Royal baby: Surprisingly sexist merriment

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The newborn Prince of Cambridge leaves St Mary’s Hospital with his parents the Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. (John Stillwell / AFP/Getty Images)

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The newborn Prince of Cambridge leaves St Mary’s Hospital with his parents the Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. (John Stillwell / AFP/Getty Images)

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Britain’s Prince William and wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, hold the Prince of Cambridge outside of St. Mary’s Hospital in London where the duchess gave birth Monday. The royal couple are expected to head to Kensington Palace with their son, the third in line to the British throne. (BEN STANSALL / AFP/Getty Images)

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Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, holds the Prince of Cambridge outside of St. Mary’s Hospital in London where she gave birth Monday. (Andy Rain / EPA)

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Britain’s Prince William and wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, hold the Prince of Cambridge outside of St. Mary’s Hospital in London where the duchess gave birth Monday. (Lefteris Pitarakis / Associated Press)

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Britain’s Prince William and wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, hold the Prince of Cambridge outside of St. Mary’s Hospital in London where the duchess gave birth Monday. (Scott Heavey / Getty Images)

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Prince William and Kate show their newborn boy to the world’s media, leaving the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital in London. (Leon Neal / AFP/Getty Images)

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Britain’s Prince William and wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, leave St. Mary’s Hospital in London with their son, the Prince of Cambridge. (Oli Scarff / Getty Images)

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Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge’s new-born baby boy, the Prince of Cambridge, is introduced to the world’s media outside the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in London on July 23, 2013. (Carl Court / AFP/Getty Images)

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The Prince of Cambridge is seated in his fride from St. Mary’s Hospital in London wherehewas born Monday. (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)

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Britain’s Prince William and wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, leave the hospital with their newborn son, the Prince of Cambridge. (Andrew Cowie / AFP/Getty Images)

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Britain’s Prince William and wife Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, leave the hospital with their newborn son, the Prince of Cambridge. (Chris Jackson / Getty Images)

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Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, arrive at St. Mary’s Hospital in London to visit their new baby grandson. Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate on Tuesday thanked staff at the hospital where their baby son was born, as the world waited for a name and, hopefully, a glimpse of the future king. (Ben Stansall / AFP/Getty Images)

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Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall arrive at The Lindo Wing to visit The Duke and Duchess Of Cambridge and their newborn son at St. Mary’s Hospital in London. (Chris Jackson / Getty Images)

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A police officer tries to control people trying to take pictures of a notice proclaiming the birth of a baby boy to Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace in London. (Sang Tan / Associated Press)

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People look through the railing of Buckingham Palace in London at a public notice proclaiming the birth of a baby boy to Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge. (Sang Tan / Associated Press)

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Carole and Michael Middleton, right, parents of the new mother, arrive at at St. Mary’s Hospital to visit the royal couple and their grandson. (Andy Rain / EPA)

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The Changing of the Guard continues as scheduled outside Buckingham Palace. International messages of congratulations poured in for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge following the birth of the third in line to the throne. (Will Oliver / AFP/Getty Images)

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Well-wishers wave flags outside the hospital after the birth of the royal baby. (Andy Rain / EPA)

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The Tower Bridge serves as a backdrop as a 62-gun salute is unleashed from the Tower of London in honor of the arrival of the new prince -- 21 because it is a royal birth, 20 because the tower is a royal palace and 21 for the city of London, according to the BBC. (Justin Tallis / AFP/Getty Images)

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Royalist Terry Hutt reads a newspaper reporting of the birth of the newest member of Britain’s royal family outside St. Mary’s Hospital. (Justin Tallis / AFP / Getty Images)

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Self-proclaimed town crier Tony Appleton announces the birth of a baby boy to Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, on Monday outside St. Mary’s Hospital in London. Catherine, 31, gave birth to their first child at the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital. Meanwhile, hundreds of royal baby-watchers, journalists and photographers waited outside in anticipation of the royal birth. (Andy Rain / EPA)

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The head of news at the royal household, Ed Perkins, leaves the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital with the medical bulletin about the birth of the royal baby in west London. Prince William’s wife, Kate, gave birth Monday to a baby boy who is in line to inherit the British throne, Kensington Palace said in a statement. (Andrew Cowie / AFP/Getty Images)

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Members of the world’s media gather outside the Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital in London as the Duchess of Cambridge goes into labor. (Chris Jackson / Getty Images)

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A pregnant Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge meets children during an April visit to Naomi House hospice in Sutton Scotney, Winchester. (David Parker / AFP/Getty Images)

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A bookmaker’s board shows the odds for royal baby gender and names outside St. Mary’s hospital in London. (Rick Findler / EPA)

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Crowds of tourists gather on the steps of the Queen Victoria Memorial Statue outside Buckingham Palace in central London. (Justin Tallis / AFP/Getty Images)

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Members of the public gather outside St. Mary’s Hospital as the Duchess of Cambridge goes into labor. (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)

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The media set up outside the hospital anticipating the birth. (Chris Jackson / Getty Images)

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Terry Hutt shows his British pride outside the hospital. (Andrew Cowie / AFP/Getty Images)

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Reporters and photographers gather outside St. Mary’s Hospital. (Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images)

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A sea of cameras is aimed at the hospital. (Lefteris Pitarakis / Associated Press)

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Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, attending the National Review of Queen’s Scouts at Windsor Castle in April. (Olivia Harris / AFP/Getty Images)

By Alexandra Le Tellier

July 23, 2013 2:18 PM PT

The royal baby made his debut appearance Tuesday, with Will and Kate taking turns posing with their little prince, the future king. It was a sweet and surprisingly down-to-earth moment. But still, even as I found myself unexpectedly cooing at my screen, I couldn’t quite quell a bit of disappointment. I had been hoping for a girl, a future queen.

When news broke Monday that Kate had given birth to a boy, CNN correspondent Victoria Arbiter couldn’t contain her excitement.

Finally, after all this waiting, we know that we have a boy. My first thought, I have to say, was, ‘This is how brilliant a royal Kate is.’ There are women throughout British royal family history who have panicked over not being able to deliver a boy, and here we are. Kate did it — first time.

FULL COVERAGE: Royal baby born

To which Jezebel’s Madeleine Davies lamented: “She’s not so much congratulating Kate Middleton for giving birth to a healthy baby. She’s congratulating her for giving birth to a healthy baby boy.”

Media maven Tina Brown also weighed in, tweeting that “#Kate can do no wrong!” She later elaborated on her quick commentary on “Morning Joe” (via Jezebel), saying essentially that Kate must be a delight to the royal family because she is “impeccable” and “once again, she [has done] the perfect thing.”

So, in other words, if Kate had given birth to a baby girl, it would have been disappointing and would have have made here less “brilliant,” less “perfect.” Ugh.

VIDEO: Hail the Prince of Cambridge!

You’d hope that women with a platform wouldn’t veer into sexist commentary, especially given the historical context of this birth in particular. The new rule, as of October 2011, was that the first baby Cambridge would become the future monarch regardless of gender. A royal baby girl would have been monumental.

As Patt Morrison wrote last week: “This is a bigger deal than you think. For nearly 1,000 years, the dumbest, least able royal boy was regarded as better monarch material than the smartest royal girl. A princess only got to become the sovereign if all her brothers died or were killed. Nice, eh?”

Morrison also imagined a few scenarios of how things might have turned out had men not been left in charge. For example:

The girls-rule rule could have changed Britain more recently too. The first of Queen Victoria’s nine children was a daughter, also Victoria. The studious, serious little Vicky, not her charming, libertine little brother Edward, would have inherited the throne.

That means Vicky probably would not have married the crown prince of Prussia, nor given birth to the horrid little boy who became Kaiser Wilhelm II, whose posturing and saber-rattling put the fuse to World War I. Is it too fanciful to imagine that, without the ridiculous, dangerous Kaiser Bill, there might have been no World War I, no burdensome postwar reparations yoked onto Germany, no sullen, opportunistic, anti-Semitic corporal named Adolf Hitler, no World War II, no Holocaust …

Obviously, news of Will and Kate’s healthy baby boy is wonderful for the family (and for Britain’s economy too!). It’s just a shame that relief over the baby’s gender has been part of the merriment.

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Follow Alexandra Le Tellier on Twitter @alexletellier