It was a busy weekend for our favorite Family. The Queen’s first cousin once removed – or is it second cousin? – Lady Gabriella Windsor (pictured above) got married Saturday at St. George’s Chapel. Seriously, can someone help me understand this – Lady Gabriella’s father, Prince Michael of Kent, is the Queen’s first cousin. So does that make Lady Gabriella the Queen’s first cousin once removed, or her second cousin?
Anyway, I digress. In addition to Lady Gabriella’s wedding – which drew many senior Royals, including the Queen and Prince Philip – there were some absolutely adorable photos of all of the Cambridges at a garden, including a particularly adorable snap of Kate on a swing. And, from these photos, we see Prince Louis is walking!
Finally, apparently the Queen is hiring for a social media manager. (The pay isn’t great: $38k.) Also, as alluded to in a previous post, Harry and Meghan’s first anniversary was yesterday, and they released some never-seen-before wedding footage on their Instagram. Also, Pippa’s second wedding anniversary to James Matthews is today. Whew! Springtime is a busy time to be a Royal.
Which brings me to today’s blog topic: For blood royals, it’s birthday season. Something is clearly in the water at Sandringham, the Queen’s country estate where the Royal Family summers, in the months of July and August, because there is a boatload of birthdays in April and May.
From April 21 to May 15 – just a little over three weeks – there are five birthdays celebrated amongst the Queen’s direct blood lineage. The queen’s direct blood lineage only consists of 21 people – the Queen herself, her four children, her eight grandchildren, and her (so far) eight great-grandchildren. Basically, 25 percent of the blood Royals are born within three weeks. (The exact percentage is 23.8 percent – close enough.)
They are:
· The Queen herself, born April 21, 1926
· Prince Louis, son of William and Kate, born April 23, 2018
· Princess Charlotte, son of William and Kate, born May 2, 2015
· Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, son of Harry and Meghan, born May 6, 2019
· The Queen’s granddaughter Zara Phillips Tindall, daughter of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips, born May 15, 1981
Even Lady Gabriella – who just got married this weekend – falls into that three-week timeframe, born on April 23, 1981.
Also, it’s high time amongst the male blood Royals to get married. If you are a male member of the Queen’s direct blood lineage and you have married – the number 21 shrinks down to six for this category – five of the six, or 83 percent, chose to get married in the spring. (Either I am really cool for figuring this out and finding it utterly fascinating or I need more hobbies.) Get this:
· Charles married Camilla on April 9, 2005
· William married Kate on April 29, 2011
· Peter Phillips (Princess Anne’s son) married Autumn Kelly on May 17, 2008
· Harry married Meghan on May 19, 2018
· Prince Edward (the Queen’s youngest son) married Sophie Rhys-Jones on June 19, 1999
And here’s another twist! All but William and Kate’s weddings were held at St. George’s Chapel. It must be the de rigueur thing if you’re having a spring wedding to marry there, as Lady Gabriella just did it herself two days ago. Who knows where William and Kate would have chosen to marry had their wedding not been the state affair that it was – there is no way St. George’s Chapel could have held all of their guests. Instead, they married at Westminster Abbey, which previously had a negative connotation for William – it was where the funeral of his mother, Princess Diana, was held in 1997.
Also, another little fun fact: Even the Queen’s parents, Prince Albert, Duke of York – who became King George VI upon his ascension – married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, better known in later years as the Queen Mother, on April 26, 1923. Their first daughter, Elizabeth, was born almost three years to the day later. Springtime means ring time, I guess.
The only male blood Royal to not marry in the spring was Prince Andrew, who married Sarah Ferguson on July 23, 1986, back when July weddings were the thing for Royals – Charles and Diana married on July 29, 1981 and set the trend.
If you’re a Royal, you’d better get your baby gifts and wedding gifts ready, because it’s going to be a busy season for you. Maybe it’s because the weather is beautiful in London, or because no one has yet departed for Sandringham, or because it’s just one big coincidence, but springtime is the time to celebrate for the Family.
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