Princess Diana gave birth to her first child, Prince William, on June 21, 1982, almost a year after her marriage to Charles. According to royal biographers, the birth of a son was a real outlet for Welsh amid an unhappy marriage and a difficult adaptation to a new status.
And yet, much around William's birth did not turn out the way the princess expected. Starting from the behavior of the spouse and ending with the words of the mother-in-law, Elizabeth II, which she uttered at the sight of the baby.
When it became known that another heir to the throne was born in London's St. Mary's Hospital, members of the royal family rushed to visit and congratulate the newly-made mother and baby. At the sight of William, most of the relatives were simply moved, but not Elizabeth II.
As Diana later said, instead of rejoicing at the appearance of the child, the Queen focused on assessing his appearance. Looking at her newborn grandson for the first time, the monarch made a very caustic comment: "Thank God, he does not have ears like his father!"
But this, perhaps, is not the most unpleasant thing that Diana went through during that period. In audio recordings published after her death, the princess recalled that Charles forbade her to give birth until he agreed on his polo schedule. “We needed to find the right date [for giving birth] to match his game,” Welskaya said. According to the princess, she had to “persuade William” to show up on the right day (see also: Best Heir: Why Diana Believed Charles should cede the throne to William).
The fact is that men of the Windsor clan have a long tradition according to which the child's father is not present at childbirth and at this moment, as a rule, is engaged in some kind of sports competition. “When Charles was born, Prince Philip was playing squash, and when William was born, Charles was busy playing a polo match,” says royal biographer Robert Lacey.
Later, this custom was violated by Prince William himself. For the peace of mind of Duchess Catherine, Cambridge was next to her in all three of her births and held her husband's hand. “I think this is the first father at BCS who was personally present at the birth,” Lacy notes in a comment for The Express (read also: The Art of “Homecoming”: How Princess Diana and Kate Middleton changed centuries of tradition).
Photo: Getty Images
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