Royal baby...

Now, I’m not anti-royal, those days have long gone; in recent years I’ve viewed their antics with amusement, affection, even a little jingoistic pride. But was the nation really holding its breath over this royal birth or was it just another royal-centred media circus? Judging by the crowds that turned out a lot of people were genuinely looking forward to the birth, but I have to admit that I don’t understand why. Now don’t get me wrong I think it great that Kate and William have a child, I’m happy for them, but it makes not a jot of difference to most people – why should it?

Of course the cynic in me says that all this baby hype is the continuation of the royals reinventing themselves as popular, benign, almost ordinary people and in many ways that’s what they’ve almost become. Certainly the ‘new breed’ of royals are popular and friendly; a far cry from the royal family of only a few years ago when the nation was outraged, almost to riot, by the behaviour of the Royal family and particularly the Queen.

Yes, I think that the Queen, Charles and that bloody Camilla woman have much to thank Diana for. I’m no Diana fan, in fact I quite disliked her manipulative ways whilst she was alive, but I have to admit that she almost single-handily made the nation notice royalty once more; albeit not always in an altogether good way. Her troubled life with Charles, her tragic death, her perceived public scorning on her death by the Queen set the stage for a huge turnaround in Royal PR and for once the Royal Family realised that they had to try harder to be liked and began to change.

I’m pretty sure that t was Diana’s refusal to allow her two boys to be caught up in the Royal sausage machine which is her real legacy to the nation. Her sons are many of the things that Charles, the Queen, Philip and the rest could never quite manage: funny, humble, down-to-earth, immensely likeable, and most importantly human; or at least it appears that way. It’s thanks to William and Harry that the Royal Family is popular once more and they, my husband and I, bathe in the reflected positive feelings that the nation has for the Princes, Kate and now their son. I’m sure that it was all part of the big plan, at least in part, but the reality is that Diana forced into place the foundations of a new Royal Family, a family that seems to be not so different from most and one that the British public can begin to relate to.

Of course they remain immensely privileged, immeasurably lucky, and most people will never have the luxury and travel they experience as the norm. They are very different, but at least they are a little more open and human than they were.

I think that Diana saved the lot of them and I hope that the Queen is grateful to her.