The Royal Baby

Okay, honestly?  I never thought I would comment on anything that has to do with the royal family, much less comment on anything of the entertainment news variety, barring some modern-day crisis.  But all of the excessive coverage aside, I noticed something watching the evening news.  Prince William is just like any other new father.  Not exactly earth shattering news, but let me explain.

Note: Before I go any further I have to assure my “old salt” seagoing friends that I am not talking about THAT Royal Baby — the one that all of us trusty Shellbacks know about.

What I mean is that like any new father I’ve ever seen, this one included back in the day, Prince William holds his baby son like his (William’s) life depends on it.  Take a look at the video (it’s everywhere!) and notice the wrestling envelope hold that he puts on that poor child when Kate hands it over.  Moms never use that hold — there is something much more natural about the way that they hold a newborn than the dads do.  Probably something in the genes.  Dad’s aren’t afraid of the child, they are afraid they’ll drop it or do some other hideous thing through no fault of their own.

And no, I’m not going to talk about new age fathering or which sex is better suited to be a better parent or any of that.  I just thought it was interesting to see and it occurred to me that I’ve seen it many times before.

And let’s give the guy some credit.  His first time in public with his wife and new son, and the whole world (seemingly literally from all the media coverage) is watching and critiquing his every move.  He got the baby in the car seat (check!), buckled him into the car (check!), in the back seat (check!), put the bags in the trunk (okay, the boot) (check!) — all the right moves.  And better yet, after all that concentration and serious attention to detail, he didn’t drive off and leave Kate standing on the sidewalk.  Well done Captain Wales.