The coins will be sent free to any baby born in the UK on the same day as the future queen or king - but in a modern twist parents will have to apply via Facebook within 60 days of their new arrival to get their penny.
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Future Queen Consort, Kate, will see her first baby's arrival marked with a special coin
(Picture from Tom Soper Photography)
The Royal Mint don't need to worry about whether it's a boy or a girl as the coin isn't gender specific and will feature the new arrival's great granny on one side and a shield of the Royal Arms on the other. After parents have proved baby shares the future monarch's arrival date by sending a copy of the birth certificate they'll get their coin in a pink or blue purse depending on the gender of their own child, not that of the royal heir.
And it means that as Kate struggles with the last, heavy days of her pregnancy in the hottest weather of the year so far, she's once again keeping the papers, TV, radio and bloggers (!) happy with another reason to get talking about the royal baby.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge always make the front pages
Kate isn't the first royal woman to experience a media scrum ahead of her baby's arrival. The birth of an heir has always been a major event - when Jane Seymour, third Queen Consort of Henry VIII, finally delivered the longed for male heir in October 1537 bonfires were lit throughout England. The main reporting of the queen's pregnancy had been, like the great expectations of many other consorts before them, by foreign envoys at court sending missives back to their home rulers. Eustace Chapuys, an adviser of Catherine of Aragon, documented nearly every moment of Anne Boleyn's pregnancies, mostly out of hatred for her. Through these courtiers we know far more about the lives of our queen consorts as they tried to produce the longed for male heir than we do from court records or annals.
Perhaps the first real media royal baby was the little boy born to Queen Consort Maria of Modena in June 1688. His arrival sparked acres of newspaper coverage, mostly negative, both here and abroad. The recriminations, partly fuelled by a media frenzy, led to his mother and father losing their thrones.
Maria of Modena gave birth to a son in 1688 in the midst of a media frenzy with many papers claiming she wasn't even pregnant
Dad was James II who had begun life as the Protestant son of King Charles I and his French, Catholic Queen Consort Henrietta Maria but who had converted to Catholicism at some point in the late 1660s or early 1670s. His marriage to Maria in 1673 cemented rumours in England that, should he become king, he would restore Catholicism as the state religion. Anti Catholic sentiment and fears about what was described as Popery led to a campaign against James but when his older brother, Charles II, died in 1685 without a legitimate heir he became king.
The fact that Queen Maria hadn't had a son helped allay the concerns of Protestant politicians for a while but when she became pregnant in 1687 whispers began, fanned by the press, that she wasn't really expecting and that a plot was afoot to place an imposter son on the throne to assure the crown remained Catholic. Maria was about 30 when she became pregnant - the same age as Kate - but in 1688 that was old and her case wasn't helped by the fact that after a run of pregnancies after her marriage she hadn't had a baby for almost five years.
A cup of coffee and a read of the paper - coffee shops were all the rage in the 17th century and newspapers were widely circulated in them
On June 10th 1688 Queen Maria did what all queen consorts before her had hoped to do and gave birth to a healthy little boy. Dozens of witnesses has been invited to be present at the birth because of the persistent rumours that the king and queen were hoping to pass off another child as their own. Despite the fact Maria labored and gave birth in front of a sizeable audience the baby was seen as an imposter. Claims emerged that the little boy had been smuggled in in a warming pan. The papers of the day fanned furious conversations while the Protestant politicians invited James' daughter from his first marriage and her husband, the very Protestant William and Mary, to take over. By the end of the year, James II and Maria were in exile with their new son and William III and Mary II were in charge.
Just like Maria, Kate's pregnancy has been lived totally in the media spotlight. While medieval queens retired from public view for a long confinement before giving birth, Maria was followed every step of the way. And while Kate has been on maternity leave since June, her pregnancy still makes the news every day. Luckily, she knows her baby's arrival will be greeted with joy - and 2,013 silver pennies for the babies who will share the royal birthday.
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