As the media lies encamped outside the hospital where the next Royal heir is imminently due, it is timely to consider what fate awaits that child. Male or female, it will one day become our monarch thus creating a new chapter in our history.
For one thing, I doubt very much if the Commonwealth as we know it today will be the same when they are eventually crowned. Speaking of which, that could be a while yet. The current Queen shows little sign of faltering while her eldest son runs out of meaningful ways to busy himself during one of the longest apprentices ever known. After such a long wait, we can bet that Charles will fluff his lines when he does eventually get his hands on the crown.
Being only 64 years of age as I write this, Charles has many years ahead of him in theory at least. William is already 31 so will be rather more advanced in years when his chance does come. That said, even if he gets to throne by age 50, he could still have forty or so years ahead of him. This means that the latest Royal will have plenty of time to enjoy life before it is their turn. The only caveat to this is that William doesn't emulate Edward VIII and pass the baton to the next man. In such an event, the baton could pass to his fiery brother and that really would stir things up.
When their turn does come though, it may not be quite as rosy in the garden. By the time they get their hands on the job, the government will be scrutinising their spending as never before. Being a constitutional monarch, they certainly won't be able to get up to as much as their predecessors of 500 years ago. If that wasn't enough, they will also be the head of the Church of England at a time when church congregation numbers are falling like a stone. Good luck on that last one because I think you'll need it. That said, if you can crack the religion thing, you might be on to a good thing.
It was 500 years ago that a prominent European Royal family first embarked on a tenure which would last until 1918. The Romanovs ruled Russia from 1513 until the Royal family was shot on the orders of the Bolsheviks in 1918. The "church of the blood" in Yekaterinburg stands as a reminder of their bloody end. In fact, it was on this very day in 1918 that the last Romanov family was convened under false pretences for a family photograph to prove to the Russian people that they were still alive. Ironic on so many levels. The new Bolshevik leaders under Lenin passed the baton on to Stalin who oversaw one of the most brutal periods in Russian history. I am currently reading the First Circle by Alexander Solzhenitszyn and it paints a very clear of picture of life under Stalin. It is by far the most sobering book I have ever read with every facet of human nature explored and questioned.
The vanity of Imperialism had given way to the paranoia of Communism. As it transpires, both were doomed with Communism meeting its own end with the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Our own monarchy is far older, but the current House of Windsor less so. The Windsors actually derive from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha but the name was swiftly changed by George V at the onset of the Great War. Sounding too Germanic, it was felt the time was right to dispense with it before the British people dispensed with them. Time passes though and it would be difficult to imagine a revolution today because, by comparison, the British people today have it a lot easier than their Russian counterparts in 1918.
Boy or girl, I wish the new Royal luck in his or her new voyage of discovery and hope they maintain the monarchy which we all love and admire. I assume there is no chance of the Press allowing the Duke and Duchess any privacy. They wouldn't be the Press if they did would they?
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