They say the first year of any marriage is hard. Imagine if your first year of marriage included state visits, public engagements and constant news headlines asking if you were pregnant yet. By the time of their first wedding anniversary, the crown princely couple had toured America, all of Jutland, Denmark and Norway. They had entertained heads of state and dignitaries at state dinners. They had opened countless parks, schools and hospitals and planted trees. Bella christened her first ship and sat front row at schools across Jutland, listening to schoolchildren sing for her.
On top of her official royal duties, Bella and Edward also continued on with The Foundation works in several African countries and opened a new school in Colombia. They kept themselves busy, immersing themselves in their new roles, but that wasn't enough to satisfy a population waiting for an announcement of a new royal baby.
"Once they had passed their one year mark of being married, we began to closely watch Bella. If she didn't have a glass of wine at a dinner party or if she wore something loose, we would ask ourselves if she was pregnant. It wasn't until that fall, when we realized that perhaps they were in no rush. The whole thing was very annoying. Queen Esme had given birth less than a year after her wedding. We were sort of expecting Princess Bella to do the same," the editor of a Jutland paper tells us. " For awhile it was hurry and wait."
If they noticed the growing anticipation of a royal birth in the papers, the royal couple kept it to themselves. Princess Bella later clarified why they waited.
"I was surprised at the level of anticipation. I mean, I knew people were expecting it, I just didn't imagine that I would come back from our honeymoon and already the papers would be asking if I was pregnant. I had told Edward when he proposed, I asked him to give me at least one full year from our wedding before we would start trying for children. I needed that time and space to be able to find myself in this new role. I couldn't imagine trying to take on two new roles as big as those at the same time."
Sources tell us that Bella kept her word and in June of 2005, the couple ceased using any methods of birth control.
"They were probably expecting to get pregnant right off the bat. They were both young and healthy. It didn't work out like that. It took a few months, but I imagine they had great fun while trying." Anonymous palace source.
On January 15th, 2006, the wait was over. Gnudsborg Palace issued a press release:
His Majesty The King and Her Royal Highness The Queen take pleasure to announce that The Crown Prince and The Crown Princess are expecting a child. The palace expects the child to be born at the beginning of July.
Such a simple statement, yet the whole country erupted with joy. Finally, an heir. The papers could give Bella a slight reprieve in her maternal duties. The casinos in Jutland opened bets for the sex of the baby. The whole nation was swept up in baby fever, and Bella and Edward got carried along in that wave.
"It was an wonderful thing to feel, this country of mine being so warm toward my pregnant wife. Everywhere we went, people were offering us advice and good wishes and baby items. I was and still am quite proud of Bella, for carrying on so many duties while she was pregnant. I would often nag at her to slow down, I was worried she was taking on too much. But Bella isn't one to sit still. I don't know if I should be proud or a bit ashamed I cannot get my wife to listen to me." Prince Edward, as stated in a documentary following the birth of their first child.
By the spring of 2006, baby fever was in full gear. A glowing Princess Bella, always shadowed by a very protective Prince Edward, made their way through public engagements. At a school in southern Jutland, school children sang a song they had written just for the Princess and the new baby. Baby items from well wishers all over the world filled the couples royal office.
Things reached a fever pitch in June. Weeks away from delivery, Bella began her maternity leave and the whole nation drew in its collective breaths and waited. As it turns out, they didn't have to hold their breath very long.
On the morning of June 19th, Bella was spotted walking with her bodyguard around the capital city. Wearing no makeup, casual clothes and hair tied up in a pony tail, she looked like any other mom to be. By that afternoon, Bella was in the Royal Hospital of Danskholm, in labor. Reporters crowded outside the hospital waiting for word of the birth.
Finally, at 1am, the palace released a statement:
It is with pleasure that His Majesty The King and Her Royal Highness The Queen announce the birth of a son to Their Royal Highnesses, The Crown Prince and The Crown Princess. The baby was born at 12:08 am, June 20th, 2006. The infant weighed 2.7 kg and was 7.4 cm long.
At noon on the 20th, a 21 gun salute rang out from the palace courtyard and the palace guards wore the bright blue overcoats that signify a royal birth and the crowds filled the palace courtyard to wave the Jutland standard. The king and queen made their way to the hospital in the afternoon.
"He is a beautiful baby. He has a head full of hair already and a set of lungs on him." King Carlisle to the press assembled outside the hospital.
Bella's parent's also showed up, glowing as only new grandparents can.
The press caught Edward coming into the hospital. He had slipped out unnoticed to the crowds through a back door to shower and change and the press besieged him on his way back in.
"Mother and baby are fine. Bella did a wonderful job. I was there the whole time with her, it's an incredible birthday gift," he said, beaming, tousling his hair nervously.
Princesses Rosalie and Alice made their way to the hospital the following day and came out and told the press they loved being aunts and looked forward to spoiling the new baby. The palace had announced the engagement of Princess Alice and her long term boyfriend, Jasper the day before the birth, so the joy was doublefold for the family. A new heir and a royal wedding in the same year!
On June 23rd , the Crown Princess was released from hospital and a short photo opportunity was given. A radiant Princess Bella showed off the new prince, swaddled in blue who sported bronze hair. Guided by her husband, she made her way through the gauntlet of photographers and reporters who shot questions at her and she tried her best to answer them.
"I'm obviously happy. He is a perfect baby," she stated.
When one reporter asked her when she planned to have the next one, Bella quipped "I'm not a factory."
"We are still young, plenty of time for that," Edward replied as he guided Bella and his new son to the waiting car to be taken home. And the nation was happy. They had their heir.
By the couples own accounts, their infant son, dubbed the lilprins until his name was revealed at the christening, was a delight and they easily found themselves submerged in parenthood. They often took walks on the palace park grounds, pushing the baby in a stroller. Bella seemed fit in her role as a new mother and it was announced that she was breastfeeding the child and that the royal couple was using cloth diapers.
Bella had, under Jutland law, a legal right to a full year of maternity leave. Edward had under the same law six months off and for the most part, they kept their activities reduced, but they both never really had the full time allotted them.
"It was one thing for the country to finally have an heir, our lilprins (little prince in English), but can you imagine the outrage the tabloids would have had with with them, especially Edward, if they had taken the full leave? It doesn't matter that every other new parent in Jutland takes the long leave, this is the royal family we are talking about. Royalty doesn't know sick leave. They would have been called lazy or useless." Palace advisor.
By the third month following their sons birth, Bella was taking part in light public engagements and Edward was carrying out work for both the Royal Family and The Foundation. Plans were underway for the christening of the new heir. It would be at this christening we would finally learn the name of the little prince, following an old custom in Jutland, adopted from Denmark. On October 13th,the date of the christening, Bella announced the name of the little prince as he was christened at the same baptismal font used in all royal christenings since 1859. Million of Jutlanders turned on the televisions to watch the live event.
The baby was named James Carlisle Edward Charles. James after James the III who fought in the war of Independence of 1858. Carlisle after his paternal grandfather, Edward after his father and Charles is an old royal name and also the name of Princess Bella's father.
Little Prince James was a hit in the tiny country. A documentary about his birth and his first three months were shown on Jutland public television the night of the christening. We were allowed an inside look at the couples home life and their life leading up to the birth of their first child. We were shown new side of the couple we hadn't seen before, including the way they interacted with each other. Constantly touching or smiling at one another, they weren't shy to show their affections.
"We were given almost unlimited access to their daily lives during that period. It was a first for this particular royal family to be so open. They keep their home life pretty guarded, but I think the crown prince and crown princess wanted to show a new side to monarchy. A more open one." Jacob Black, producer and director of the documentary, "lilprins"
It also allowed, for the first time since their engagement, an interview on life in the first year of marriage and how they were feeling about the birth. It showed an honest side to both Bella and Edward that was much changed since their guarded engagement interview. The two frequently joked around with each other and the questions they were asked.
"Have I been crabby or hormonal? Gosh, what sort of question is that! I'm hugely pregnant. I think I'm allowed to be crabby! But, I don't think I am crabby," Bella says before she turns to Edward and asks "Am I crabby?" Edward stutters along for a bit before he quickly reassures her that "No, you aren't the least bit crabby!" When Bella turns her head away from the camera for a moment, Edward rolls his eyes at the interviewer and has a look of exasperation on his face. "Crabby ALL the time" he mouths to the camera.
At another point, the questions turn more complex.
"Have your feelings for each other changed in the year since you've been married and are now expecting a child?" the interviewer asks off camera.
"Have they changed? Yes. But for the better. I see what this amazing woman has taken on, you know, quite without complaint and the fact that she keeps on going. She doesn't stop. My love and admiration for her continually grow and deepen. She's had this constant weight on her shoulder, um, about having my child, or rather the heir, and that can wear anyone down. Her value to the crown of Jutland , er and the people of Jutland goes further than her ability to have children. I'm proud she choose me to be her husband and the father of her children, but I am also proud of her abilities has a Crown Princess for the people of Jutland. She should make them all proud of those accomplishments too and not only for having an heir." His Royal Highness The Crown Prince Edward of Jutland, relating how proud he is of his wife and her work within the royal family, excerpted from the 'lilprins' documentary.
2004 was the year of the wedding. 2005 was the year of getting used to the royal life. 2006 was the year of the heir. What could 2007 hold for the couple that could possibly top this year?