The Press Box - Royal Baby Emergency Podcast | Jam Session

Episode Date: May 8, 2019

The royal baby is finally here! We talk about Harry’s announcement video (2:23), the name choice (4:56), and the family’s first formal appearance (12:11). Hosts: Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly, and welcome to the Ringer Podcast Network. The NBA playoffs are in full swing, and we have coverage across all of our channels to keep you up to speed as we make our way towards the finals. Make sure to check out the Ringer MBA show for daily coverage of the games from each series, and The Ringer.com to read Kevin O'Connor, Dan Devine, and the rest of our NBA experts break down every key matchup. And don't forget to tune in every Sunday evening to the Bill Simmons podcast to hear Bill and Ryan Rucillo's NBA reactions from the weekend.

As always, these can be found on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to an emergency jam session on the Ringer podcast network. I'm Juliet Lippman. I'm Amanda Dobbins. There's a royal baby and his name is Archie. It's finally here. We did it.

He's finally here. He seems cute. Didn't get a lot of Archie, but that's totally fine and appropriate considering it's his third day on Earth. Yeah, I'm going to say. Also, like, what are you going to do with like a... We have the Zoom function.

It's the same thing as if they'd put him directly in front of the camera like Lion King's style. You know, we've got to do. Got it. Yeah, totally. Archie Harrison, Mountbatten, Windsor. Doesn't have a title right now. And yeah, I mean, everything has been so staged and orchestrated, as is the Royals want.

And Harry has been so delightful and so sweet about being a new dad. And I thought Megan seemed very poised today. Mind, how are you feeling about everything? Yeah, so let's just start. So we were wrong. We thought that the baby had been born and they'd been hiding it for a while. I really did. And we thought that because they gave a lot of.

indication that Megan wouldn't be doing the, like, show up on the hospital three hours later, Kate Middleton thing, and that they wanted a more private situation. So, like, technically that's true, but you are correct. It's been like a very staged, managed, kind of formal rollout, which, you know, I don't know how else you would do it. It is a royal baby. And I suppose that offers them a layer of protection. We'll talk about the actual thing today, but it, I wouldn't want to be there either, but it definitely seemed like Megan didn't want to be there. I get it. No.

She didn't look comfortable. She was poised, but she didn't look comfortable. Yeah. But so let's start with the baby was born on Monday morning, UK time. Mm-hmm. And... Like five something I am. Yeah.

Apparently in a hospital. And Prince Harry gave an announcement in front of the barns at Windsor, like you do. And he was adorable. That was like a really... That was the peak moment of all this. It was a very winning appearance. Yeah, he just seemed delighted and giddy and just like super relaxed. And I feel like that's actually becoming his like default public demeanor is relaxed,

but it's still surprising from a royal. He's very comfortable also, which there's like relaxed and approachable and trying to be relatable. But he just also seems completely natural when he's talking about these sorts of things and not afraid to kind of be effusive. And the part where he's like, I can't even believe what women do, obviously, like, endeared himself to every single woman on the planet, even those of us who have not given birth. But just, like, extremely charming. And I feel like it's interesting because I think the royal family is trying to be more casual.

They're trying to remove some of the pop and circumstance from everyday appearances, because it's just like it's 2018. But he's one of the only ones who can really sell it. he doesn't seem stiff. Yeah, he just seems so comfortable being a celebrity. Yeah. And being famous. And I think it's because, like, kind of what pressure is on him anymore?

He's married, which people were probably always asking him about. He's a dad. He's not going to be king. It's just, like, things are good for him. Yeah. And I think, like, you know, he is personable and charming and always has been. And I think he is also, like, he seemed genuine. That's the other aspect of it, is that the royals always.

have a fake performative quality to everything that they do. And it was a very human moment. He was just like, holy shit, have you guys ever seen what giving birth looks like? I mean, he didn't say that, but like it was basically the royal version of that. It was very cute. It was like Harry doing a Jed Apatown movie. Yeah, just very, very genuine, which is rare. So that was great.

I feel like that bought them like five years of goodwill. They can do whatever because he was just so adorable. And it was also very clever because we waited. two full days to learn anything else about it. And everyone was just like calm and polite. Yeah, sure. All right. You guys take your time, which, by the way, is like normal and what any family should be able to do. But historically, the public tends to be a little bit more impatient, especially for royal news of this magnitude, if you will. Totally. Should we talk about the name? Name by name? Do you want to talk about the name or do you want to talk about the presentation today?

Let's talk about the name first. Okay. So Archie, not Archibald, just Archie. Uh-huh. Harrison, son of Harry, which is hilarious because Harry's real name is Henry. Yes. And Mount Batten Windsor. And Mountbatten Windsor is like the last name for the children of this line who aren't titled.

And I think it's really cute. It is really cute. I thought it was going to be John. I don't know why. I just thought it'd be a simple John. Yeah, I just, it's like a thousand, 100% approval rating. I haven't met anyone who isn't like, oh, that's adorable. You know, it's adorable.

You can also see him just being like, eventually I think when Charles becomes king, then all of his grandchildren immediately become titled. I think that's how the HRH works. It's designated to anyone who's like a grandchild of a monarch. So, but you can imagine him just like being Prince Archie and being. So cute. Adorable. And then in his like 20s, single phase running around town being like that Rapscallion and Prince Archie, it really does. Playboy Archie. Yeah, totally. It like it works. It's like both familiar and still kind of like old fashioned or it feels, you know, there aren't that many Archies that we know primarily because it's the name of a very famous comic book in the U.S. like from the 50s.

but it evokes something kind of unfamiliar while still being cute, if that makes sense. Yeah. I think I read somewhere that it's like the 18th most popular name in the UK or something. Like 18th, okay, not that popular. Is it really? That's what I read. That's still pretty popular. I mean, it's a smaller country, but still, that's like a lot of Archie's rolling around. Yeah, and that's like, that's like notable.

It's like a completely weird name or whatever. I think it's cute. I didn't realize that Archie already had cousins. who had the Mountbatten Windsor hyphenated name. Yeah, well, so they are the son and daughter of Prince Edward, who's the youngest of the queen's sons. And he doesn't really take up a lot of attention. He's kind of, he's like the forgotten royal.

That seems like a great way to be. You're just sort of like part of the royal family, but don't have any of the pressure. It's great stuff. Yeah. I think like when he was younger, he kind of got in more, like not in trouble. never, like, dressed as a Nazi or whatever in public, but what had kind of an awkward phase and didn't really handle the press very well. And, like, also had nothing to do because, like, no one cared about him because he was the, you know, third son. So I think they have, he got married and they have kind of receded into the, in the shadows strategically. But, yeah, so

their Mount Batten, Windsor, I think also when Princess Anne got married, she used Mount Batten Windsor on her certificate or something. Like they've been kind of using it since they decided to make that change. If you've seen season one of the crown, it's like a major plot point that the queen initially wouldn't use his name and he was really pissed off and decided to use that to justify cheating for a decade, which like don't do that. But apparently, like this changed sometime in the 70s, I think. And yeah, so they kind of use it, but he's certainly the most high profile one.

Yeah. I know, and I feel like this is a really big win for Prince Philip, which is probably what he's been waiting for this whole time. Yes. A famous kid with Mountbatten in there. Yeah, I guess it's true. I wonder whether he'll keep using it once he actually gets a title. Probably not. Probably not, yeah.

But, you know, let your light shine right now. I feel like Archie is more famous right now than he'll ever be in the rest of his life. Yeah, I guess so. I mean, it depends on how famous Harry and Megan continue to be. It seems like there's a ton of attention on them, and especially, you know, they're both press-friendly and make great newspaper headlines. So I think they'll continue to be in the public eye and then he will as well. Also, especially as Will becomes, like if Will becomes king, he's like, you know, they get closer to the throne. Right.

So can we talk about Prince George's nickname, though? Yes, let's. Please explain this situation. All right. So, I mean, great press coverage from the UK, really pulling out all the stops today. So soon after the name was announced, here's a headline from the sun, call me Archie. Oh, sorry, this is from a while ago, but people recirculated it. This is from January 2019.

It's important to establish a timeline here. The headline is, call me Archie. Prince George tells a surprised Dog Walker that he is actually called Archie, which great headline writing. Fantastic. But apparently someone ran into Prince George and his nanny walking in the country. No, with Carol Milton, his grandma. Oh, with Carol Milton. Oh, good call.

And the woman said, I was asked by a police minder not to take a photo of the children, which I didn't. But George started stroking my dog. Just to be friendly, I engaged in a bit of small talk, and I asked George what his name was, even though obviously I knew it. To my astonishment, he said, I'm called Archie with a bit of a bit of. big smile on his face. Incredible. I mean, that's great.

And it's very cute. And kids do that all the time. And I don't think this indicates that literally it's his nickname that he's called by everyone in the home is Archie. If it were, though, and then they named the kid Archie, that would be hilarious. It would be really weird. I agree. That's why I like, even given all the drama between these people in the last year, real or

fake, I think it would be totally sociopathic to name your kid the nickname. of your brother's kid. Totally. Because it's also for sort of like invalidating his nickname that way and like a mean way. So I think it's just kind of like George was having a face or, you know, read a comic or watched a show he liked or something. But can I just read you some of the other nickname? This Sun article just lists all the nicknames of the Royals.

Can I just read this one paragraph? Yeah, please do. Okay. This is about Prince George and his other nicknames. When she was pregnant, Kate and William referred to him as Our Little Grape. At school, he is known as PG, which is cute, Prince George. And his parents then started calling him PG Tips or just Tips after the T. This is absolutely, we have no verification on this.

None. It's totally made out, but that's pretty funny. That is funny. Also, PG Tips is like really having a moment. I keep seeing it all over New York. Someone recommended it to me recently. I haven't been brave enough yet, but. It's good.

It's black tea. Right. I just, it seems like I'm working up to that level of strength, you know, I started with horrible. I'm going. I'm going to get there. Anyway, we can move on except if the Sun article continues with the supposed nicknames of the whole royal family and it gets really weird and I recommend it. There are some good ones with Kate and Pipbo. They're called Pip Squeak for Pippa and Squeak for Kate just because they went together. Really good stuff, really good stuff. And so today we had the photo call that Harry alluded to on Monday. And he and Megan

did their photo call in like a great hall at Windsor Castle and it was supposed to be outside, but it was bad weather. So, again, they got pushed inside. And it was highly managed. And the biggest scandal coming out of it, or not scandal, but kind of like rumbling, is that there may have been an American film crew there in addition to like a few pool reporters from the UK. And that's like kind of a big deal.

Because they're just still playing to America as well as the UK. Yes. And also just sort of like indicates their own desire to really have it be like the show that they imagine, the show being their lives. Yeah. It's so weird that they decided to do this after not doing this. So I guess like I really thought they would just take a couple of photos and release them and put them on Instagram. I'm surprised that she decided to do a formal appearance. And she did not look super comfortable, which to be fair, she gave birth three days.

ago, less than three days ago. So who would be comfortable? I also thought that while the story behind the dress she wore was really meaningful and special, I thought it was just a dress that looked uncomfortable for having just given birth. Like it looked like she was wearing a trench coat without sleeves and that's like a really cool dress that I enjoy, but just didn't seem particularly comfortable for the moment. And she's also wearing four inch stiletto. Like who would be comfortable in that look? Right. So we should say that the dress was designed by Grace Wells Bonner, who's like a emerging, very big name in the fashion world, and she kind of engages with race and politics of race in her clothing. She's been known for that. So people are interpreting this as a statement from Megan, which is cool.

That's a cool conversation to be having. Totally agree. And Gracewell's Bonner's father is Jamaican, and her mother is English. So similar to, it's like similar to Megan and that she's biracial. Yes. So like I get it. I also simply understand that like the desire for structure in a interesting. time in your body's life. I can imagine how, like, I have not given birth, but can you imagine how disorienting it is to just have your body change so tremendously? And it, like, keeps changing and you don't know what to expect. So, you know, I understand, like, wanting to feel buttoned up.

And, like, the trench coat is, like, a form of protection, you know? I get it. Yeah. But at the same time, like, I'm sympathetic to, God, I would be so pissed if I had to do this. Yeah. I would be so pissed. Totally. But to your point, we don't know that they had to. Maybe they could have just released photos,

and they actually preferred to do it this way to protect their privacy or for whatever reason. Like, maybe this was, like, the better way to do it. We don't know. But it doesn't necessarily seem like they absolutely had to. But, again, that's just conjecture. I don't know. Yeah.

She also just looked tired. I mean, they said that he's, like, very calm, but they probably, they haven't slept since she went through, like, an extremely athletic event. So, Jesus, you know, it's really. we were talking about the Kieran Ely essay from a while ago, and we were making fun of it, but it was a very dramatic essay. But she makes a good point. This is a lot to put someone through after putting someone through a lot physically. Yeah, I totally agree. I hope Megan gets a nap.

That's where I am. Me too. And I hope she has good help. Then we also got a photo with Doria, her mother, and Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, all looking at the baby. And, And in a photo call, Harry's holding the baby the whole time. And then in this really beautiful, precious photo, Megan's holding the baby, which I think is interesting. Yeah, it looks nice. The queen looks genuinely happy. You've never really seen her smile like that. It's very, very sweet.

That Doria's there is really lovely. And they're all kind of clustered around the baby, which is very nice. Haven't seen Prince Philip in a while. There he is. You know. Well, he's retired from public life as we all now. Every single time they're at some event, and he's not there. I just think about how thrilled he must be just like, you know, at home doing whatever.

Actually, I shouldn't say that because he's just, he's still driving and he should not be driving. He got into like serious car accident. And that was like pretty serious. So anyway, he's clearly doing Prince Philip is doing Prince Philip for better and worse. Good for him. And the queen like went to an event today in Windsor, by the way. She's just like out and about. I just love the queen.

I'm going to be devastated when she dies. I was saying that we might have another decade. And her mother lived like 102, I think. That's true. I hope we do. I really do. She really just likes to keep on keeping on. That's sort of her motto.

It's pretty impressive. Yeah. I just really admire all the royal reporters who went into overtime today. I thought that this flood of news, it just seems like, you know, these days come along for some of the British reporters. And there's like a few that are so seminal. And there probably won't be another seminal day like this for a while. because the weddings and the births. And I just feel like I really appreciate all the Twitter journalism that was happening.

Some days I hate Twitter journalism, and today I was really thankful for it. Today I'm looking at Rebecca English's feed, who is the Royal Correspondent for the Daily Mail, which is a complicated situation, but she's very good at her job. And the last thing that she has is a retweet of a Twitter account called Camilla updates, which just like Twitter's incredible. It's incredible. That people are devoting their lives just like updates on Camilla. But so Camilla and Charles are traveling.

And it's a photo of like a longtime royal son photographer, Arthur Edwards, showing the pictures to Camilla on his phone, which is just, I mean, it's hilarious that these people are being like shown the press updates in real time by like photographers. It's a funny world that we live in. But then her response was like, I'm reading the quote, oh yes, I see it now. Thank you for showing it to me, not take it to the boss. which is really endearing. You understand why Camilla has like hung in there for so long. I'm a big Camilla fan.

I'm just super pro. That's great. She seems to just be hanging out and making the best of the situation. Yeah, I totally agree. I don't know. I'm just like happy for everyone. I think Harry's happiness just really set a nice tone for this whole affair. Do you want to talk about Prince William's message of congratulations?

The one from the sailing regards? Yeah, and specifically the sleep deprivation society that is parenting. Sure. I thought it was pretty funny. But again, it illustrates that he's just not at ease in front of the cameras in the way that Harry is. It was like, it's like a good line that he had obviously thought about and then delivered at the time. Which, what else are you supposed to do? It's really true.

He also, it wasn't that, it was funny, but it wasn't that warm, but I just feel like really speaks to the climate between them right now. Yeah, she basically did not speak. in those interviews. So that was an interesting choice. If I were their press advisor, I would have encouraged them to both find a way to speak. Just me. Just saying. Just one woman's opinion, Amanda Dobbins. Yeah. I just am excited to see how the Sussex life unfolds and there's just so much speculation. It's go time. They have a baby. I know. Here's my question. How much do you think we'll be able to see? Like when is the next that we'll hear from them? I think not that in frequently. Really?

I think the presence of the U.S. camera suggests that they'll continue to live a public life in a way that they manage themselves. Yeah, I think they will as well. But I was thinking, so Prince Louis, who is the youngest of Will and Kate's turned one recently. And they, you know, did the traditional release photographs. But, like, we literally had not seen him since. He doesn't go to any of the events. You didn't go to Reagan, Harry's wedding. And the press does respect, like, the no-kids rule.

for those younger kids, like you really don't hear from them unless the accounts or the parents actually release something official. So I'm curious. It does seem like there's slightly... I think Harry and Megan will choose to keep releasing stuff. Yeah, they do seem to be more Instagram friendly than Will and Kate. They just, you know, seem to live in this world instead of the world of the 60s or whatever. But I don't know. I wouldn't get our hopes up.

It may be that this was the event. and then, you know, you get photographs once or twice a year. It's true. I guess we'll have to find out. Also, like, will they be shipped off to Africa as some have speculated? Yeah, I have no idea what's going on there. They just renovated that house, you know? They put in a yoga studio.

You've got to stay and use it, you know? I definitely think Megan will get into the postnatal yoga as soon as possible. A true California girl she is. Let me tell you something. Her arms looked amazing in this. Like, you know, they were clearly very much on display. and I was like, why, you were doing yoga until, like, two days before you delivered. She definitely was.

Yeah, which, I mean, credit to her. That's great. Probably with her mom. I feel like the paparazzi photos of Doria in L.A. are always her, like, going to yoga. She's a yoga teacher, right? Yeah. Yeah.

So, anyway, I congratulate with them. I'm excited. It's a nice thing. They seem happy. Me too. Happy life, little baby, Archie. Welcome to the world. We'll be back next week.

Thanks for listening.