When you’re a member of the royal family, your life just isn’t the same as other people’s. No casual shopping at Target over the weekend for a few last-minute nursery items. No keeping your baby bump a secret from the masses (for long anyway). And certainly no way of stopping your brand new child from becoming one of the most hash-tagged humans on the planet. And with any new member of the royal family comes a whole bunch of royal baby traditions in tow.
The English royal family is one of the most famous families of all time (sorry, Kardashian-Jenner clan!), so it’s no surprise that two of the top 10 most popular royals — Kate and Meghan — were also among the most watched during their recent pregnancies.
With these two modern women rebranding the face of the royal family, people are becoming more and more curious about royal traditions — especially when it comes to how babies are raised. And when it comes to the royal pregnancy, according to Cosmopolitan, there are some very intense (ahem, specific) rules:
To start, the queen has to be the first to find out when a baby is born.
Also, royals can only announce their pregnancy after 12 weeks.
During the pregnancy, they have to follow a few key rules: They must not reveal their cleavage and they have to keep travel to a minimum.
One of the hardest rules? All health issues during pregnancy must be made public. Think that is wildly dehumanizing and unfair? In the past, things got even harsher.
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We already know that mothers have to follow strict rules, but what about the babies themselves?
When it comes to baby names, they’re usually pretty boring ones.
Classic names are pretty popular among royal babies, which is why you see a George and a Charlotte thrown in here and there.
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Most of the royal baby names pay homage to past monarchs or royals…
…like King George VI, the queen (whose middle name was Alexandra) or William Arthur Philip Louis.
They also choose names based on relevance. When a name is selected, the queen has to approve it — or at least not hate it, according to Scary Mommy.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, however, named their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor (we’ll get to the last name in a moment).
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Archie won’t be a prince, but he will be referred to as Master Archie.
While it might sound a little hoity-toity to us, according to Time, Archie — short for Archibald — is actually super common in the U.K. In fact, Time says that the name is likely a reflection of the duke and duchess’s hope that Archie will be more in touch with the everyday person. After all, Archie is actually the 7th in line of succession.
Oh, and royal babies usually have several names.
Once these names are chosen, the “royal effect” occurs.
When this happens — boom! — everyone is naming their children after a royal baby. Many people even choose the names that were considered but not chosen.
Beyond the first name, the royal baby doesn’t get a typical surname.
Until the 20th century, the babies generally had no last name.
YEAH, we also worry about how that works out.
According to Royal.UK, “Members of the Royal Family can be known both by the name of the Royal house, and by a surname, which are not always the same. And often they do not use a surname at all.”
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Many royal babies are given the last name of the county that they are to rule instead.
This is why William and Kate’s children have the last name Cambridge.
This will be the county they preside over. Yes, we know — it’s complicated!
But because Archie is not a prince, his last name is Mountbatten-Windsor, as per tradition.
But why? Here’s the answer: “For the most part, members of the Royal Family who are entitled to the style and dignity of HRH Prince or Princess do not need a surname, but if at any time any of them do need a surname (such as upon marriage), that surname is Mountbatten-Windsor.”
Windsor is the queen’s surname, while Mountbatten comes from Prince Philip.
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Royals babies aren’t allowed to eat processed or packaged foods or formulas.
According to Metro, there are royal chefs on hand to hand-puree foods for the little ones. From fresh veggies and meats to seasonal fruits (remember that the royal family tends to eat seasonally!), royal babies are getting fresh food.
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And, according to Marie Claire, breastfeeding is a longtime royal tradition.
Apparently, Queen Elizabeth II breastfed her children, as did Princess Diana and Kate (although this is unconfirmed). And while there are many specific royal eating traditions (No shellfish! No garlic! No fast food!), there are certainly a few snack sneaks here and there.
For better or worse, the royal children are no longer served peacocks or swans, as their predecessors were.
Royal babies receive hundreds of gifts, but they cannot keep them all.
It’s a tradition for all the royal babies to be given gifts from admirers all over the world.
In fact, the leaders of most foreign governments will send baby gifts to the newborn royal. Multiply that by the gifts received from the public and Christmas will seem like a joke. Apparently, Prince George alone received 700 gifts.
What’s the royal policy on gifts?
The royal kids can only keep gifts worth less than 150 pounds.
They can keep things like flowers, foods, copies of non-controversial books, and items costing less then 150 pounds. Some of the other gifts get sent to charity — which makes sense — but others may just be discarded.
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Once royal babies grow up, there are even more traditions in place!
For one, they have to wear certain clothing.
You’ll never see a little princess wearing just any old dress. She must wear a dress along with a cardigan. Tights may also be worn if it’s cold. You’ll also notice, for example, Princess Charlotte, wearing a matching bow with her outfits.
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They will definitely have learn to bow or curtsy to the queen.
According to The List, historian and royal expert Marlene Koenig explained that royal kids, by age five, will have to know how to greet the queen formally. They royal kids will have to do this every time they see the queen, in public or not. No matter what, the curtsy is crucial.
As for a little prince, he’ll have to wear shorts until he turns eight.
Then he can begin wearing pants.
According to Time, princes wore gowns just like their sisters back in the 1600s. It’s shorts, nowadays; however, pants are considered very ‘common,’ which is why the little prince doesn’t wear them.
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You’ll probably also notice that the kids tend to wear matching colors with their parents.
You’ll notice that William, Kate, and their kids match wonderfully a lot of the time.
For example, in royal tradition, according to Elle, many of the photographs taken of the royal family show the members wearing similar outfits or colors.
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I mean, look at this color coordination! It’s on-point.
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But there are other things they cannot get caught doing…
As they get older, they’ll have to follow a strict no-selfie rule.
Even as these little royals grow up in the age of Instagram, they won’t be caught taking a selfie. Anywhere. It’s against royal policy to take a selfie or be captured in one. It’s simply not proper etiquette. Sorry, royal kiddos — you will be growing up in a social media-obsessed world, but you won’t be allowed to take part. In the end, it’s probably better that way, right?
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Royal kids have to learn another language.
According to Cheatsheet, there is an unofficial rule in place: All royal kiddos must learn another language.
That’s because they grow up traveling and working with foreign governments, and, you know, it’s good to learn more than one language! Apparently, Prince George and Princess Charlotte can already speak some Spanish.
It’s said that Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, Prince William, Kate Middleton, and maybe even Meghan Markle all speak French! There’s a bit of German, Gaelic, Welsh, and Swahili in there too.
Perhaps one of the strangest rules is that the kids won’t be allowed to play Monopoly.
Yep, the royal kids get hundreds of gifts from all over the world — but no Monopoly allowed! While there’s little proof that this is an “official” rule, it’s said to be one that is generally accepted by the royal family because it’s a game that “causes arguments.”