LET’S LOOK AT SOME BABIES! Also, obviously, some outfits — Kate is wearing the most amazing giant headband; it’s nearly Tudorian. Dear Lord, may we please be entering a period in which Kate wears really excessive hats. Thank you.
The Queen and Philip did not attend this morning’s event — the official story is that the Queen basically has been working a lot lately (true) and has a lot happening this week (also true, there’s a big to-do tomorrow and Trump arrives in England on Friday), and ergo she needs a break, but my theory is that she’s got some super-secret and deeply powerful sorcery that can only be performed by the ruling monarch to undertake before the England v. Croatia World Cup match on Wednesday and this is the only time she can work on that. If you saw any weird colored smoke wafting out of Buckingham Palace today, Londoners, please know that she’s doing it for you.
So, instead, we’ve got immediate family — including, of course, Harry and Meghan — and beaucoup godparents, as is the posh British way. They are:
Nicholas van Cutsem, Guy Pelly: These two are friends of William’s from way back. Nick VC is uncle to the little bridesmaid at Wills and Kate’s wedding who covered her ears during the fly-past, and — FUN FACT that I just learned from People — his wife Alice’s brother is Harry Hadden-Paton, AKA Bertie from Downton. I just want Bertie to start showing up at these things. Guy Pelly is a real party-boy and known to be a bit of a bad influence. He’s the one who had that big wedding in Memphis that led to photos of Wills and Harry in Elvis glasses, and, to quote The Mirror, ran a “string of raunchy nightclubs.” He’s also had his driver’s license taken away at least twice that I can tell, and was Harry’s companion at the infamous Nazi Costume Event. My personal theory is that Kate has to suppress a full-body eye-roll every time he comes up and refused to let him be godparent to (a) a future king or (b) a precocious budding Nobel Prize winner, and hence Louis gets him.
Harry Aubrey-Fletcher: He is a friend of William’s from primary school/Eton, so they go way back. Why didn’t I lump him into the van Cutsem/Pelly marmalade up there? I don’t know! He is the Infamous Ear-Pincher of this photo (you cannot see his head, just his arm).
Lady Laura Meade: Her husband James is Charlotte’s godfather; they’re posh friends of Wills and Kate from Norfolk, but if I understand correctly, the four of them also used to bash around the bars together before everyone got married.
Hannah Carter: She’s a school friend of Kate’s.
Lucy Middleton: She’s Kate’s cousin and a fancy lady lawyer (she might technically not be fancy, but I call all female lawyers Fancy Lady Lawyer thanks to a long-ago in-joke with Heather about a short-running CBS drama that used the phrase “fancy lady lawyer” in its promotional materials). She and Kate spent their gap year together in Italy.
Before we get to the snaps, there is of course arrival video:
Members of the Royal Family arrive at St James’s Palace for the christening of Prince Louis. pic.twitter.com/3pDk4D898C
— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) July 9, 2018
Charlotte is getting so tall! I also love Wills’s cheery “well done!” to the kids, post-successful handshake. He seems like a good dad. IT WARMS ME.
Finally, in case this has got you in a real Christening Mood, you can revisit George’s here (he and Louis look so much alike), and Charlotte’s here (George is a real hoot in that one, bless him).
