THE A-Z OF ROYAL BIRTHS

Eltham Palace in Kent

A... is for AUDIENCE

Queens of the past gave birth in front of dozens of people, including royal officials and servants to ensure that there was no scandal around the delivery. In 1778, Marie Antoinette did so in front of an audience of up to 200. According to her chambermaid: “When the obstetrician said aloud, ‘he Queen is going to give birth!’ the persons who poured into the chamber were so numerous that the rush nearly killed the Queen’.” Two chimney sweeps, the chamber-maid adds, “climbed upon the furniture for a better sight”

B... is for BIRTH TRAY

In 14th-century Italy, to celebrate a successful birth, new mothers were often given elaborately painted ‘birth trays’ (desco da parto), decorated with religious, mythological or literary themes. After giving birth, the exhausted mother would be presented with the tray, which was covered with a protective cloth and laden with nourishing food and sometimes small gifts. The trays – many of which were specially commissioned – could then be hung on the wall as a piece of treasured art and in celebration of a healthy birth. Florentine ruler Lorenzo de Medici kept his, illustrated with the ‘Triumph of Fame’, in his private quarters until his death.

C... is for CRAVINGS

Expectant mothers are known for their strange food cravings, but for a royal mum-to-be, the world was your oyster when it came to obtaining your heart – or stomach’s – desire. Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s third wife, apparently developed a craving for quail meat whilst pregnant with the future Edward VI. Anxious to keep his expectant wife happy, a devoted Henry shipped the delicacy form Calais to fulfil her demands.

D... is for DAUGHTERS

When Anne Boleyn gave birth to the future Elizabeth I in 1533, Henry VIII was so convinced that the baby would be a boy that he organised a celebratory tournament and joust, and had a letter announcing the birth of a prince drawn up. When news broke that the baby was another girl, the celebrations were cancelled and ‘ss’ hastily added to the word ‘prince’.

E... is for ELTHAM PALACE

Between the 14th and 16th centuries, Eltham Palace in Kent was traditionally used to raise royal children, with Edward III and Henry VIII spending much of their childhoods and youths there. The palace became a favourite royal residence during this period, with Henry IV spending ten out of the 13 Christmases of his reign under its roof.

F... is for FORCEPS

The Chamberlen brothers, Peter the Elder and Peter the Younger, are credited with instigating forceps-assisted deliveries in the 16th century. But the instrument was initially kept secret, carried from birth to birth in a gilded chest and only used on blind-folded women. Forceps eventually became widespread but many midwives remained opposed to their use, including Sir Richard Croft, obstetrician to Princess Charlotte, daughter of George IV. In November 1817, Charlotte endured a 50-hour labour, giving birth to a stillborn son and losing her own life five and half hours later from postpartum haemorrhage and shock. Croft was widely criticised for not using forceps during the difficult delivery.

G... is for GIFTS

Today’s so-called ‘push presents’, which see fathers rewarding their partners with gifts after they have given birth, are actually not such a modern phenomenon. When Napoleon’s second wife Marie Louise gave birth to a son, the emperor allegedly presented her with a necklace embellished with dozens of diamonds. Edward IV, too, was reportedly delighted at the birth of his first child, despite it being a baby girl, and sent his wife Elizabeth Woodville a jewelled ornament.

H... is for HOLY GIRDLE

Giving birth was a dangerous undertaking during the medieval period, and the process was embedded in ritual as a way of protecting both mother and infant. Birth girdles bearing cha prayers were common cross all social levels, but only royal mothers could access the most holy of these - the girdle of the Virgin, held at St Peter’s Westminster, and the girdle of St Ailred at Rievaulx Abbey. In 1242, the Westminster girdle was sent to Henry III’s wife Eleanor in preparation for the birth of their daughter, Beatrice. Supposedly blessed by the Virgin Mary, the relic was thought to reduce pain in childbirth and strengthen contractions if needed.

I... is for ILLEGITIMACY

Throughout history, kings have produced illegitimate children: George III’s 15 children produced 56 illegitimate offspring between them. But being illegitimate did not always mean living in shame. Henry VIII was so enamouredwith his illegitimate son, born to his mistress Bessie Blount in 1519, that he named him Henry Fitzroy and made him Duke of Richmond and Somerset. Fitzroy was the only one of Henry’s llegitimate children that he ever formally acknowledged.

J... is for JAMES EDWARD FRANCIS STUART

One bizarre royal birth story is that of James Edward Francis Stuart, son of James II and VII and his second wife, the Italian Catholic princess Mary Beatrice of Modena. Many hoped the crown would pass to James’s existing Protestant daughter, Mary, born of his first marriage, but in 1688 Mary Beatrice crushed these hopes when she gave birth to a healthy Catholic son. Terrified that the new arrival would mean the imposition of Catholicism on England and Scotland, the King’s enemies set about spreading a rumour that the prince had been stillborn and replaced with a newborn from another mother – slipped into Mary Beatrice’s bed in a warming pan.

K... is for ‘KEEP OUT’

For centuries, delivery rooms were female only areas, and even in the 19th and early 20th centuries it was unusual for fathers to be present for the birth of their children. Prince Albert, consort to Queen Victoria, was an exception – he is said to have been present when several of his children came into the world. “There could be no kinder, wiser, nor more judicious nurse,” Victoria later wrote of her husband.

L… is for LYING IN

Royal and noble women in the medieval period would close themselves off from the world for a period of time before giving birth – a process known as ‘lying in’. he birthing chamber was created as a type of ‘second womb’, designed to give the newbaby as peaceful an entry to the world as possible. Fires were lit, windows were shut up and covered with calming tapestries - regardless of the weather - and religious items were scattered around to give spiritual reassurance. Light was believed to harm an expectant mother’s eyes, so the room was dim and quiet.here she would stay until the baby was born.

M… is for MALE MIDWIVES

Before the 18th century, childbirth was an all-female affair, but the 1700s saw an obstetric revolution and the emergence of man midwives, fashionably known as accoucheurs. Men charged a higher fee than women, so to have a man present at the birth was indicative of a family’s wealth, while developments in medical technology were also widely considered to be ‘men’s business’. By 1764, the royal family had allowedmen into the birth chamber, with William Hunter appointed royal obstetrician to Queen Charlotte.

N... is for NAMES

Choosing a baby’s name is never easy, but choosing the name of a royal baby is fraught with potential pitfalls. Tradition has seen the re-use of many royal names - Elizabeth, George, Henry – but some names are avoided for luck or poor comparisons. he legacy of ‘Bad’ King John s hard to escape of the monarchy in the 17th century makes Oliver an unlikely choice for a future royal heir.

O... is for ON THE RUN

In 1737, Princess Augusta Frederica (daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg) was very nearly born in a carriage. Frederick had forced his wife to travel from Hampton Court Palace to St James’s Palace whilst in labour in a bid to prevent his parents, George II and Queen Caroline, from attending the birth.The royal household at St James’s was completely unprepared for their arrival and Augusta was forced to give birth on a tablecloth, since no sheets could be found.

P... is for PAIN

According to Christian tradition, pain during childbirth was a punishment from God for Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden, but by the mid-19th century attitudes had anged and labour pain was not considered something that had to be endured. In 1847, chloroform was found to be a particularly effective anaesthetic: six years later, Queen Victoria used during the birth of her eighth hild, Prince Leopold. “that blessed chloroform,” she wrote later. “the effect was soothing, quieting and delightful beyond measure…”

Q… is for QUEEN

The English (and later, British) monarchy has seen just six ‘official’ queens regnant in its long history. Male-preference primogeniture, which sees a woman accede the throne only if she has no living brothers or surviving legitimate descendants of deceased brothers, was practised in England from the Norman Conquest in 1066 until 2013, when the Succession to the Crown Act was passed. Now, royal sons no longer take precedence over their female siblings.

R… is for REGENT

Occasionally, royal babies were crowned before they could even walk. Shang of Han became emperor of China when he was barely 100 days old, while Mary, Queen of Scots, became queen at just six days old. In such cases a regent ruled until the tiny monarch came of age. Some regents, however, were reluctant to relinquish power when the handover came. Hatshepsut, fifth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, acted as regent for her infant stepson Thutmose III after her husband’s death in c.1479 BC. But by the time Thutmose was seven, Hatshepsut had been crowned and went on to co-rule Egypt with her stepson.

S… is for SHAPUR II

The only person believed to have been crowned before birth is Shapur II, the tenth Shahanshah of the Sasanian Empire. It is said that, after the death of his elder brother Adur Narseh in 309 AD, the crown was placed on the stomach of their father’s pregnant widow, so that Shapur II would be born a king.

T… is for TWINS

If twin heirs were born, the same rules of primogeniture would apply to themas to an older and younger sibling. Even if older only by minutes, the elder twin would inherit the throne.his has yet to happen in England, but Scotland has seen royal twins: James II of Scotland (born 1430) had an older twin brother, Alexander, who died before his first birthday.

U… is for URINE

Determining a pregnancy was difficult before the advent of accurate testing, and some women didn’t know they were expecting until they first felt the baby move - a ‘quickening’. In Tudor times, urine that was coloured between pale yellow and white, with a cloudy surface, was thought to possibly indicate pregnancy. Other tests involved leaving a needle in a woman’s urine to see if it rusted, or observing what happened if you mixed wine with urine.

V… is for VICTORIA

Few monarchs were as vocal of their dislike of babies as Queen Victoria. Despite producing nine healthy children, Victoria hated pregnancy, and newborns, stating: “An ugly baby is a very nasty object. The prettiest are frightful when undressed … as long as they have their big body and little limbs and that terrible frog-like action.” Although she reportedly enjoyed an active sex life with Albert, Victoria regarded children as an unwelcome byproduct - the “shadow side” of marriage.

W… is for WET NURSE

Typically, royal mothers did not breastfeed their children, instead hiring a wet nurse to feed their offspring. Breastfeeding was generally viewed with distaste, but on a practical level, it acted as a form of contraception – for a queen, whose job it was to provide more theirs, breastfeeding simply wasn’t a practical option if she wished to conceive again quickly. It was also believed that breast milk would curdle if marital relations were resumed before weaning, and that colostrum was harmful to a child. Wet nurses often developed close relationships with their charges, particularly as children were generally breastfed for longer than they are today – boys often up to the age of two. Breastfeeding a royal baby could be a lucrative business. Henry VIII’s wet nurse, Anne Oxenbridge, received £10 a year for her duties,more than £5,000 in today’s money.he Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun loved his wet nurse, Maia, somuch that he built an elaborate tomb after her death.

X… is for XI DYNASTY

Some royal births are not only shrouded in mystery, but are even mythical. The birth of Yu the Great, founder of the XI Dynasty, in c.2200 BC is one of China’s most famous legends. One version tells of a man named Gun, who stole a piece of magic soil from heaven to dam a great deluge of water. Apparently angered by the theft, the Lord on High – Shangdi – ordered Gun’s execution.Three years later, Gun’s body was slit open and a son brought forth - that son, legend has it, was Yu the Great. Yu went on to introduce flood control in China as well as inaugurate dynastic rule in the country.

Y… is for YORK

When the houses of York and Lancaster were joined through the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in 1486, founding a strong Tudor dynasty was of paramount importance. And no one was more convinced of this than Henry’s mother, the formidable Margaret Beaufort. When Margaret heard the news that Elizabeth was expecting her first child, she produced a set of royal ordinances laying down precise and detailed rules for the royal birth. Almost every detail was set out in writing – from decoration of the birthing chamber and the colour and fabric of its cushions, to the furnishings of the royal nursery!

Z… is for ZZZ

It goes without saying that royal parents weren’t expected to tend to their children at night, and the royal nursery boasted a host of servants tasked with seeing to the needs of their young charges. Safely tucked in one of his two cradles - one of which was covered with crimson cloth of gold - the baby Henry VIII was rocked to sleep by two official ‘rockers of the royal cradle’.he women, Frideswide Puttenham and Margaret Draughton, were paid salaries of £3, 8s and 8d a year each for sending the young prince off to the land of nod.

By Lottie Goldfinch in "History Revealed", UK, April 2018, excerpts pp.46-49. Digitized, adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.