The joy of motherhood allowed them to forget the fact that they were members of the Royal Family. The ego of ‘blue blood’ could not touch them. However, there were two exceptions!
The Royal Family mothers have always performed their ‘duties’ inside the Buckingham Palace. Whenever female members of the British Royal Family became ‘mother’, they breastfed their newborns. In fact, it’s the tradition of the Royal Family. Queen Elizabeth II, her daughter-in-law Princess Diana and Diana’s daughter-in-law Kate Middleton followed this tradition. Queen Elizabeth I, the wife of King George VI, had also followed the same tradition.

Queen Victoria I & Queen Elizabeth II

Buckingham Palace recently revealed in a report that Queen Victoria I had broken the tradition for the first time, as she refused to breastfeed her children. Even, she advised her friends, relatives and other members of the family not to breastfeed their children. However, Queen Victoria I’s daughters ignored her advice.
Queen Victoria I was an exception in the British Royal Family as far as the family tradition was concerned. Later, another member of the family followed her footsteps. She was Princess Margaret, the sister of Queen Elizabeth II. She, too, refused to breastfeed any of her children.

Queen Elizabeth II, with her sister, Princess Margaret. Photo: Reuters

Even before giving birth, Princess Margaret told doctors that a governess would feed her children. According to the report, the princess asked her managers to appoint a governess who could feed her children for a long time.

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother is seen here with King George VI, in a photo taken in 1937. Photo: Reuters

Unlike Princess Margaret, her mother Queen Elizabeth I was very interested in breastfeeding her children. Queen Elizabeth I’s daughter Queen Elizabeth II, too, fed her four children – Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward. However, she was unable to breastfeed Prince Charles after the first two months because she contracted measles.

Princess Diana, with a young Prince Harry. Photo: Reuters

Princess Diana followed her mother-in-law Queen Elizabeth II’s footsteps and nursed her two sons. Her daughter-in-law Kate opted for breastfeeding instead of relying on formula milk in a bottle, reported the ‘Mirror’ daily.

Princess Diana and Kate Middleton

The Mirror also reported that the public births of the British Royals (since Prince William in 1982) brought focus to the fact that no matter what happened in the past, the modern mothers of the British Royal family choose to breastfeed their children as per the tradition.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das