Interrupting the programmed schedule for this royal announcement!

On April 29, 2011 I woke up at 2:30 in the morning, lit a candle, grabbed an apple, and staggered downstairs to turn on the TV. At first bleary-eyed but with increasing wakefulness and excitement, I joined millions of others in watching the marriage of the newly-titled Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. We all know how beautiful and fabulous it was, so I won’t linger to long here.

The only thing I’m going to interject is that Kate should have worn her hair all the way up, not half-up. But hey, it wasn’t my wedding!

Since then the media kept spreading rumours of a royal baby. It came in waves, died down for a couple of months, then peaked again. I can only imagine the jokes the couple makes about that.

William holds up the new issue of PeopleMagazine to his wife. “Do you have something to tell me?”

Kate shrugs. “I think the pregnancy tests are a little less reliable than tabloids. What does it say?”

“We’re pregnant.”

“That’s great news! I’m glad they decided to let us know. I couldn’t wait for the next issue to come out.”

And then when I checked my Facebook at 4:00 I let out a shriek. (Being, of course, a bit of a royal fanatic, I’ve ‘liked’ dozens of Facebook pages, mainly relating to the Tudors. Nonetheless, these people are my primary sources of information for the outside realm.) So if you haven’t heard yet or guessed from my poorly foreshadowed intro — there’s a royal baby on the way! 

St James’s Palace made a statement this morning saying that,  ”Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to announce that the Duchess of Cambridge is expecting a baby.”

The Duchess has been hospitalized with severe morning sickness and is expected to remain there for several days, one of the reasons for today’s announcement.

Congratulations to the Duke and Duchess, and wishes to the Duchess on a speedy recovery!

~*~

A new law is to be passed giving an elder daughter of William and Kate superiority in the line of succession compared to any future younger brothers.

• William and Kate: Duchess pregnant, palace says
• Breaking Royal Family News: Kate’s Expecting!
• Girls equal in British throne succession

Over the next week I’ll be posting speculations about baby names, royal babies of the past, and add in a little something Tudor. Stay tuned!

Let them grumble!

Christmas of 1530: Anne Boleyn was being treated like the Queen of England by her suitor Henry VIII, though he was still married to Catherine of Aragon. The court grumbled and complained about Anne’s postition, and rightly so. But Anne, proud and defiant, briefly changed her motto to Ainsi sera, groigne qui groigne — ‘Let them grumble, that is how it is going to be!’ (Ives, pg. 141)

This spirit has always been in me (not the spirit to date Henry VIII, however!), the spirit to defy convention and do or write or wear something that most people scorn or laugh at, or are simply afraid of. They can grumble all they want, but this is how it is.

This blog will be a combination of things that I do/wear/write/see/read about that make other people grumble, along with some lessons in Tudor history, writing, movie and book reviews, modern royalty, horses, garden gnomes and whatever else might strike my fancy or make someone grumble.

Please bear with me while I try to figure out how my own blog works, but I promise I’ll have some grumble-worthy posts up soon! (Going to see The Woman in Black  on the weekend, so I bet I’ll have lots to say there!)

I was going to attach a photo for you, but unfortunately I haven’t figured out how yet…

Remember: let them grumble!