Fast on the heels of the announcement of Mini-Kate or Mini-Wills, will come the inevitable proliferation of royal baby shlock, from creepy dolls to serious potraiture. But the kitsch and celebration isn't without precedent: Here's some babymania from the past.
King Edward VI, as painted by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1539.
James II with his mother Henrietta Maria of France, as painted by Sir Anthony van Dyck in 1632.
Lithograph of Queen Victoria by Richard James Lane, 1841 (Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London).
A lithograph of Edward VII by Richard James Lane, 1842 (Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London).
Queen Victoria doll with child (Courtesy of WorthPoint).
George V with his mother Alexandra, Princess of Wales, in 1866.
Elizabeth II with her mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, in 1926.
Prince William, as commemorative doll, in 1982.
A year later, William got his own paper doll book.
This article has been corrected to reflect that Edward VI, not Edward VII, is the subject of the first portrait.