Why the fuss?

And so it begins.
With abrupt word this week that the Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant, the media circus is well underway—and sure to get much worse over the next seven months.
Of course, speculation is rampant whether she’ll give birth to a boy or girl. And bookies already are taking wagers on potential names, with Elizabeth the early favourite over Diana if it’s a girl and John and Charles tops so far if it’s a boy.
No doubt tabloid headlines in the weeks to come will include “Kate having triplets,” “William to demand DNA test,” and “Royal heir is alien implant.”
The Royal Family always has been in the media glare, whether “good news” stories like weddings, births, and the Queen’s recent Diamond Jubilee celebrations or sordid details of infidelities, divorces, topless sunbathing, and playing pool buck naked.
And now with a child yet to be born suddenly world famous, clearly that won’t change anytime soon as the masses clamour for every little peek behind the scenes at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle­—even with the tragedy of Diana, our former “future Queen” hounded to death by the paparazzi in a Paris tunnel, still relatively fresh in our minds.
Why all the fuss? True, the child someday may be the King or Queen of Canada. As well, the unexpected pregnancy has added urgency to the debate over whether the rules of succession should be changed to ensure the first-born of William and Kate is next in line to the throne regardless of its gender.
Beyond that, though, surely there are far more important matters requiring our attention.
Alas, society’s morbid fascination with all things celebrity always seems to trump those issues.