2015
As Britain awaits the birth of Prince William and Duchess Kate’s second child, many are speculating that a girl could be much more valuable to the royal family than a boy. In addition to marketing opportunities for enterprising British companies, a female royal would be the first in the direct line of succession since the current Queen Elizabeth II, shaking up the monarchy’s masculine image. CNN reports:
It would be nice for the baby to be a girl so that we can all ooh and ah over frilly dresses, fairy wings and ballet shoes (although as a Windsor she's more likely to be mucking out stables and shooting pheasant), but in truth the birth of a girl matters on a far deeper level: the monarchy needs a baby girl to fill the female void of future generations.
The twentieth century was ushered in by Queen Victoria and the twenty-first by Queen Elizabeth II. Should George live to eighty-seven he will be the first monarch of the twenty-second century. If punters are right and William and Kate do announce the birth of a baby girl as the rightful “spare,” it’s certainly possible that a seventh Queen may ring in the year 2100.
1533
The birth of Anne Boleyn’s child was an affair hotly anticipated by the new Queen and her husband, Henry VIII. Certain they were expecting a boy, the couple planned a celebratory tournament that had to be cancelled when the baby showed up female. Also altered: letters sent out to other royals announcing the birth of a prince, with an s added hastily:
Right trusted and welbilved, we greet you well. And where it hath pleased the goodness of Almighty God, of his infinite mercy and grace, to send unto us, at this time, good speed, in the deliverance and bringing further of a Princes, to the great joye, rejoice, and inward comfort of my Lord. We therefore by this our letters, advertise you thereof, desiring and praying you to give, with us, unto Almighty God, high thankes, glorie, and praising, and to pray for the good health, prosperity, and continual preservation of the said Princes.