Royal mums go overdue too

Just like most first time mums, Kate is probably having that due date plus one feeling.  For months one specific date is stuck in your head, the date you want to get to, the date when you finally get to meet that little person.  And you know deep down they probably won't arrive then but waking up the next day still waiting is a bit of a surprise.

And how much stranger must it be when millions of others are still waiting with you.  Kate makes the front page of the Sunday Express today for still being pregnant.  It's their main story, pregnant lady with feet up being looked after by mum.  But of course when your baby will one day rule sixty million people there's bound to be a bit more interest than usual.

The Duchess of Cambridge is now due date plus one

(photo Carfax2)

Sometimes, if you're about to give birth to the most famous baby in the country, a little bit of not knowing can go a long way.  Past queen consorts or queens in waiting had the advantage of no specific arrival date.  Midwives could tell them roughly when baby might be born and as they got to the ninth month they'd start their confinement.  Off they went to special chambers which were women only areas.  They were decorated with tapestries - nothing too distracting in case it got the mother to be over excited - and with just a little light allowed in.  Attended by midwives and her ladies, the queen then waited for baby to arrive.  And she was left in peace to deliver.

 

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge is used to being surrounded on all sides by photographers but like all mums to be she'll be hoping for a bit of peace and quiet on her way to the hospital

(photo Tom Soper Photography)

Once baby had arrived the men would be allowed back in but at a distance.  The queen remained in her rooms, resting, while the baby would be taken off for its baptism.  It was but it was rare for the consort to attend - the king and her royal relations looked after the christening and the announcement of the royal birth.  . 

Past royal heirs would have been proclaimed at palaces or had news of their arrival carried by messengers on horseback.  This royal baby will take to Twitter - after the official announcement at Buckingham Palace gates has been made

At least Kate could plan in advance for where her baby would be born.  Past queen consorts had to travel round the country with their husband's courts and with no defined due date as such could find themselves entering the last part of their pregnancy just about anywhere. Eleanor of Castile found herself on crusade with her husband, the future Edward I, when she was about to deliver her eighth child and her daughter, Joan, was born in the Holy Land and was always known as Joan of Acre.  Baby number nine, Alphonso, arrived in Bayonne in Gascony. 

No suite in a private castle for Eleanor of Castile - she devotedly followed her husband wherever he went and delivered children in some of the most exotic locations ever recorded for English royal births

 

 

Unless baby Cambridge is in a particular hurry to arrive, like most first time mothers Kate will have enough time to get from home to hospital to have her baby in the surroundings she has chosen.  And presumably St Mary's Paddington has a secret route to a back door so that this queen consort in waiting can claim a bit of privacy in the hours when she really needs some peace and quiet.