凱特有喜 能否留住蘇格蘭芳心？

Kate and William met at a Scottish university, visited Scotland in May and have their own Scottish titles. Could a royal baby save the union?

Forget tea time, beefeaters or those derelict red phone boxes – nothing makes you feel more proud to be British that the world’s most photogenic royal couple announcing that they’re expecting a second child.

And with ten days until Scotland votes on whether to remain part of the - proudly royal - British union, could the excitement over the news that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are expecting their second baby help keep England and Scotland together?

After all, the story of the Kate and William begins in Scotland, where the couple met in 2001 while studying at the University of St Andrews. The royal romance gave the small university global recognition and Students would be bereft to see their mascots become foreign citizens should the Yes vote carry the day.

“We go crazy for anything royal, so this baby will be another member of the St Andrews’ family as far as we’re concerned,” says Dani Goldberg, a fourth year marine biology student at the university. When Prince George was born, she says those on campus chatted excitedly about the “St Andrews’ baby” and the buzz was “huge”. “I was in the library and everyone looked up from their laptops, screamed and started clapping,” she adds.

The Scottish campus is fiercely proud of their links to the couple. Students try to recreate the first dates of Kate and Wills, a cappella groups sing spoofs of how they met and photos of the couple are framed in café. Dani says that members of the single-sex social clubs that boasted Kate and William as members – the Lumsden Club and the Kate Kennedy Club – model themselves as junior versions of the couple, while the flat where Prince William lived is subject to intense scrutiny and rumours about undercover agents.

“When you tell people you go to St Andrews, their first question is, 'Have you met your Prince or Princess?’,” she says. “St Andrews is very small and Kate and Wills are the biggest claim to fame we have.”

Dani says that students get caught up in royal enthusiasm regardless of their political leanings, and excitement over the future royal baby could remind Scots of their love for the royal family and, by extension, Great Britain.

“A lot of Scots who are going for independence haven’t done that much research and they’re just voting as an angry reaction to England,” she says. ”The 'Yes’ campaign is taking advantage of that simple enthusiasm for independence. This equally emotive news of a new royal baby could be a winning force.”

The couple’s Scottish links have not faded post university. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge hold separate titles in Scotland, where they’re known as the Earl & Countess of Strathearn – the title used by First Minister Alex Salmond when he congratulated the couple on news of the pregnancy.

In May, the royal couple were greeted by cheering crowds in Perthshire when they toured the sites of their honorary title, Strathearn. Kate and William visited the Famous Grouse whisky distillery at the time – where the Duchess of Cambridge put earlier pregnancy rumours to rest by sipping samples of Scottish whisky.

“There’s a lot of pride in the area to be associated with Kate and William,” says Stuart Cassells, general manager of the distillery. “They’re thoroughly respected worldwide, they’re the world’s most famous couple and they’ve energised and modernised the royal family. We found out that Prince William is very fond of whisky and we were delighted that Kate also enjoyed a few,” he says.

Prince William has spent considerable time in Scotland since he was a child as Balmoral Castle, in Aberdeenshire, is the royal family’s most private residence. It’s unlikely the royal family would want to let go of their Scottish heritage – or that Scotland would want to give up on the royal family.

Alex Johnstone, Member of Scottish Parliament for North East Scotland, says news of the royal baby will cause a great deal of excitement in the country. “Loyalty to the royal family is very high and people are very supportive on a personal and individual basis,” he says. “Everyone will be absolutely delighted to hear the news and wish them all the best with the pregnancy and birth of their second child.” Johnstone says that Scots are very supportive of the royal family and that news of a new member will “reinforce what I believe will be a resounding 'no’ vote”.

After all, the annoucement is a timely reminder of some of the most romantic and best-loved traditions that come with being British. With referendum polls wavering as polling day draws near, could the new Cambridge baby actually save the Union?忘了下午茶時光、倫敦塔護衛隊或是荒廢的紅色電話亭吧，沒有什麼能比聽到世界上最上鏡的王室夫婦宣佈將迎來第二胎更讓英國人自豪的了。

據英國《每日電訊報》當地時間9月8日報道，凱特王妃再次懷孕的消息引起了人們對於王室新成員能否保住大不列顛的猜測。凱特王妃和威廉王子在一所蘇格蘭大學相識。5月，他們訪問了蘇格蘭，還有自己的蘇格蘭爵位。

十天之內，蘇格蘭就要進行公投決定是否從英國分離出來，人們對於劍橋公爵和夫人將迎來第二個孩子的興奮之情是否能讓英格蘭和蘇格蘭繼續“廝守”？畢竟，凱特和威廉的故事是從蘇格蘭開始的，2011年他們在聖安德魯斯大學學習時邂逅。這段王室戀情給聖安德魯斯大學帶來了國際知名度，看到他們的偶像即將成爲外國人，同學們將黯然神傷，投給支持蘇格蘭從英國分離出來的人還會堅持嗎？

聖安德魯斯大學海洋生物學大四的學生丹妮•格德堡（Dani Goldberg）說：“我們爲王室的一切事物而瘋狂，所以至少在我們看來喬治王子是聖安德魯斯大學的一員，當喬治王子出生的時候，大家都熱烈地討論着這個‘聖安德魯斯大學的孩子’。 討論是相當的‘熱烈’。我當時在圖書館，聽到這個消息的時候每個人都擡起了頭，我們又是尖叫，又是鼓掌。”

聖安德魯斯大學對與凱特和威廉夫婦的聯繫極度自豪。學生們試圖重現凱特和威廉的前幾次約會，一個合唱團還唱些惡作劇形式的歌編造他們是如何相遇的，咖啡店還有他們的照片。丹妮說，單身俱樂部的成員都吹噓說凱特和威廉是俱樂部成員。他們還把自己看作是兩人的低級版本。 威廉王子住過的公寓也成爲了密探監察和流言的對象。

“當你對人說你是聖安德魯斯大學的學生時，他們問的第一個問題就是‘你見過王子和王妃嗎？’聖安德魯斯很小，凱特和威廉是我們學校最出名的人。”丹妮說，不管學生的政治傾向是什麼，所有人都對王室家族充滿熱情。而即將出生的王室嬰兒是否能讓蘇格蘭人想起他們對王室家族的熱愛，或是對整個大不列顛的熱愛呢？

“很多想要獨立的蘇格蘭人並沒有做過足夠調查，對英格蘭的憤怒促使他們進行公投，蘇格蘭獨立陣營利用了人們對獨立的一腔熱血。即將誕生的王室嬰兒可能會成爲反對蘇格蘭獨立的力量。”

凱特和威廉夫婦與蘇格蘭的聯繫並沒有因爲畢業而減少，劍橋公爵和公爵夫人還獲得了斯特拉森伯爵的頭銜，這是蘇格蘭首席大臣薩爾蒙德恭喜凱特懷孕的時候給他們的稱號。5月，當凱特和威廉夫婦以斯特拉森伯爵的頭銜在佩思郡參觀的時候，歡呼的人羣給予他們祝福。他們去參觀一個威雀蘇格蘭威士忌時，劍橋公爵夫人品嚐了蘇格蘭威士忌，並平息了她已懷孕的流言。

酒廠總經理斯圖爾特•卡塞爾（Stuart Cassells）說：“在蘇格蘭有很多值得驕傲的地方都與凱特和威廉有聯繫，他們在全世界都受尊重，他們是世界上最出名的夫婦，他們使王室家庭充滿活力和現代氣息，我們發現威廉王子非常喜歡威士忌，凱特王妃也喜歡喝一點。”

威廉王子小的時候在蘇格蘭阿伯丁郡（Aberdeenshire）的巴爾莫勒爾堡（Balmoral Castle）度過了很多時光。王室不會願意放棄他們在蘇格蘭的遺產，蘇格蘭也不想放棄他們的王室家庭。

蘇格蘭東北議會的成員亞歷克斯•約翰斯通說，凱特王妃再次懷孕的消息會使得蘇格蘭非常的興奮，“對王室忠誠會得到很高的讚譽，基於個人的基礎上都會非常支持的，每個人聽到這個消息都會非常的高興也會給他們最好的祝福。”約翰斯通說蘇格蘭人對王室將要添新成員的消息是和支持的，這個消息對“公投來說是一個響亮的‘不’字”。

畢竟，這則消息適時地提醒了人們，作爲英國人所能擁有的最浪漫和最受歡迎的傳統。公投的日子一天天近了，這個尚未誕生的王室寶寶真的能挽救大不列顛嗎？