Interesting article about why people seem to want a royal baby girl

[american_mama]

I enjoyed seeing how many other BBBers are royal family watchers, and thought people might enjoy this British article that I stumbled on:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/10176178/Why-for-the-first-time-the-nation-is-hoping-for-a-royal-baby-girl.html

I am going to paraphrase, but it basically asks if people seem to be favoring a girl for reasons like:
1) the role of the modern monarch (glamorous, charitable, ceremonial) seems more appealing with a woman at the head.
2) Related to the above, some of the traditional traits of a male monarch - to lead an army, to be an authoritarian figure, to inspire awe or even fear - are unimportant in this day and age.
3) The changing of the law of succession in favor of EITHER girls or boys is not just, or perhaps mostly, a response to modern British egalitarian society. It is a deliberate step to better ensure a monarch who takes the institution into its probable future.

And, lastly, I was struck by this descriptoin of Queen Elizabeth: "Elizabeth II’s sex has not affected her monarchy. She has done everything a male ruler could have done, hardly interrupted even by her other duties as wife and mother. " Of course, "hardly being interrupted" to be a mother isn't an all together wonderful thing, as her weak relationship with her children makes clear. Her family seems to bear the scars of that upbringing. But I found the description interesting as the idea of a queen trying to do her job, even to the point of trying to do it like a man, while also needing to fill traditional roles as well. Maybe the queen was an early and unknown casualty of the "do it all" phenomenon!

I must be the only one who posts a link and then provide such summary and commentary on it!

[hillview]

thanks for posting and doing the summary!

[TxCat]

Thanks for the post and summary. It is interesting that so many people are thinking/hoping for a princess, even based on our BBB poll.

[wellyes]

That's insightful.

I do think they want it mostly for the fashion.... Suri Cruise effect in childhood, plus a lifetime of looking forward to glamour (and flubs). And by 'they' I guess I mean 'we'. I certainly do think Cathy Cambridge has faced more scrutiny n her few years in the limelight than her husband has over the past few decades.

[janine]

I like to think it's more than fashion. I think it is tied to the change in succession rules (and therefore beginnings of a cultural shift) and Diana element.

But irregardless I am happy because the historical and culutural trend (across all cultures) is to favor first born sons so this is just refreshing (having 2 DD's myself). Which is why I sort of hope it's not just because pink is pretty :).

[american_mama]

The article didn't mention it, but I think we have also seen a lot of queens in Europe over the last few decades and that makes us more likely to see the head role as held by a girl/woman. The Netherlands had I think three queens in a row (so queens for like 60 years, I think), up until the end of April when the old queen officially handed it over to her son. I think Denmark had a queen. Belgium, Sweden and Monaco have kings, as does Norway, I think. Maybe I shouldn't count this, but Sweden has a Crown Princess (Victoria) and I see her more in the news than I used to. She and her baby (girl) seem to be very well-liked in the press. Basically, I am wondering if we see more current or in-line-to-be queens in Europe, due to chance and other countries changing their succession laws.

Now I have to google to see how right I am.

eta: There are/were three queens (Denmark, England, Netherlands until April 2013), so that doesn't seem like a lot to me. The Netherlands did have three queens in a row, starting in 1890. That means they had queens for 123 years.
And in other royal googling....
Seven European countries have eliminated male primogeniture, so the firstborn child, male or female, inherits. They are Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. It sounds like Spain is also working to make this change or already has.
There are 10 European nations that have family monarchies as we normally think of them. They are the seven above, plus Spain, Monaco, and Lichtenstein.
Of the 10 monarchies, there are two girls/women next in line to be monarchs (Sweden, Netherlands), essentially Belgium (current king just announced he will abdicate for his son, whose daughter will then be next in line), and kind of Monaco. I believe King Albert in Monaco has no current legitimate heirs, but he does have two illegitimate children. This caused a bit of a ruckus about succession, so the laws were changed so sisters can succeed if there are no legitimate heirs. But it's all probably moot, because his wife is a lot younger and they haven't been married that long, so he'll probably have legitimate heirs. I don't know what happens if he has only daughters.