Royal Baby Name Guesses

Royal baby name odds, from William Hill, updated 29/04/19

Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2019/04/29/royal-baby-name-odds-title-meghan-markle-prince-harry/

Girls
1. Diana 4/1
2. Victoria 7/1
3. Alice 12/1
4. Grace 12/1
5. Isabella / Isobella 12/1
6. Elizabeth 14/1
7. Alexandra 20/1
8. Harriett 20/1
9. Rose 20/1
10. April 25/1

Boys
1. Arthur 16/1
2. James 16/1
3. Edward 25/1
4. Albert 33/1
5. Alexander 33/1
6. Christopher 33/1
7. Daniel 33/1
8. Henry 33/1
9. Phillip 33/1
10. Joseph 40/1

My Opinions
For girls I'd like to throw Diana, Grace, Isabella, Harriett, Rose AND April out of consideration. IF a month name were to be used, May would be better as Harry's great great grandmother Mary of Teck was known as May, and we're nearly in May now. That leaves Victoria, Alice, Elizabeth and Alexandra from the top bets... Harriet was on my list of preferred names but not with two t's and because it was a great grandmother's name.
For the boys names I'll throw out Edward, Albert, Christopher, Daniel, Henry and Joseph. I think it very unlikely the baby will be named Henry as that's Harry's proper name and that is rather out of fashion of late. That leaves Arthur, James, Alexander and Phillip. Arthur Alexander was one of my top picks if I'd ever had a boy.
A good few people have suggested the idea of twins in which case using Elizabeth and Phillip would be rather nice but I don't think twins are especially likely as Meghan is allegedly planning a home birth and has apparently gone to full-term. Not that these things CAN'T happen but an older first time mum having Royal twins at home seems a stretch too far and an early labour is statistically more likely.
Obviously many other names have been suggested including a nod to Meghan's mother, Doria...I wonder if they might splice Doria and Diana like Renesmee in The Twilight Saga who was named after Bella's mum Renee and Edward's adoptive mum Esme. Daria? Dorana? Hmmm...
Unlisted names I think might make an appearance are Helena and Leopold.

My Prediction
Names in order of preference and using the Royal family's tendency to give four Christian names:
Girl: Helena Alice Doriana Victoria
Boy: Arthur Alexander Leopold James

Now just for time to tell.

EDIT - 03/05/19

Royal baby name odds, from William Hill, updated 03/05/19
Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/royal-family/2019/05/03/royal-baby-name-odds-meghan-markle-prince-harry-boy-girl/

Girls
1. Diana 4/1 (no change)
2. Allegra 8/1 (new)
3. Grace 8/1 (up from #4 at 12/1)
4. Alice 12/1 (down from #3, same odds)
5. Isabella / Isobella 12/1 (no change)
6. Victoria 14/1 (down from #2 at 7/1)
7. Elizabeth 20/1 (down from #6 at 14/1)
8. Alexandra 20/1 (down from #7, same odds)
9. April 25/1 (up from #10, same odds)
10. Catherine 25/1 (new)
Harriett and Rose have left the top 10 in exchange for Allegra (rather like it) and Catherine (good name but the same as Harry's sister in law? That'd be a tad odd...although it would put those stupid feud rumours to bed).
I've started thinking of Eleanor as a good, classic Royal name long overdue for a comeback. I am still VERY much of the opinion that if they don't use Doriana for a daughter they are very very wrong indeed. So my updated girls' name is now Eleanor Doriana Victoria - also shifting to the three christian names pattern adopted by William & Catherine.

Boys
1. Arthur 12/1 (up from 16/1)
2. James 16/1 (no change)
3. Albert 20/1 (up from #4 at 33/1)
4. Edward 33/1 (down from #3 at 25/1)
5. Alexander 33/1 (no change)
6. Christopher 33/1 (no change)
7. Daniel 33/1 (no change)
8. Henry 33/1 (no change)
9. Oliver 40/1 (new)
10. Phillip 40/1 (down from #9 at 33/1)
So only one new entry - Oliver has been a very popular name in the UK for a long time but it's association with Oliver Cromwell makes me point and laugh at the idea of it being used as a Royal baby name.
I'm still quite happy with my boys' name guess but if I was switching to a 3 name combo I'm not sure which I'd drop... Arthur Alexander Leopold, Arthur Leopold James? Hmmm, wonder if either of them are James Arthur fans?! Maybe Harry is more of an Ed Sheeran fan...remember the commemorative plate incident (source: https://planetradio.co.uk/heat/entertainment/celebrity/ed-sheeran-prince-harry-mistake-plate/)? Maybe for a 2nd guess I'll go Arthur Leopold Edward ;)

CONCLUSION
#BabySussex was a BOY - delivered safely on Monday 6th May 2019 at 05:26 BST and weighing 7lbs 3oz. It was announced on the 8th that Harry and Meghan are naming their son ARCHIE HARRISON MOUNTBATTEN-WINDSOR, he does not have a title at this time. Basically all the top guesses were wrong - from the expectation of a girl to the two or three expected middle names. No idea where Archie might've appeared in the betting, if indeed it was suggested at all. On the plus side maybe their naming a potential future daughter 'Doriana' isn't so unlikely after all!

Someone on Twitter disagreed with my bet on 'Arthur' (despite it being the top of the bookies shortlist by that time) "as Pippa just had a son she named Arthur" ...Pippa being Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge's sister Philippa Matthews nee Middleton. As such she is no relation to Harry & Meghan so her choice of baby name is fairly irrelevant.
If such a thing were a factor it obviously means very little to the Royals as evidenced by Prince Louis of Cambridge, William & Catherine's third child. Louis Arthur Charles was born a little over a year ago. Not only does he share a name with older brother Prince George (George Alexander Louis) and his father (William Arthur Philip Louis) but he also has a STEP COUSIN of the same name! Prince William and Prince Harry's stepbrother Tom Parker-Bowles has two children LOLA (b. 2007) and FREDDY (b. 2010) and their stepsister Laura Lopes has three children ELIZA (b. 2007) and twins GUS and LOUIS (b. 2009) - all these step cousins having been born since Prince Charles marriage to their grandmother Camilla in 2005.

I very much like the name 'Archie' but I'm not a huge fan of 'Harrison' because - and you can laugh at this - I don't like surnames used as Christian names. Yes, I know 'Heggie' is a surname and yes, I chose it myself. Surnames are good as gender neutral names though...
Speaking of this a good few people liked the name 'Spencer' - after Princess Diana's maiden name - for a child of either gender. Despite her enduring popularity I can't imagine it being used as a Royal baby forename, a middle name perhaps, but overall I would rather William and Harry looked to the future in their own families. Not only that but let's not lose sight of the fact that Catherine and Meghan both have their own families and connections - it is not only William and Harry who might want to commemorate loved ones in their naming of their children. 

Women In Music

In response to a video by Brian Blessed / LadBible / Smirnoff Vodka available from

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ladbible/status/1119261875550613504/video/1

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/BwcPvTtHfWu/ and Facebook.

*SIGH* Now I'm not saying there's no gender inequality behind the scenes of the music industry or that sex discrimination never happens... but lack of opportunity for female talent? REALLY??? Women can and do and have FOR GENERATIONS stamped their mark all over the music industry.

Simplifying music down to gender (or more specifically sex cos we're not even considering if any of these people identifies as agender, non binary, gender fluid etc) is pretty damn idiotic - festivals book acts based on bums on seats; compilation albums are linked to 'record' sales. Anyway, who buys music because of the gender of the artist, the gender of the songwriter, the gender of the producer??? Maybe men win more awards - but were they decided by gender?! It's also pretty dumb to imagine that because the split male and female sales or awards won isn't 50/50 there's inherent inequality as there are a whole bunch of factors at play...including the unpopular concept that not all female artists are any good! Maybe some women haven't received the support and promotion they feel they deserve from their agents / managers / record labels but is that gender discrimination or savvy business sense based on the sales of other comparable artists? If men are more successful so be it. Got a problem with it? Get out there and DO something to change things.

There are more male acts in the lists of best-selling music acts but does that mean inequality or does that reflect more on who is buying music? As children boys statistically get higher allowances than girls; young women go on to have less disposable income - now THERE is some serious inequality - although maybe people just LIKE songs by guys more. Thinking back through the music I've bought less than 5%, maybe not even 1%, was by female artists - not because the music isn't there but because I personally just don't like it overmuch, generally speaking.

There are loads of amazingly talented AND SUCCESSFUL women out there...and always have been, fighting against worse gender stereotypes and inequality than society is dealing with now - not to mention racism and other prejudices. I feel like claiming a lack of opportunity for women somehow diminishes the INCREDIBLE achievements of artists such as (in no particular order) -

• Sister Rosetta Tharp
• Barbra Streisand
• Ella Fitzgerald
• Lady Gaga
• Aretha Franklin
• Joan Jett
• Nicki Minaj
• Billie Holiday
• Celine Dion
• Beyonce
• Siouxsie Sioux
• Pink
• Tori Amos
• Mary J Blige
• Nina Simone
• Dolly Parton
• Asha Bhosle
• Adele
• Seiko Matsuda
• Rihanna
• Marie Fredriksson
• Madonna
• Tina Turner
• Taylor Swift
• Whitney Houston
• Cher

Where the hell would the music industry be without these incredible artists - representing different nationalities, ethnicities, music genres, and noted for a wide variety of achievements such as biggest selling / most recorded / award wining / voted most popular etc etc etc?! They are each an embodiment of what talented females can achieve if they get out there and make it happen. They weren't handed their successes on a plate but they clearly weren't blocked from making it to the top either. And these women are just the tip of a metaphorical musical iceberg - a huge number of women who've worked hard to achieve various degrees of success in their particular field.

As for behind-the-scenes... just take a glance down the list of songs written by Diane Warren - and the artists who recorded them. There are lots of female songwriters; lots of female record producers too - Cathy Dennis for example? Or Linda Perry who has founded two record labels? Sure, these are just a handful of names. Try looking on Wikipedia under 'women in music', 'female songwriters', 'women record producers'... go back further with 'female composers' and 'women hymnwriters' too. There are women in every branch of music, many of them immensely successful, many pioneering. Maybe there ought to be more, maybe we need to do more to support the ones we have but please don't say there aren't opportunities or imply insurmountable obstacles.

See also: "10 'lost' female musicians who deserve more recognition' (BBC 2018) https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/343718ed-4caf-44a2-8291-4aaa18d48c2c

One Year Later

I just want to start by saying: this is MY blog. MY views, MY life experiences. I am very well aware that the person suffering most these past 12 months has been my mum. I know this because I have been witnessing it from the front row and what she is going through is just about the only thing scarier than what I am currently living.
Given that she watched her dad robbed of everything by stroke for sixteen years before his eventual demise and now she's living the same fate I am definitely up close and personal with the fear that this is my future too.

This past year I have discovered the trickery of time. The first week my mum was in hospital was far longer than the 51 weeks since. The 9.5 weeks she was in hospital were certainly longer than the 9.5 months which have followed.
This past year I have discovered a capacity for being at the brink of a nervous breakdown without actually tipping over the edge that I had never imagined someone of my dubious mental health to be capable of.
This past year I have discovered that ice running through your veins is not metaphorical but an actual physical sensation which is all kinds of unpleasant.
This year I have done things I never thought I'd be capable of and kind of wish I wasn't.
This past year I have discovered that gin solves nothing but fuck anyone who tells me to give it up. Do I give a shit for the state of my liver? No I bloody well do not!
This year I have discovered my ability to self-pity has no limits...

Approaching 40, and being curiously potato-like in visage and physique, I knew my chances of meeting a willing victim finding a life-partner and getting married were slimmer than I'd ever be. But you can't blame a spud for hoping. Following my mum's stroke however one of the hardest things to accept was that not only would I not have the opportunity to meet anyone (given that I barely leave the house) and that I present the least attractive prospect I ever have (living in ratty trackies and being zero income) but also I am now far too damaged to ever secure a mate.

Not to say that being a carer is always damaging or to such an extent but my life has been a series of unfortunate events from conception to the fact I woke up this morning. Nor is it to say that I've had it worse than anyone else - I just haven't got enough normal(ish) life experience to be relatable to someone who isn't as f*ck*d up as I am...and let's not go there. Not even to say that before this I felt sure I was capable of having a healthy relationship - just that I am now certain I could not. There are some things you just don't come back from. I may never have seen people getting blown apart in a war zone or whatever but *gazes off into middle-distance* I have seen things, things that stay with you...
Love is an act of courage. I'm all out. Could I take another risk? Nope. I've had all the hurt I can take and then some. I feel like an anti-gravity game of Jenga; there is literally nothing holding me together anymore.

This past week we've had a major scare - my mum had a fall. No injuries except badly damaged confidence that we feared, for several days, would lead to her never leaving her room again. She was literally terrified to move in case she fell...despite the fact that the only reason she'd been on the floor in the first place was that she'd accidentally rolled off her bed! Fortunately, she is now recovering her both confidence and strength following several days total inactivity.
There have been many times this past year I never expected we'd reach this anniversary; 365 days ago I didn't even expect she'd last the night. I never expected to give up my hopes & dreams, my job, my personal freedoms...but that's what happened. You just have to do what is needed. She never expected to be here either... We got her home from hospital, everyone's had a birthday, Halloween, one more family Christmas, sitting out in the sun or watching snow fall...now we're just waiting on her 1st Easter here and the anniversary of her moving in. After that we move into realms of repetition. Whodathunkit?!

We have no expectations for the year ahead - it will be what it will be.

Footnote
It's not just the situation with my mum leaving me barely hanging on...life continues outside our little bubble.
But sometimes it doesn't. 
A relative has recently gone onto palliative care. Several friends of my mum and stepdad are facing serious health problems; my stepdad spent the first couple of months of 2019 in and out of hospital - he's signed a Power of Attorney document so I can be responsible for him too if need be (HELP!). A former co-worker recently died (50), as well as an internet friend I'd known for around a decade (34). 
I could really use some positive life events...