The Telegraph reports that the Duchess of York attended the world premiere of The Young Victoria last evening with her two daughters.
"It was the Duchess's idea to make a film about Queen Victoria's early years with Prince Albert. She is a co-producer of the film, which charts the young Victoria's ascension to the throne, focussing on her early turbulent years.
"Sarah was accompanied by her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.
"Beatrice makes a fleeting movie debut in a non-speaking role as a lady-in-waiting to the monarch, her great-great-great-great-grandmother. The carpet at the star-studded premiere in London's Leicester Square was a regal shade of purple.
"Wearing a purple Vivienne Westwood dress, the Duchess said of Beatrice: "I'm so proud. Every day, I'm proud.""
Queen Victoria was Britain's longest reigning monarch and headed a vast empire. It used to be said indeed that “The sun never sets on the British Empire”. I have seen many films and television programmes about Queen Victoria and the Victorian age and find there is a fascination about this queen and her times.
The old coins that carried the image of the lovely, slender, young Queen Victoria's head (known as 'bun pennies', because her hair was coiled up in a bun style) contrast markedly with the ones that were struck later in her reign, when she had become a very stout old lady. - Do you ever wonder, as I used to do, what exactly brought about so great a physical change? - The reason, I am sure, is repeated pregnancies.
Queen Victoria had nine children. Such large families were not uncommon in those days before birth control became possible. My own grandmother was the eleventh child of twelve, some of whom died in infancy - again, a common experience in those days.
Many women today find themselves, as Victoria did, heavier after giving birth than they were before becoming pregnant, and are distressed to find that further pregnancies leave them heavier still. - It used to be thought, and still is thought by some people, that the reason for this weight gain was that women 'ate for two' during pregnancy and continued to 'overeat' after the baby was born.
This rather widespread belief has, in modern times, led to pregnant women attempting to diet, i.e. eat fewer calories than their body requires, during their pregnancy and afterwards while they are nursing the baby. But women who eat too little during pregnancy increase the risk of their baby becoming obese: - Because excess weight gained in pregnancy is not caused by overeating. It is the result of altered hormone levels that make some pregnant mothers vulnerable to salt, so that salt intake tends to result in water/fluid retention, the actual cause of the weight gain.
So in my opinion the safe and effective way to prevent excessive weight gain during pregnancy is to avoid eating salt or salty food. This also reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure and pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes. And it is good for the baby-to-be that the pregnant mother avoids salt and salty food.
Margaret Wilde
www.wildeaboutsteroids.co.uk
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