From spring 2019 Windsor Castle will have a new royal resident. This film explores what Meghan can learn from the royal mothers that came before her. From unusual royal birthing traditions, to how to juggle mothering with royal duties and how to handle the domestic politics of life with a royal nanny. We visit the nanny school in Bath which is the go-to place for royal childcare and Glamis Castle in Scotland, where princess Elizabeth was sent on holiday as a young girl.
Meghan will be spared many of the more unusual royal birthing traditions experienced by her predecessors. Royal mothers from Queen Victoria to the Queen Mother, all had to endure an official observer, often a senior politician, who had to be present at their births to verify that they really had given birth to a royal baby.
Meghan has had the press pack hungry to capture every detail of her pregnancy – from her extravagant baby shower in New York to her show-stopping maternity wear. But this press intrusion was not something Queen Elizabeth had to contend with. In the Queen’s day it was seen as ‘indelicate’ to refer to her pregnancy.
The exact details of royal births are often shrouded in mystery, but one royal mother – Queen Victoria – helped pioneer pain relief in childbirth, blazing a trail for other women to follow.
With contributions from royal commentators, eminent historians, and members of the aristocracy the film explores 100 years of bringing up baby.
