Now that the royal birth has taken place and all the official congratulations have been issued by dignitaries, politicians and the like, it is important for us to reflect on the significance of the event.

First, the royal birth shows that it is not a dry institution which lies at the heart of national life but a real family, with real people in it sharing all the human emotions, feelings and concerns of family life that every family in the country shares. That makes the royal family a key building block for a nation of families – and families of all shapes and sizes and many different patterns too. People and families adapt as life changes while institutions often do not. We would do well to remember we are a nation of different shapes of family units at a time when families are suffering from so many financial pressures. If we put family life at the heart of our policy making we would do a lot better as a nation. Too often politicians and bureaucrats forget this country is about people and not just about balance sheets.

Second, the royal birth represents continuity in national life. The present royal line traces its origins all the way back to the 1688 revolution settlement and the change of dynasty in 1714 when it was chosen to occupy the supreme position in the state to act as  a guarantee of our national freedoms and liberties. That is no small thing. We know who our next three sovereigns will be. The royal family sits above temporary political change, above all the grubby compromises of political life. It denies important constitutional powers to political figures which, given the standard of our national political leadership at present, is to be welcomed.

Third, the royal birth represents stability in national life which is so important in any country especially in an era of fast-moving change. The United Kingdom is built on incremental, gradual change and not on revolutionary change as is the case with so many other countries including our nearest neighbours like France. A line of Kings and Queens stretches back through the centuries linking this country to its origins and past.  If we do not understand that past, we will never be able to build a future – a future that everyone can live with.

So I wish the new Prince well, as I do his father and mother, his grandfather and, of course, his great-grandmother, our Queen. He is born into a tradition of royal service, a tradition which lies at the heart of  what our country is, a tradition which has served us well in the past and I believe will serve us well into the now distant future.

(Published in todays Belfast Newsletter)