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Cape Town - Continuing ITV Choice's (DStv 123) 2019 Royal Season, Secrets of the Royal Babies explores what Meghan, Duchess of Sussex can learn from the royal mothers before her – from Queen Victoria through to Princess Diana and the most recent royal mum, the Duchess of Cambridge.
Interviewing historians, royal experts and insiders, this one hour show - to be broadcast on Wednesday, 29 May at 20:00 - explores unusual royal birthing traditions, how to cope with the domestic politics of life with a royal nanny and how to juggle mothering with royal duties.
The programme visits the Norland College nanny school in Bath which is the go-to place for royal childcare, and Glamis Castle in Scotland, where young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret could escape the glare of the media and formality of the Royal Court.
Secrets of the Royal Babies also reveals that Prince Harry was expected to abide by royal tradition and tell the Monarch the sex of the baby, using an encrypted phone, before he told anyone else, says royal historian Kate Williams.
"What normally happens is that there is an encrypted phone that cannot be tapped and he will tell her a girl or boy."
However, one ancient tradition that was not be adhered to is the archaic routine of having government "observers" at the birth. The programme tells how the tradition, which dates back to 1688, was still in practice, to some degree, when the Queen was born.
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