# Kate Middleton is pregnant **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 3, 2012, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859 "2012-12-03T16:15:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/41 "2012-12-03T17:40:41Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Just ‘King Arthur’, as the counting thing only starts from William the Conqueror (1066, for those of you asleep in history class). > > And while it isn’t a name that has appeared in the role of monarchs since then, doesn’t mean it couldn’t be. ‘Victoria’ has been the one and only of that name after all, and an Elizabeth hadn’t been Queen for 400 odd years. > > Okay, it isn’t\* likely\* to be Arthur, but I can dream. Yeah, but Elizabeth didn’t die tragically early before she took the throne, nor had any legendary baggage associated with her name or ‘return’. I think it would just cause too much confusion, as well as be the fount of endless tired jokes about Excalibur and Merlin and what-have-you. Wills and Kate also have to be perceptive of the future; if you want the monarchy to look fresh and lively in the 21st century naming him after a medieval folk tale might not be the way to go. Having said that, I do like the sound of King David; it’s also a nod to the Scots as a few of their kings had that regal name before unification. Doubtful because of all the biblical connotations, though. I doubt Victoria II would be chosen if it’s a girl; just sounds too imperialistic in these cosmopolitan times. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/42 "2012-12-03T17:45:33Z")
I suspect whatever name they pick will be a bit of a curve ball - I’m sure no one was expecting ‘Charles’. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/43 "2012-12-03T17:59:52Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > [Mel Brooks/] Too Jewish [/Mel Brooks] nitpick: Harvey Korman ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/44 "2012-12-03T18:07:58Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > nitpick: Harvey Korman Damn damn damn you’re right! How could I misquote Blazing Saddles? ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/45 "2012-12-03T18:14:54Z")
The Heir to the throne of Sweden is Princess Victoria. She gave birth last February to a girl she called [Estelle.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Estelle,_Duchess_of_%C3%96sterg%C3%B6tland) Queen Estelle sounds really odd to me. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/46 "2012-12-03T18:29:04Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > But I doubt any of that would stop us having another King Edward. The royals don’t really look back at individual records. See Charles. Or Henry for that matter! What about John? I was taught (in the USA) that the King John was such a loser that no one in line to the throne will ever be named John. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/47 "2012-12-03T18:32:04Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Damn damn damn you’re right! How could I misquote Blazing Saddles? Don’t feel bad. You’re the common clay of the new West. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/48 "2012-12-03T18:59:57Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > My vote for name, for either pink booties or blue: Stormageddon. Yes please. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/49 "2012-12-03T19:07:47Z")
Have the English bookies starting taking bets on the baby’s gender yet? ---
**Author:** ![mascaroni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dc4da7/32.png) [@mascaroni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mascaroni)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/50 "2012-12-03T19:08:55Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Just ‘King Arthur’, as the counting thing only starts from William the Conqueror (1066, for those of you asleep in history class). > > And while it isn’t a name that has appeared in the role of monarchs since then, doesn’t mean it couldn’t be. ‘Victoria’ has been the one and only of that name after all, and an Elizabeth hadn’t been Queen for 400 odd years. > > Okay, it isn’t\* likely\* to be Arthur, but I can dream. Arthur doesn’t figure in the pre 1066 kings of England/Wessex. Alfred does. But, as Alfred was the only king to be called ‘The Great’, it would be a difficult name to live up to. I’d go for Arthur. Although, given the family’s history of baldness, Eadwig might be appropriate. As long as it’s not Cnut… ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/51 "2012-12-03T19:20:21Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > Assuming she gives birth to twins, can you imagine how the second born (by one minute or something) will feel?.. Has there ever been a set of royal twins before? > [@BobLibDem](#): > > Morbid question: if Elizabeth, Charles, and William were to all die before the baby was born, I assume he/she get skipped in the line of succession and Harry becomes king. But suppose the new child is a day old and the three people in front all kick the royal bucket- could there be an infant monarch? The unborn child would be become monarch, and it’s reign would begin before it was born. In the event of a stillbirth the reign would be expunged and King Henry IX’s reign would be backdated. It’s happened before in Ancient [Persia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapur_II) and [Spain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_XIII_of_Spain). > [@LavenderBlue](#): > > They just changed them. A firstborn child of any gender will be first in line. > > [http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2098162,00.html](http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2098162,00.html) The rules haven’t actually been changed yet, but this does give new urgency to changing them. Especially if it turns out to be a set of mixed-sex fraternal twins > [@SaharaTea](#): > > …I know back in the day there would have been a regency until the child was old enough to be monarch, with someone like Harry or Kate acting as regent. I have no idea if that’s how it still works. Under current [law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regency_Acts#Regency_Act_1937) the next person in line who’s over 21 (18 if heir presumptive) becomes Regent, so it would be Prince Harry, not the Duchess of Cambridge. She’s be the child’s legal guardian though. Parliament could also change the law allowing her to be the regent (like they did for Prince Phillip when his wife became Queen), but that probally wouldn’t happen until her husband becomes King and she Queen(-consort). ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/52 "2012-12-03T19:27:17Z")
[QUOTE=Gyrate] Or “Pippa”. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Not so fast. ‘Pippa’ is short for Philippa, which would actually be quite a good choice for a girl. It has the right sort of historical connotations and it would be seen as a nod to her great-grandfather. (Whereas Philip for a boy would create the problem as to whether he eventually becomes Philip I or Philip II.) ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/53 "2012-12-03T19:30:13Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > Charles the Tampon Lover > Edward the Extremely Fat Cheater > Mary the Kleptomaniac > > 😃 Edward the Caresser, hon. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/54 "2012-12-03T19:34:44Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > Don’t feel bad. You’re the common clay of the new West. I know… a moron. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/55 "2012-12-03T19:55:53Z")
> [@BottledBlondJeanie](#): > > IIRC, it’s quite likely that William carries a recessive red-hair gene Or else his father was actually James Hewitt. 😉 Probably wouldn’t be the first time the family tree had some tangled branches, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/56 "2012-12-03T19:58:44Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Has there ever been a set of royal twins before? Of course – do you mean just in England? Or other countries? King William IV and Queen Adelaide had stillborn twins in 1822. Jean, Grand Duke of Luxemburg, and his wife Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium had twins, Jean and Margaretha, in 1957. One of the most famous sets were Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios, born to Mark Antony and Cleopatra VII of Egypt. That’s just reigning monarchs. Berenguer Ramon II and Ramon Berenguer II (yes, really), counts of Barcelona in the 11th century, were the twin sons of Ramon Berenguer I and his second wife, Almodis de la Marche. The twins both inherited the county upon their father’s death, but several years later Berenguer Ramon had his brother Ramon Berenguer murdered. Interestingly, the twins’ half-brothers from their mother’s other marriages were Hugh VI “le diable”, lord of Lusignan and count of La Marche, and counts Guillaume IV and Raymond IV of Toulouse, all Crusader lords. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/57 "2012-12-03T20:07:08Z")
> [@BottledBlondJeanie](#): > > I will pay good money for a ginger heir. IIRC, it’s quite likely that William carries a recessive red-hair gene, but doesn’t Kate have to as well in order for the possibility of a ginger? Or blond genes, I think. You just have to get the red pigment to synthesize and not be covered by the dark pigment. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/58 "2012-12-03T20:08:39Z")
Here’s some royal birth trivia: If I heard correctly, if they have a boy, he can be titled His Royal Highness upon birth; however, if they have a girl, she cannot be titled Her Royal Highness until after The Queen dies. Apparently, HRH is conferred on (a) children of a monarch (e.g. Charles, Andrew, Anne, Edward), (b) children of sons of a monarch (e.g. William, Harry, Beatrice, Eugenie, but not Princess Anne’s children), and © “the eldest son of the eldest son of the Price of Wales” (in this case, Prince William’s first son). ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/59 "2012-12-03T20:19:47Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Here’s some royal birth trivia: > > If I heard correctly, if they have a boy, he can be titled His Royal Highness upon birth; however, if they have a girl, she cannot be titled Her Royal Highness until after The Queen dies. > > Apparently, HRH is conferred on (a) children of a monarch (e.g. Charles, Andrew, Anne, Edward), (b) children of sons of a monarch (e.g. William, Harry, Beatrice, Eugenie, but not Princess Anne’s children), and (c) “the eldest son of the eldest son of the Price of Wales” (in this case, Prince William’s first son). That’s true, but it can also be changed by the Queen at her will. In fact, there is precedent to do so. When Princess Elizabeth married Prince Phillip, her children would not have enjoyed the style of HRH from birth since she was the daughter of the sovereign (George VI). Yet, everyone knew that Elizabeth would one day ascend the throne (King George and Queen Elizabeth [the Queen Mother] weren’t having any more children, so there was no danger of a son supplanting her). As a result, George VI issued letters patent stating that the children of the [then] Duchess of Edinburgh would enjoy HRH status from birth. Otherwise, they would have had to wait until Elizabeth ascended the throne. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859/60 "2012-12-03T20:25:33Z")
> [@APB](#): > > Not so fast. ‘Pippa’ is short for Philippa, which would actually be quite a good choice for a girl. It has the right sort of historical connotations and it would be seen as a nod to her great-grandfather. (Whereas Philip for a boy would create the problem as to whether he eventually becomes Philip I or Philip II.) Why would he be Philip II? Because of the King of Spain who never really reigned in England? We can expect four given names, like the three Waleses all have now, all pretty much traditional Christian names. There will probably be nods to relatives in the middle names, and at least one name that’s been chosen as an ideal name to reign with. Past that, I don’t think we know. The Wales princes: Charles Philip Arthur George William Arthur Philip Louis Henry Charles Albert David Wills and Harry’s mother was Diana Frances. Their stepmother is Camilla Rosemary. Kate is properly is Catherine Elizabeth. Her parents are named Michael Francis and Carole Elizabeth, her sister is Philippa Charlotte. So something like Adele Caroline Frances Louise would give the Cambridges’ daughter a distinct name while giving indirect nods to lots of family. (I like the idea of Caroline especially; it evokes Carole, Charlotte, and Charles, while being distinct.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-middleton-is-pregnant/642859.md?page=4)