It's a girl again

The Queens of the Netherlands

The joy of new birth comes to the Netherlands again with the birth of the eighth grandchild of Queen Beatrix of the House of Orange-Nassau.

Fortunately, in the Dutch monarchy, is not subject to Salic Law else they would have been in the crisis of the ruling house of Japan where until recently the absence of a son for the second-line of succession had put many a princess under unbearable stress.

Absolute primogeniture has allowed the Netherlands to have 3 Queens in succession with the possibility of a King after the reign of the Queen extant, in Prince Willem-Alexander, the heir-apparent and father of the new born child.

A peculiarity is how all the Queens married German consorts and the current one did cause such uproar as the Dutch were still smarting from the travails of the Second World War - though all consorts acquitted themselves well as Dutch gentlemen.

Also, the Queens did have a penchant for abdicating for their successors, Queen Wilhelmina (57 years) for Queen Juliana (32 years) in 1948 and she for Queen Beatrix in 1980, it is not clear if this Queen would abdicate for her son, one is not sure how ready the Dutch would be for that kind of upheaval.

Male maelstrom

However, one might be astute to say that it appears the Y-chromosome is somewhat recessive in the succession line even though this Queen does have 3 sons. She only has one grandson amongst her 8 grandchildren and in about 50 years time we would be celebrating probably the advent of another Queen of the Netherlands depending on the reigns and longevity of both Queen Beatrix and Prince Willem-Alexander.

Now, all births must be well celebrated regardless of gender, but there is something about hereditary monarchies that the birth of a girl excites exasperation rather than elation - as most newspapers would read - It's another girl!

She arrived last night just before 10:00PM on the 10^th of April 2007, weighing 4,135g and 52cm, a very healthy baby.

Congratulations to the Queen, the Prince and his Princess as we all celebrate with Beschuit met muisjes, the traditional Dutch treat served to commemorate new births; the muisjes being pink for a girl.

It's a girl again!