Royal Weddings, A Very Peculiar History by Fiona Macdonald

Author:Fiona Macdonald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gift, information, facts, trivia, quirky, stories, royalty, palace, marriage, middleton, kate, pippa, william, prince, princess, queen, ceremony, britain, england, dress
ISBN: 9781908759757
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2012
Published: 2012-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE: An heir and a spare

‘For if a man be careful to breed horses and dogs of good kinds, how much more careful should he be for the breed of his own loins…’

King James VI and I of Scotland and England, Basilikon Doron (book of advice for his son and heir), 1599

‘It’s an occupational hazard of being a wife.’

Princess Anne’s view of pregnancy; TV interview, 1981

Princess Anne was quite right. Until the very recent past, being married and having children were almost inevitably linked together. A family – especially a royal one – couldn’t be a family unless it had children. Without offspring to pass on the family genes – and name, rank, titles, property and power – a royal dynasty could no longer continue. It would become extinct – just a memory.

Apart from defending his realm, a king’s first royal duty was to sire an heir to rule after him. Producing live, healthy – and legitimate – children to inherit their father’s crown was even more important for queens. A royal woman who could not or would not have children was considered a failure – by the public and, often, by herself.

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