Long-Lived, Healthy, and Glorious - 7/22

The whole time we were in London, we were on Royal Baby Watch! We were certain that because Princess Kate was due in the middle of the month, that she’d have the baby while we were in Scotland, or while I was in Ireland, but she held out. When I woke up on the 22^nd, I discovered that Kate had finally gone into labor!

 

I decided to spend the last morning of minibreak touring Westminster Abbey, which was pretty cool. I got the audiotour, which I was surprised to discover was narrated by Jeremy Irons! I was like, wait, is Scar talking to me? I saw the graves of Charles Darwin and Sir Isaac Newton, as well as the grave of Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Mary (did you know that they share a space in death?), and even Mary, Queen of Scots. Photography is forbidden in the Abbey, so I don’t have any pictures, unfortunately. The tomb of the unknown soldier is there, and is gorgeous, surrounded by poppies. There’s also a beautiful stained-glass window dedicated to the British Armed Forces.

After Westminster, I walked up to Buckingham Palace, to see the crowd. There weren’t a lot of people there yet, since it was the middle of the workday, but there was a ton of media camped across the street.

I was supposed to meet up with Alison and Liz, but when we met up, we all agreed it was too hot to do anything. It turned out that this would later be the peak of the heat wave, when we hit 93 degrees. Instead I headed back to the dorm to get some laundry done and camp out in front of the BBC for Royal Baby news. It just so happened that I was watching that evening when the baby announcement was made! A little prince! It was very exciting, though kind of a letdown that they’d changed the law and a prince was born instead of a princess. Still, progress is progress.

The town caller who later announced the Prince’s birth stated, “May he be long-lived, healthy, and glorious, and may he one day reign over us!” That is one heck of a statement. The next baby I know that’s born is getting that on the birth announcement!

I heard that the London Eye was being lit up in the British colors to celebrate the birth, so I walked out to Waterloo Bridge to look. It was lovely. After hearing the Eye was the same color every night, I actually got to see it in two other views, between the Prince and London Pride.

That night, the heat wave broke and for practically the first time since we’d gotten to London, it began to rain. Everyone’s Facebook status commented on how surprised we were. Rain! In England! Shocking! It was lovely to fall asleep to, especially with the cool breeze that accompanied it.