighness]

Thanks for that info on twitter access.

 

[abcdxyz]

She is only Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge if she is divorced. While married her name "Catherine" will never appear in her title until she becomes Queen Consort. Until that that time she has only the female version of her husbands titles.

Thanks for correcting me on this! She should thus be referred to as the Duchess of Cambridge in media reports, correct? At any rate, not as Kate Middleton!

 

[Octoberdana]

It can be confusing understanding how to address a royal. I definitely think the media should stop addressing her by her maiden name. Not sure why they continue to call her Kate Middleton.

 

[Argie]

Just a thought: in the media, there have been suggestions that Prince Charles or Harry should take over the kingdom of Romania, who currently has a president, but has had a monarchy until the communists took over the country in 1945. The royal British house is related to the former Romanian one in more than one way, actually it turns out one of the former Romanian king was the actual cousin of Charles great-great-grandfather or so (around 1700).

With the birth of this new prince, the line to inherit the throne seems to become extremely long. I do not see all of the successors reigning GB.

 

[KPWillie]

Regardless of title, I agree that calling her Catherine (her proper name) instead of Kate (nickname) would be nice.

 

[Spheno]

She will be Middleton all her life
She will be Catherine Middleton in history books
as Catherine of Valois, Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Howard, Catherine Parr Catherine of Braganza

 

[NGalitzine]

...there have been suggestions that Prince Charles or Harry should take over the kingdom of Romania...
...the line to inherit the [British] throne seems to become extremely long. I do not see all of the successors reigning GB.

Not sure what you are getting at here or how it involved baby Cambridge. There are more than 1000 people in the line of succession to the British throne so of course the odds of anyone outside of the direct line ever coming to the throne is extremely thin. Not sure why you mention the Roumanians, but they have their own royal line which today is the Kings daughter Margarita and his grandson Prince Nicholas, so there is no need to import a foreigner should their throne ever be restored.

 

[Argie]

Regardless of title, I agree that calling her Catherine (her proper name) instead of Kate (nickname) would be nice.

I believe calling her Katie or Kate or Kate Middleton brings her down to the "commoner" level she was born into. I do not see it as disrespectful, just a familiarity that makes the monarchy even more popular.

 

[Ish]

She will be Catherine Middleton in history books

There's a difference - and it's not a guarantee that she'll be referred to as Catherine Middleton in history books. Women are referred to by both their married and maiden names in history books, it varies by woman.

The reason why she is still called Kate Middleton in papers is because it's what generates more search hits. It is, in my opinion, disrespectful as she has indicate that she wants to be known as Catherine, not Kate, and Duchess of Cambridge, not Kate Middleton. Given as online articles have the ability to use tags which can generate search hits I don't see why they don't just refer to her by her proper name and title in an article and just include Kate Middleton in the tags.

 

[MissByrd]

Thank u frelinghighness. Very kind of you. I have a lovely surgeon who seems very competent.

 

[Argie]

Not sure what you are getting at here or how it involved baby Cambridge. There are more than 1000 people in the line of succession to the British throne so of course the odds of anyone outside of the direct line ever coming to the throne is extremely thin. Not sure why you mention the Roumanians, but they have their own royal line which today is the Kings daughter Margarita and his grandson Prince Nicholas, so there is no need to import a foreigner should their throne ever be restored.

I wouldn't call it an "import", as all royal houses are blood-related. The Romanian one is blood-related to the British one: queen Mary of Romania was a cousin of the Queen Mother. The ousted king of Romania (Michael), still living, has had 5 daughters, no sons. And the speculation regarding putting one of the current British princes on a restored Romanian throne was mostly brought on by the frequent visits of Charles (and Harry) in Romania. Prince Charles -and Harry, for that matter - are far more popular in Romania than Prince Nicholas, who's seen as a dandy.

 

[Ish]

Do you have a source to support the claim that there's support for Charles or Harry to become King of Romania over a restoration of Michael?

 

[Argie]

Do you have a source to support the claim that there's support for Charles or Harry to become King of Romania over a restoration of Michael?

This is just the first one that appeared in my google search. There's others:

Prince Charles could become king... of ROMANIA after revealing he is related to Vlad the Impaler | Mail Online

 

[BritishRoyalist]

Sorry but since when is MailOnline a reliable source?
Real Sources like The Times, BBC, etc. never reported it.

 

[Argie]

Sorry but since when is MailOnline a reliable source?

I believe my initial post said "speculation in the media". I am not sure what exactly - short of a Buckingham Palace announcement - can be called reliable in this case.

 

[chelly]

Besides it wouldn't make sense to have them become monarchs of a country that still has living members of their royal family.

 

[GracieGiraffe]

William has referred to his wife as both Catherine and Kate. I'm thinking in particular of the engagement interview, where he refers to her as "Kate."

The media will continue to call her Kate Middleton for a simple reason; name recognition. Name recognition leads to clicks on an article, and hence more money.

Case in point is my 12 year old son. A local radio station mentioned Kate Middleton the other day and the royal baby, and he interrupted, asking "who is Kate married to again?" I was surprised that he even vaguely knew who she was, but he does know and has enough interest in her to realize that she and her baby are important, hence he inquired about the story. He's really a fairly good example of John Q. Public. Had he seen an article about Kate Middleton, he would probably click on it, scan the first paragraph or two, look at the photos and move on. I'm fairly sure that if he had seen the same article on "Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge" even with her photo, he'd pass it by without a second thought. Point is, we royal watchers will always click on an article on the royals, no matter what the headline says. The general public won't.

 

[Ish]

I'm not sure if this is official, but The Telegraph says that the Queen won't be woken up. I don't know though. I would think she would want to know as soon as Kate gives birth.

I would usually say that the Telegraph is pretty reliable, but there's a few points that make me question the reliability here.

What gets me is this line: "If the Duchess gives birth in the middle of the night no announcement is likely to be made until the Queen has woken, as *sources* said they *did not expect* her to be woken up specially to be told the news."

We haven't been informed what sources have said this, so we don't know how valid their information is. They're also not saying that the Queen won't be woken, just that the unidentified sources don't expect her to be woken. I wouldn't necessarily rule out that HM isn't going to be woken. I still think whether or not she, or the DoE for that matter, is woken is going to depend on the mood of the day.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Good point GracieGiraffe. William himself specifically referred to her as "Kate" in their engagement interview.

Also, she was in the news and identified as William's girlfriend for close to a decade before they finally married, more than twice as long as any current Royal spouse. For all that time the press and public knew her as "Kate Middleton". For better or for worse, that is how she has become set in the minds of much of the public.

It's pretty difficult after ten years to switch gears to another name. It might yet happen, but it will probably take a long time.

 

[soapstar]

Supposedly Kate and William are back at Kensington Place.

scobie ‏@_mio: for those asking about will + kate's whereabouts. they're 100% at nott cott #kensingtonpalace. several sources have confirmed.

...What gets me is this line: "If the Duchess gives birth in the middle of the night no announcement is likely to be made until the Queen has woken, as *sources* said they *did not expect* her to be woken up specially to be told the news."

Yeah, that line made me question it as well. I think you're right about it depending on the mood of the day.

Yes, that is what I meant. If the baby came very quickly. Unlikely, but it can happen of course.

Gotcha! That's very true. Babies are unpredictable. I read a story recently about a woman giving birth right at the entrance of the hospital. There wasn't even enough time for her to go inside.

 

[mum]

...She will be Catherine Middleton in history books

I notice that you are using the name Catherine which I am sure most of us on the forum ARE used to. As for the surname Middleton I don't agree that it will stay with her forever. At the moment I blame the arrogant media for still referring to her as 'Kate Middleton', but that will change in the near future after the baby's birth. She will then be the mother of the third in line to the throne which I am sure will earn her much more respect with the media.

 

[Ish]

...The media will continue to call her Kate Middleton for a simple reason; name recognition. Name recognition leads to clicks on an article, and hence more money.

You raise a good point, but to counter I'll just point out that some papers - like the Telegraph - do appear to call her Duchess of Cambridge, or the Duchess, throughout their articles instead of Kate Middleton, without much detriment. They have "Kate Middleton" links and tags to attract those who search for that name, but the actual articles are about the Duchess.

I think the general Catherine/Kate thing is mostly just a personal preference - if she goes by both, then we can call her both. It's the Middleton that bugs me.

 

[padams2359]

Yes, William has referred to her as Kate, doesn't mean the media has to use it. I have never seen QE2 referred to as "Queen Cabbage".

 

[Frideswide]

It gets particularly silly and confusing when they use both, as if "the Duchess of Cambridge" and "Kate Middleton" are two different people.

 

[Grandduchess24]

True she was kate middleton but upon marriage to her prince she became Catherine,duchess of cambridge and that's how she's known now so idk why people still call her kate middleton. Please let's just call her by her proper title. Damn press

 

[Poolbabe]

The one magazine that wrecks my head, by constantly referring Catherine as Kate Middleton is UsWeekly. Never the Duchess Of Cambridge,and no matter how many times you correct them, they never change it!!

 

[Ish]

True she was kate middleton but upon marriage to her prince she became Catherine,duchess of cambridge and that's how she's known now so idk why people still call her kate middleton. Please let's just call her by her proper title. Damn press

She became HRH The Duchess of Cambridge. To call her Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge implies that she is divorced.

 

[Ish]

The one magazine that wrecks my head, by constantly referring Catherine as Kate Middleton is UsWeekly. Never the Duchess Of Cambridge,and no matter how many times you correct them, they never change it!!

I wonder how much of it is based on where the papers are published. I.E. a British paper is more likely to use Duchess of Cambridge at least part of the time because they're more used to titles, while a US one is more likely to use just Kate Middleton because they aren't as versed in titles and view her more as a celebrity than anything - it's very common for female celebrities to continue working using their maiden name after marriage.