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WELL
SURELY BY NOW YOU'VE HEARD - THERE IS ANOTHER HEIR TO THE BRITISH THRONE. AND PRINCE WILLIAM
AND HIS WIFE KATE, HAVE NAMED HIM GEORGE ALEXANDER LOUIS, OTHERWISE
KNOWN AS "HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, PRINCE GEORGE OF CAMBRIDGE." AND ALTHOUGH THE NEW PRINCE
SHARES THE NAME OF MANY ROYALS BEFORE HIM, THIS GEORGE'S CHILDHOOD COULD BE
QUITE A BIT DIFFERENT THAN HIS PREDECESSORS. JOINING US NOW TO EXPLAIN WHY IS VOA LONDON
REPORTER HENRY RIDGWELL. SO HENRY YOU HAVE SOME VERY UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE
ON THIS STORY AS BOTH A REPORTER AND A BRITISH CITIZEN, SO WHY WOULD YOU SAY THERE'S FASCINATION
SURROUNDING THIS ROYAL BABY? WELL I THINK IT'S THE SENSE OF
HISTORY, THE SENSE OF HISTORY OF AN INSTITUTION THAT CAN BE TRACED BACK MILLENIA, GIVE OR
TAKE THE ODD BREAK HERE OR THERE, WHERE REVOLTING ENGLISH THREW THEM OUT
OF BUCKINGHAM PALACE. BUT IT'S THAT SENSE OF HISTORY, AND POMP AND PRIDE AND CIRCUMSTANCE
IN THE ROYAL FAMILY. HEY HENRY, WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE BEHIND THE NAME
GEORGE, AND HOW ARE THE LONDONERS TAKING TO IT? WELL IT'S A VERY POPULAR NAME, IN FACT
IT'S THE 12TH MOST POPULAR NAME IN BRITAIN LAST YEAR. SO THEY'VE GONE A
LITTLE BIT WITH FASHION, BUT I THINK IT'S REALLY HISTORY THAT'S DICTATED THE CHOICE.
AS YOU'VE ALREADY SAID, THERE HAVE BEEN SIX GEORGES WHO HAVE TAKEN THE THRONE
ALREADY IN BRITAIN, THE MOST RECENT BEING GEORGE THE 6TH, WHO'S THE QUEEN'S FATHER AND
WAS ON THE THRONE DURING WORLD WAR 2 AND LED THE COUNTRY THROUGH THAT
CONFLICT. AND HIS PREDECESSOR GEORGE THE 5TH WAS ON THE THRONE IN WORLD WAR 1, AND VISITED
THE TROOPS ON THE FRONT LINE AND SO ON. SO THERE'S A GREAT ADMIRATION
FOR THOSE TWO GEORGES. MANY HISTORIANS SAY THE PREVIOUS FOUR GEORGES OF THE 18TH AND
19TH CENTURIES WEREN'T QUITE SO WELL BEHAVED. APPARENTLY THEY PREFERRED TO
PLAY CARDS AND GAMBLE AND CHASE WOMEN, BUT FORTUNATELY THAT'S FROM A FORMER PERIOD. NOW
BEFORE WE GO HENRY, PRINCE WILLIAM HAS SAID THAT HE WANTS TO GIVE HIS BABY
PRINCE GEORGE AS NORMAL AN UPBRINGING AS POSSIBLE. BUT YOU'VE DESCRIBED HOW MUCH ATTENTION REALLY
WE'VE PAID THROUGHOUT THE YEARS, THROUGHOUT THE DECADES TO THE
ROYAL FAMILY. HOW POSSIBLE IS IT FOR THE PRINCE TO HAVE A NORMAL LIFE? IMPOSSIBLE I THINK
IS THE SHORT ANSWER. PRINCE WILLIAM AND KATE HAVE SAID THAT THEY'RE
GOING TO GIVE HIM AS NORMAL AN UPBRINGING AS POSSIBLE, PROBABLY MORE NORMAL THAN HE
HAD WITH HIS BROTHER PRINCE HARRY, BECAUSE THE MEDIA HAVE NOW COME TO AN
AGREEMENT WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY SINCE THE TRAGIC DEATH OF WILLIAM'S MOTHER, PRINCESS
DIANA. TO GIVE THEM MORE SPACE, TO GIVE THIS BABY MORE SPACE, AS HE'S GROWING
UP THROUGH BEING A TODDLER, AND INTO HIS TEENAGE YEARS, A SPACE THAT WAS ONLY GIVEN TO WILLIAM
IN HIS LATTER YEARS AT UNIVERSITY. BUT I THINK IT WILL BE A MUCH
WARMER, PERHAPS A MUCH MORE NORMAL UPBRINGING FOR PRINCE GEORGE THAN MANY OF THE PREVIOUS
ROYAL BABIES IN EARLIER CENTURIES AND IN EARLIER DECADES OF THE 20TH
CENTURY. THEY SAID THEY HAD A VERY ISOLATED, A VERY LONELY UPBRINGING WITHIN THE ROYAL
FAMILY. I THINK IT'S GOING TO BE MUCH WARMER. PRINCE WILLIAM AND KATE
HAVEN'T HIRED A NANNY. HE HAD A NANNY HIMSELF BUT THEY HAVEN'T HIRED ONE. SO THEY'RE BEING
VERY HANDS-ON PARENTS. SO I THINK PRINCE WILLIAM IS VERY DETERMINED
ALONG WITH KATE TO GIVE HIM AS NORMAL AN UPBRINGING AS POSSIBLE. AND OF COURSE, LASTLY, THEY HAVE
GOT THAT BOLT-HOLE OF KATE'S PARENT'S PROPERTY, JUST OUTSIDE
LONDON, WHICH GIVES THEM A BIT OF AN ESCAPE, BECAUSE WILLIAM HAS SAID HOW MUCH HE LIKES
IT, BECAUSE IT'S MUCH MORE MIDDLE CLASS, IF YOU LIKE, THAN HIS OWN
UPBRINGING, THAN HIS RESIDENCIES, IN A COUNTRY THAT IS OF COURSE OBSSESSED WITH CLASS. OF
COURSE. WELL HENRY, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US. ALWAYS GREAT TO
HAVE YOU ON AND I KNOW THERE WILL BE IMMENSE INTEREST TO CONTINUE. WELL I'M SURE OVER THERE
IN LONDON THERE WILL BE. AND HERE AS WELL, HERE AS WELL. PEOPLE AROUND
THE WORLD ACTUALLY ARE VERY INTERESTED IN THIS. LOOK AT THE BABY. OF COURSE.