5 Fun Facts About Heirs and Spares

5 Fun Facts About Heirs and Spares

It's always good for a royal to have more than one child. If something goes wrong, you don't just have an heir to the throne, you also have a spare.

Prince Charles and Princess Diana had two kids, William and Harry. And now the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, have just had their second child, securing both the heir and the spare.

Generally the eldest survives and becomes King and the spare doesn't get used. However, there were times in history when the spare became the Monarch. Here are Five Monarchs who were not first born:

1. King Henry VIII, or as I like to call him on this blog, Henry-Of-The-Many-Numbers. He wasn't the first born of Henry VII, in fact he was third. His older brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales, should have succeeded to the throne when his father died. But Arthur died at the age of 15, passing the title of Prince of Wales and Heir-Apparent on to Henry, who became next in line to the throne even though he still had an older sister. Girls didn't take priority over boys back then. All is changed now, though. The eldest daughter of the Monarch can now inherit the throne, even if she has younger male siblings.

2. Elizabeth I was the spare, even if it wasn't the spare, or heir, that Henry VIII wanted. He wanted a boy, and had a policy of disposable wives in an attempt to find someone who would produce one for him. Or, at least one that survived long enough to take the throne. This happened with his son Edward VI, who did become king, even though he was the younger half-brother of Elizabeth. He died young, though. As no other sons of Henry existed, Elizabeth's older half-sister, Mary, became queen. And then Elizabeth herself later succeeded to the throne.

3. James II was the spare of Charles I, who had his head chopped off in 1649. James had an older brother, Charles II, who became king after the monarchy was restored in 1660. Charles had children who survived to adulthood, including one little bastard who tried to take the throne by force when his father died. However, illegitimate children don't become kings as a general rule and his rebellion failed. When Charles died, his younger brother, James, the spare, became King of England. His reign didn't last long, though.

4. Mary II was the second born of James II. Her older brother, Charles, Duke of Cambridge, died at 7 months old. She then became next in line to the throne, assuming her father didn't have anymore sons. And this is exactly what happened. He remarried and his wife gave birth to a son. Joy, the king has a son. Nope. He was to be raised a Catholic, and England couldn't cope with that back then. Not after all the trouble they had gone through with them over the previous hundred years. It was all the fault of Henry-Of-The-Many-Numbers. He started it. Anyways, back to James. He took a holiday to France, Parliament declared he had abdicated and invited Mary's husband, William of Orange, over to England with his army to claim the throne. The Glorious Revolution. Mary and William then ruled as joint King and Queen. The only time that has happened in English history. James II tried his utmost with various armies to try and reclaim the throne from his daughter and her husband, but failed every time.

5. King George VI, the current Queen's father, was born a spare. His elder brother, Edward, inherited the throne upon the death of their father, George V. But Edward decided to marry the American divorcee Wallis Simpson and abdicated. Not something that really happens with the British monarchy. The King doesn't tend to want to give it up. Instead it's prised from their cold, dead hands, a lot of times through murder, death, kills, before it'll be handed down to the next in line. So, when Edward VIII abdicated, his younger brother, George became king. Which is why Elizabeth II is our current Monarch.

5 Fun Facts About Royal Babies

5 Fun Facts About Royal Babies

1. There is a new royal birth today. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, William and Kate, gave birth to daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. She will automatically be titled "Princess", unlike her mother who isn't one, yet. The new baby will also be 4th in line to the throne. And, assuming the Queen, Prince Charles, Prince William, and Prince George all die, she'll become Queen. Even if William and Kate have another boy. The primogeniture laws were changed to allow the eldest daughter to inherit the throne if no older male heirs are alive.

2. Traditionally, the Home Secretary is required to attend the birth of a royal baby. It's to make sure there are no illegitimate babies smuggled into the room. However, the current Home Secretary, Theresa May, was not at the birth of Prince William and Kate's baby today, as the tradition was abandoned in 1948 when the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, was born, as it's neither a statutory requirement, or a constitutional necessity.

3. The Home Secretary does have more responsibilities, though, apart from watching the baby pop out of the mother. They are required to notify officials such as the Lord Mayor of London and the Governors of Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man. The Queen's Private Secretary then informs overseas Governor Generals. Traditionally, an announcement of the new royal birth will also be posted at the front gates of Buckingham Palace, and the birth will be celebrated by a 41-gun salute. Don't be surprised if you also hear some Town Criers bellowing out the news. It's more than likely it'll be all over Twitter, too.

4. When Henry VIII was a wee little nipper, he had two official cradle rockers, Frideswide Puttenham and Margaret Draughton. It was actually quite a prestigious job back in the day, much like the royal bottom wiper, and whipping boy. The two rockers were paid £3 a year to sooth the not-yet chubby king-to-be.

5. When Queen Victoria was pregnant with her first born, she survived an assignation attempt by Edward Oxford in June 1840. She actually survived seven attempts on her life during her reign. Victoria wasn't what you would call keen on babies. In fact she loathed them. She is known to have said that the first few years of her married life were "utterly spoilt" by her pregnancies and the babies, and that her body was invaded by a parasite before splitting her open like a spear from a Zulu warrior. She also had it in for her youngest son right from the start. He had an ugly little face when he was born, according to Victoria. The poor kid.
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