I've held off writing a review of A Royal Fairytale for several weeks now as it just seemed a bit wrong to write about this before the royal baby had safely arrived.
A Royal Fairytale is quite simply the story of Kate and William. A modern fairytale telling of how they met at university, how they fell in love, married and had a baby. The love story of a Prince and Princess and to Little Miss C that's exactly what the book was at first. To then go on and explain to her that the Prince and Princess were real did blow her mind slightly as to her stories are stories, not things that happen in real life.
She did watch the royal wedding, but at the time was too young to really understand what was going on. Now that she's a bit older, and has a younger brother of her own, she really did start to identify with the Prince and Princess having a baby of their own, and the concept that the baby would be a Prince or Princess themselves and one day be King or Queen.
The only problem then came when we got to the last page of the book (a picture of the happy couple their new baby) and she asked what the baby was called. This was in late June, so we explained that we didn't know as the baby hadn't been born yet. "Yes they have mummy, look at the picture. There's the baby." Hmmmm. Just in case the name question was too difficult, she then changed tack and asked if it was a baby boy or girl. She wasn't very impressed with our answer.
This brings me to my only problem with this book. The fact that it was brought out before Prince George was born. To me that just seemed like trying to cash in before the event. Whilst I love a bit of Royal memorabilia I just wish they'd waited a bit until the baby had safely arrived. It's a lovely book, and one which will teach children what will be the history of the man that will one day be their King. To me that gives it importance straight away.
It was something of a relief when the Royal baby was finally born and I could read the book and answer Little Miss C's questions fully. What did make me laugh though was when we explained that Kate and William had named their baby George, just like LMC's brother was called George. Her response? "So, just like Peppa Pig's brother then?" Oh dear! Are we set to have a whole generation of children who think that the future Monarch is named after a cartoon character?
Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of The Royal Fairytale in my goody bag from BritMums Live! I was not asked to write a review.
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