Amid all the excitement about the eagerly awaited new addition to the royal family, you may think you know all you could ever want to about royal babies. But did you know...

    A government minister used to be present at royal births, to make sure the baby was not switched.

    The practice is believed to have begun in 1688, when dozens of officials watched Mary of Modena, wife of James II, give birth to a son, to scotch rumors that Mary was not really pregnant and that the baby was to be smuggled into the room in a bedpan.

    The tradition continued well into the 20th century. The last royal birth to be witnessed by a government minister was that of Queen Elizabeth II’s cousin, Princess Alexandra in 1936, and the practice was only officially halted shortly before the birth of Prince Charles in 1948.

    Queen Victoria was the first royal to use anesthesia in childbirth.

    The long-reigning monarch and mother-of-nine was given chloroform for pain relief during the births of her eighth and ninth children, Prince Leopold (born in 1853) and Princess Beatrice (born in 1857). Her decision to opt for an anesthetic is credited with popularizing the use of painkillers during childbirth among the well-to-do of the time.

    Prince William was the first heir to the throne to be born in a hospital.

    William was born in the private Lindo Wing of St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, on June 21, 1982. His brother was born at the same hospital two years later, and Kate and William’s first baby, George, was born there on July 22, 2013.

    While that might seem the normal way of things, in fact it was something of a break with tradition — until then, all heirs to the throne had been born at home.

    Prince Charles was born at Buckingham Palace; Elizabeth II herself was born in the Mayfair home of her grandfather in 1926 — though at the time she was not expected to become queen as her uncle, and not her father, was next in line to the throne.

人们在兴奋热切地等待英国王室添丁，也许你以为自己对王室宝贝已经了解得够多了，但是下面我们要说的你可不一定知道哦。

英国政府大臣曾在场见证新王室成员的诞生，确保宝宝不被掉包。据说此惯例开始于1688年，当时盛传詹姆斯二世的妻子 — 摩德纳的玛丽是假怀孕，孩子将放在便盆里偷偷送进产房，为了平息这一谣言，数十名英国官员目睹玛丽王后诞下了一个儿子。这个传统一直延续到20世纪。上一次有英国政府大臣见证的王室宝贝诞生是在1936年，伊丽莎白女王二世的表妹亚历山德拉公主出生的时候。直到1948年查尔斯王子出生之前，此惯例才被正式终止。

维多利亚女王是第一个在分娩时使用麻醉剂的王室成员。

作为长期执政的女王以及九个孩子的母亲，维多利亚女王在生第八个孩子利奥波德王子（出生于1853年）和第九个孩子比阿特丽丝公主（出生于1857）时使用了氯仿麻醉剂以减轻疼痛。她决定采用麻醉剂对于当时英国富裕人家生孩子使用止痛药起到了普及作用。

威廉王子是第一位在医院出生的王位继承人。1982年6月21日，威廉王子在帕丁顿的圣玛丽医院林都私人院区出生。两年之后他的弟弟出生在同一家医院。2013年7月22日凯特和威廉的第一个孩子乔治也在这里出生。

尽管在医院出生貌似很正常，但事实上这是一种与传统的决裂，在那之前，所有的王位继承人都在家中出生。

查尔斯王子在白金汉宫出生，伊丽莎白二世1926年在她祖父位于伦敦的上流住宅区出生——尽管当时人们还不知道她会成为女王，因为当时她的伯父而非她的父亲，才是王位第一继承人。

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【调换】diàohuàn switch exchange, swap

【君主】jūnzhǔ monarch one who reigns over a state or territory, usually for life and by hereditary right