Features

Birthplaces of our Royal Family – an image gallery

April 30, 2015

Although recent royal babies have been born in private hospitals, we take a look at the birthplaces of our Royal Family at Historic Houses Association properties around the country

Over recent years, royal births have taken place in private hospital rooms, but this is a relatively new phenomenon; Prince William was the first future king to arrive in this way. In the past, heirs to the throne were usually delivered at their homes; a number of which now belong to Members of The Historic Houses Association, who open their doors to the public so you can see for yourselves the places where the Royal Family were born or raised.

Hever Castle

The most famous, perhaps, is Hever Castle, the childhood home of Anne Boleyn.

Hever is currently home to England’s only surviving medieval royal state bed, thought to be the bed where Henry VII’s sons Arthur and Henry were conceived.

In Tudor times, there would have been a number of witnesses to the birth of an heir to the throne and even quite recently Home Secretaries used to attend royal births. The custom was ended in 1948 ahead of the birth of Prince Charles.

Glamis Castle

Queen Elizabeth II‘s younger sister, Princess Margaret, was born at Glamis Castle on a stormy August night in 1930, becoming the first royal baby in direct line to the throne to be born in Scotland since the year 1600. The registration of the birth was delayed to avoid Princess Margaret Rose being numbered 13 in the parish register.

The castle still holds a number of personal pieces of royal memorabilia including the birth certificate of Princess Margaret and telegrams of congratulations from King George VI and Queen Mary.

St Paul’s Walden Bury

While Glamis was the ancestral and childhood home of the late HM Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother, the latter was also born in another HHA Member property, St Paul’s Walden Bury, a grand stately home and surrounding gardens located in the village of St Paul’s Walden in Hertfordshire.

Browse our image gallery of the HHA’s Royal birthplace properties…

Glamis-Castle-royal-birth-places-2 — Scotland’s grand and imposing Glamis Castle. Image credit: Glamis Castle.

Glamis-Castle-royal-birth-places-4 — Glamis Castle. Image credit: Glamis Castle.

Royal-bed-at-Hever-Castle-royal-birth-places-5 — The historical Royal bed at Hever Castle. Image credit: Hever Castle.

Royal-bed-at-Hever-Castle-royal-birth-places-6 — Royal bed at Hever Castle. Image credit: Hever Castle.

royal-birth-places-1 — Hever Castle. Image credit: Hever Castle.

St-Pauls-Walden-Bury-royal-birth-places-7 — The stately home and gardens of St Paul’s Walden Bury in Hertfordshire. Image credit: St Paul’s Walden Bury.

Glamis--Castle-royal-birth-places-8 — The long driveway at Glamis Castle. Image credit: Glamis Castle.

For those interested in more Royal connections, The HHA has a Royal Trail available on its website and invites you to come and see for yourselves their historic royal homes.

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