An outpouring of congratulations for the royal new born

Prince Harry explained that Meghan had given birth early yesterday and described it as the “most amazing experience I could ever have possibly imagined”.

The new-born prince is now the seventh in line to the throne, and an eight great-grandchild for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh, who are aged 93 and soon-to-be 98 respectively.

Among those offering congratulations to Harry and Meghan from around the world yesterday was the former US first lady Michelle Obama.

This is said to be the first Anglo American royal of such seniority.

The as-yet-unnamed baby boy has been born to a new generation of royalty, having a mother who was a successful actress in the glamorous world of showbiz.

It is remarkable to think that on these pages in recent weeks we have been serialising the Belfast News Letters of exactly 280 years previously, which are filled with news of the aftermath of a royal birth — that of Prince Edward to the then Prince and Princess of Wales, and grandson to the then king, George II.

In much the same way that this latest newborn royal of 2019 has close relatives who form part of an emerging generation in the House of Windsor, including Prince George and Prince Louis, the then Prince Edward in the House of Hanover had similar, including his brother, the infant Prince George, who was less than a year older.

The future is impossibly hard to predict and has always been so, but the duration of the British royal family is a surprise of the modern era, given that so many other royal families did not survive.

The warmth of reaction to yesterday’s happy news might be a sign that it will endure into the coming centuries too.