It's a Boy!

Britain's Prince William and his wife Catherine (no Kate Middleton, please, she's gonna be a queen someday) just welcomed their first child into the world - a boy, despite hints to the possibility of a girl.  This put four males in line to the throne - Prince Charles, William, William's son, and Prince Harry - ensuring that the United Queendom will be a kingdom once again after Elizabeth II leaves the scene, though one of the four princes mentioned here will likely never be king. I am, of course, referring to Charles.

No one knows the little prince's name yet, incidentally, though, since he's a direct heir to the throne, I have a feeling it won't be John (the only king by that name was emasculated by his own noblemen at Runnymede and forced to establish a rule of law after abusing his own powers), it won't be Henry (the last Henry was a fat misogynist), and it won't be James (the last James was a fool, and - worse -a Catholic!).  I'm betting on George or Edward.  But not Albert - Queen Victoria let it be known that no king should bear her late husband's name. 

One cannot underscore the importance of the monarchy in Great Britain. The royal family embodies the values of the nation to the rest of the world and, after the Fergie flap, they take their responsibilities more seriously.  Indeed, as the head of state, the leader, the Queen isn't just the head of Britain - she is Britain.

In the United States, the President is both the head of state and the head of the government. Charlton Heston said it for all time when he said to President Reagan in 1985, "To the world, you are America." 

I am so glad I didn't go abroad in the 1980s.