We typically think
of royalty as leading a life filled with the pleasures
and privileges of divine power and influence. In the past, however,
before the monarchy became mostly
symbolic, the arrival of a new royal into
the world had wide ranging political consequences. Royal births were steeped
in endless tradition, ancient superstition, and
more than a little fear. And the privacy of
a queen was always subordinate to the
public interest. It's good to be the king. However, it wasn't always
that great to be the queen. Today, we're going to take
a look at some eye opening details about what giving birth
was like for royal mothers. But before we get started, be
sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel, and let us
know in the comments below what other royal customs you
would like to hear about. OK, let's take a deep breath. I see the head. Congratulations. It's an explainer video. [MUSIC PLAYING] A royal birth was more
than just an exciting thing for the family. It was a political event that
often had drastic implications for the future of a nation. The royal birth could itself
signal the future success or failure of a monarchy. So needless to say, everyone
was interested in the outcome. This being the case, it
wasn't exactly regarded as a private affair. In fact, the queen
often gave birth in front of many
spectators, all of whom watched every detail
very carefully. This was both to confirm the
sex and health of the baby and to prevent foul play. For Marie Antoinette,
the French princess, 200 people gathered in her bed
chamber to witness the event. In fact, the exact moment of a
royal birth was so important, the obstetrician would
yell out, "The queen is going to give
birth," at which point hundreds of courtesans would
pour into the darkened room. This rush was so
extreme, it's said that Marie fainted
from the heat, while onlookers scrambled up on
furniture to get a better look at her, uh, child being born. Today, the birth
of a child is seen as a celebratory
time of family bliss, but this hasn't
always been the case. Throughout history, Christians
saw the pain of childbirth as unavoidable because
the Bible states that God told
women, in pain, you will give birth to children. In some devout
Christian cultures, the suffering of
labor and delivery was seen as a natural part
of a woman's experience. The agony was associated
with the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden and symbolized the magnitude of original sin. It was for this religious reason
that painkillers were frowned upon, even for royal women. As a result, queens often
clutched holy relics and amulets during labor, even
sometimes tucking prayer rolls into the folds of
their nightclothes. The church approved
of these practices because they relied
on God's protection. Apparently, it never
occurred to them that God also
created painkillers. Royal women were accustomed to
a pretty pain free existence, and the discomforts
of childbirth weren't really a welcome change. While these pains were often
thought to be unavoidable, some queens knew that if you
wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself. Born in the early
1800s, Queen Victoria, who gave birth to nine
children, began a campaign to make pain relief
for royal mothers available and acceptable. For the birth of her
eighth son, Prince Leopold, she even found a doctor
who would chloroform her to deaden the pain. She was so into it,
she would later write, "Oh, that blessed chloroform,
soothing and delightful beyond measure." While asking for pain
relief from childbirth still flew in the
face of the belief that women deserved that
pain, after Victoria, outlooks slowly began to change. Royal women began
politely requesting the anesthesia [INAUDIBLE]
during labor, otherwise known as ether. This shift in thinking not only
helped a lot of royal women avoid a lot of
unnecessary pain, it also opened the floodgates
to all sorts of new medical approaches. [MUSIC PLAYING] Until the middle of
the 17th century, royal births were a
ladies only affair. They were typically overseen by
various combinations of nurses, midwives, ladies in waiting,
or whichever women of the court felt they could
assist in some way. These women were known
as God's siblings, and they were the
protectors and handlers of anything and everything
related to the royal birth. Men, on the other hand,
were absolutely not allowed to be involved. Because there were no heart
monitors or medical equipment to evaluate the mother's
health and progress, the only way to evaluate
how things were going was via the experience of women
who had previously given birth. Doctors were only called in
if the situation became dire. And the midwives typically
did all the heavy lifting. As birthing experts,
midwives had to be knowledgeable and have
good character, the kind of women who could be
trusted with the life of a future monarch. In fact, when attending
a royal mother, the midwife was
required to take an oath not to keep anything from the
birth, such as the placenta or the umbilical cord. Not your typical souvenir,
but the requirement existed to avoid these bits
being used in witchcraft. The matriarchal
dominance of royal births continued until
Prince Albert insisted on attending the labor
of his wife, Victoria, in the mid 19th century. Victoria was grateful
for the support and wrote that there
could be no kinder, wiser, nor more judicious nurse. [MUSIC PLAYING] Medieval beliefs about the
female reproductive system were nothing short
of, well, medieval. Many believed that a woman's
genitalia were actually male organs turned inside out. The concept had been around
since the second century, when Roman physician and
philosopher Galen wrote, "Turn
outward the woman's, turn inward, so to speak, in
full double the man's, and you will find the same
in every respect. The uterus and ovaries
were considered inversions of the penis and
testicles and allowed for the birth of a child. Differences in the
size and orientation of the female organs
compared to the male led some to consider females,
or the female organs, as lesser. Medieval beliefs
about what created a baby in the first place
were also a little shaky. At the time, they didn't know
that the man's sperm determined the sex of the child. And the praise or blame
for the child's gender was placed on the mother. They also believed the
gender of an unborn child could be influenced by diet
or through the use of one of several potions. [MUSIC PLAYING] After a queen's procession,
lying in, and birthing process, she lay low until it was fitting
for her to re-enter society. The mother remained
in her bed chamber for about a month after birth
until she could be churched. This meant she was purified
and blessed by a priest before she could return
to her royal duties. This cleansing was thought
to be necessary after such a messy process. While the mother
was sequestered, the baby was celebrated
and instantly received by the public with a
christening, an event the mother could not attend. Because the pain of
childbirth was so feared among royal
women, a special girdle was created to offer
them extra support. This elegant garment, often
hemmed in silver thread, was designed to help
a queen alleviate the pain of childbirth. As a bonus, it could also be
imbued with God's blessing. Sometimes known as a holy
girdle or a virgin's girdle, it would be worn during
the lying in period and sometimes contain
bits of jaspar around the band,
which was believed to promote a healthy baby. These girdles date back
to the early 16th century and were mentioned in
various historical texts. We know from records that when
Henry III's pregnant queen Eleanor was about to
have her fourth child, she wore such a holy girdle as
a way to help ensure her son would be born successfully. And in Da Milano's
1365 fresco, The Birth of the Virgin, a new
mother is attended by her ladies, who are
washing her new baby, while the special
girdle is handed to another woman for cleaning. [MUSIC PLAYING] Even though royals often gave
birth in front of an audience, the notion of
pregnancy was still shrouded in considerable
mystery and fear. In modern times, the process
of birth is well understood. But this was not the case
through most of history. Giving birth in the Middle
Ages was a risky endeavor. And all mothers, rich
or poor, faced the risk of complications or even death. Accurate medical records
from the time don't exist, but a current popular belief
is that one out of three births would result in
the mother's death. That is a huge risk. But while mortality
was certainly high, a study published in 2020
of the medieval mortality in English noblewomen
between 1,200 and 1,500 CE by Rachel Podd from
Fordham University estimates that a medieval woman
who had children faced a one in 20
chance of dying in birth over her lifetime. That's less huge than one
in three, but still huge compared to today, where a
woman from the European Union, with a comparable
number of deliveries, has a lifetime risk of
less than 1 in 4,000. In an era where
ultrasounds can tell us the sex of a baby
long before birth, it's strange to realize
that in the past, many women wouldn't have
even known they were pregnant until they felt the first
flutters of movement at around five months. Although this typically
marks the halfway point of the pregnancy, the
mother could still not be entirely sure
of her condition or when the child would be born. Drugstores with
home pregnancy tests were still a few centuries off. So to find out if
they were pregnant, royal women would
typically seek the advice of doctors, who would examine
their urine to make the call. If the urine was pale yellow
to white with a cloudy surface, it was believed the
woman was pregnant. And this result, combined with
the absence of menstruation, would be enough to start
planning for a royal birth. However, if the urine
smelled like asparagus, that meant the woman probably
had asparagus for lunch. That is science. Some things never change. Alternative means of testing
for pregnancy included examining a needle left
in the woman's urine to see if it rusted. [MUSIC PLAYING] The loss of the queen,
or even worse, the baby, was absolutely the biggest fear
associated with royal births. From Catherine of Aragon, who
lost four pregnancies and one infant, to Anne Boleyn,
who had two miscarriages, a queen faced many potential
dangers during her quest for motherhood. Although necessary to the
survival of the monarchy, giving birth was risky. In 1533, when Queen
Elizabeth I was born, all royal women were
encouraged to write their wills before lying in. In fact, any pregnant royal
would receive communion regularly and vigilantly ask
God for help with her condition. Royal women of the
Renaissance were typically given a special present
known as a birth tray. These decorative pieces
were usually adorned with scenes of biblical
births and were presented to women around
the time of their lying in. They were then laden with jars
filled with foods like chicken soup and sweetmeats. Once the food was eaten by
the hungry mother to be, the tray would be hung on
the wall as a decoration and become a keepsake
for the royal family. So what do you think? Would you like an audience
while you give birth? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History.
