World News for Students of English

27-04-2018 15:00

Recently, Kate Middleton had her third child who is a healthy baby boy and whose name is eagerly awaited by the world. This news is a look back at Britain’s history of royal baby traditions.

The public obsession with royal births can seem a bit much, but it is a national tradition and used to be worse as witnesses had to be present at birth to confirm legitimacy. The practice ended in 1948 ahead of the birth of Prince Charles.

Another tradition that ended in the 20th century came with the birth of Prince Edward in 1964 (the Queen’s youngest child) who was the last royal to be born in Buckingham Palace. Prince William became the first heir to the throne to be born in hospital in 1982.

Through the ages, news of royal births has been spread by criers, telegraph and Twitter, but the easel has been the enduring method used by the palace to announce royal births.

Difficult words: obsession (being very big fans), legitimacy (that something is true), heir (a person who will become king or queen or earn something else in the future), crier (an officer which tells official news), easel (a wooden frame), enduring (long-lasting).

You can watch the video news lower on this page.