Giving birth is a tough experience.
You’ve got the pain, the uncertainty, the sensation of pushing a watermelon out of your body – it’s all going on.
Birth is essentially stressful enough without there needing to be a load of rules and regulations surrounding it.
Just imagine for a second that you showed up to the hospital and that your partner wasn’t allowed in the room with you, or you had to swear your midwife to secrecy about what happened, or the first person you were allowed to tell was your husband’s mother.
Yeah, it’d all be a bit mad, wouldn’t it?
That’s why it’s such a relief then that the royal family seem to have done away with these birthing traditions in favour of something a little more, let’s say, human.
Because all of the above used to be mandatory for any member of the family who gave birth… and God, if they don’t sound awful.
According to Southern Living, back in the day, the royals used to have to adhere to a strict set of rules when they were welcoming another baby into the family.
Those rules included only giving birth at home, not allowing the father (or any man) into the room where the baby was being born, announcing the child’s birth via a town crier, and informing the Queen of the birth before anybody else.
Thankfully, Duchess Kate has already broken a few of these rules since she first became pregnant with Prince George.
Not only did Kate give birth in a hospital for both of her pregnancies, but she and William also announced the birth of Princess Charlotte via a tweet at the same time the official ‘birth easel’ was going up outside of Buckingham Palace.
Will and Kate aren’t the first to start moving away from these traditions though.
In 1982 and 1984, Princess Diana gave birth to Prince William and Prince Harry respectively at London’s St. Mary’s Hospital in the private Lindo Wing.
While the Queen welcomed all of her children in the palace, it seems that the younger royal women feel more comfortable surrounded by doctors in a hospital bed.
That being said though, word on the street is that Kate plans to have her third baby at home, so maybe these birthing traditions aren’t as outdated as we thought.
As long as William’s allowed in the room, that is.
