Waiting has now become a part of the job description for these people outside of St. Mary's Hospital
Image Source: BBC America (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Well, another day passes as the United Kingdom and the world wait for the birth of the first child to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It has now been nearly a month since "royal baby watch" began, and during that period, alleged due dates have come and past, rumors have been rampant, and still nothing official from the Palace.
It has now become a bit of a silly season as the people and the press continue to grow restless. Yesterday, William and Kate lookalikes caused a sensation by driving up to the hospital (complete with Land Rovers and bodyguards). It was a stunt put on by The Sun newspaper, but it appeared real enough to fool the press, who believed that the time had finally come (never mind that Kate has come in and out without a hitch for appointments). Articles such as this one are providing the Duchess with unsolicited advice on how to induce labor, so that she could have brought the baby into world on the latest (already passed) "due date" of July 19th.
If it is to be believed that July 19th was the due date (based on staff at St. Mary's Hospital being told to remain teetotal for a month beginning June 19th), this means that the baby could be born as late as the first week of August, since most OB/GYN's prefer not to induce labor until 1-2 weeks after the due date has passed. It almost certainly guarantees that there will be several more days of the media circus, which has now become a tourist attraction in its own right, in which passers-by take pictures of the media cameramen taking pictures of them.
Meanwhile, one cannot help but wonder what William and Kate think about all this. When rumors went around that she may have the child at the Royal Berkshire Hospital (down the road from her parents house), the media was preparing to move heaven and earth to ensure that they would have a presence there in case she did so. The reality is that contingency plans to use Royal Berkshire were already in place in the event that Kate went into labor and that traveling to London would be deemed too risky. But with the Los Angeles Times and other outlets reporting that the Duke and Duchess are back home in London, it appears all but certain that the baby will be born - as has been stressed by the Palace - at the Lindo Wing of St. Mary's Hospital. Given the media intrusion however, one cannot blame them for possibly giving thought to raising a collective middle finger to the media and deliberately have the child elsewhere. Yet, this is one of the many paradoxes of the modern monarchy: on the one hand, the royal family does not appreciate the constant media spotlight (especially in private matters), but they also need the media to remain relevant in modern society. To paraphrase King George V (played by Sir Michael Gambon) in The King's Speech, gone are the days when all that royalty had do to was look good (and stoic) on a horse without falling off. These days, the monarchy has to keep the public and the media happy by being more approachable and less secretive.
Thus, the wait and the media frenzy continues. At some point, the Palace will announce that the Duchess of Cambridge has gone into labor and is safely in the hospital. It was decided to do this in order to control the flow of information (in other words, go ahead and make the announcement an official one, as opposed to someone in the hospital making it on Facebook or Twitter for you). Whether or not William will be there is still a question because of his work as a search and rescue pilot on the Royal Air Force base in Anglesey, Wales - 300 miles from London. According to some reports, if the prince is on duty when Kate goes into labor, there is a helicopter on stand-by at the Welsh farmhouse they rent so that he can be in London in about 70 minutes. If he can't be at the hospital in time for the birth, Kate's mother and sister are anticipated to be there at her side. Of course, until the real event happens, we will not know anything for sure. Therefore, it would be best for people take a breather, get on with their own lives, and to take any media report with a grain of salt until such a time when we shall be duly informed by Palace officials.
No comments:
Post a Comment