Talking of gory details in the tabloids, The Sun today has a truly scary mock-up of what said offspring might look like…
Good GOD!
The Daily Mail has a slightly more flattering image (as long as they have a girl, that is) 
And so it does to many Swedes as well. However, it’s in honour of Estelle Bernadotte, who had been married to Folke Bernadotte, diplomat and cousin (I think) of the king’s father, who was assasinated by the Stern gang in Jerusalem in connection with the founding of Israel. Mrs Bernadotte was a very beloved aunt in the royal family, I understand.
aaaaaaarggghhhnoooooonoooooo. The eyes, the eyes are eating my soul.
Just some more thoughts on this - generally women don’t announce their pregnancy until 12 weeks, in case something goes wrong. If Kate miscarries, would this be the most publically mourned fetus ever? I can imagine scenes like after Diana’s death again, teddies piled up outside Buckingham Palace, and a nation playing “Tears in Heaven” on Radio 2 constantly.
Speaking of Diana, can you hear that whirring sound? It’s her, spinning in her grave at the thought of being known as “Grandmother”…
(apologies for any callousness, this post is strictly satire, and I wish nothing but the best for the future tax-sponger)
I believe it was announced early because she needed to be hospitalized. Otherwise they’d very likely have kept it to themselves. I think they just recognize, if she goes to hospital it will come out.
Which tells me she very likely delayed going into hospital as long as she could. She must be terribly sick, poor thing!
Makes me wonder though, why not a tiny secret hospital, ever at the ready, on the palace grounds somewhere? After all we’re almost into the age of remote surgery, surely it’s doable. They make a lot of sacrifices of privacy in their lives, mostly graciously. But when you’re ill, having babies, or dying, I feel they deserve a little more consideration, at those times, I suppose.
What the hell was that?!
Problem to be solved imminently (SFW - link to BBC news). Wish the government would move this fast on other stuff.
I’ve changed my vote, I now want Queen Catherine I, as it’s my name 
(Catherine, not Katherine, as that’s Kate’s actual name).
League of Gentlemen. Cultish UK comedy show. (One of the creators was Mark Gatiss who went on to write for and act in the recent Dr Who and Sherlock adaptations.)
One of the recurring characters was Papa Lazarou whose catchphrase was “oh you’re my wife now” which, thankfully, Cinnamon Imp understood in my response to her post.
</derail>
I’m puzzled why the couple didn’t enjoy a few years of marriage before having a child. These days the pill makes it easy to plan these things.
I’ve read that Will worries that the press will hound Kate like they did Diana. Media pressure will be enormous now that a future heir is due. Then there’s the christening ceremony and so on.
Deja vu for me. Charles was the dashing and handsome bachelor prince when I was in high school. I recall his military service as a pilot. His marriage and Will’s birth.
The whole merry go around is starting up again. Except Will won’t have to wait 40 years to be king. I can’t see Charles on the throne more than 15 to 20 years at most.
Well unlike Charles and Di, this couple have been going out for 10 odd years, lived together before they were married and are both 30. That’s hardly a shotgun wedding.
I think they call that life! You know, being young and handsome, then getting married, having kids… it’s just that these two are starkly in the spotlight, which they always knew would be the case. Unlike naive young Diana.
They’ve been together for years. The main reason for their marriage now was because it was high time for them to start producing heirs.
And with her being 30, it isn’t like they have forever before it becomes more and more difficult for her to conceive and carry.
If she didn’t want kids, marrying into THAT family, in THAT position is not a good career choice. She doesn’t strike me as naive (I think Diana was), she knew that her job was going to be to get pregnant as soon after the wedding as feasible.
And make no mistake. Marrying the second in line to the throne is not the situation in which one is privileged to enjoy her marriage. Kate has a job that she’s paid very well For. And that job is producing children.
Oh, I didn’t know that they had been living together. So they did get a few years of privacy before marriage.
Privacy is something that they never had And never will have. They weren’t officially living together before marriage. But at that level of exclusive society and wealth, Social arrangements can be very fluid and ill-defined. These are not people who can expect ever to have anything like a normal life.
How about if it’s a boy they name him Kato (after his mother) and if it’s a girl they name her Willa (for her Dad)? King Kato. What’s not to love?
So is that why my plan to refer to the couple as Bill and Kathy isn’t getting any traction?
I’ve seen this stated before, but the biographies that I’ve read of Victoria say the opposite - that she very much wanted the name Albert to be given to a future king. She expected her son, known as Prince Albert Edward, to reign as King Albert, but after her death he declined. Victoria wanted every male heir to the throne to bear the name Albert, and her descendants complied up until the current Queen Elizabeth, who did not give the name to Charles.