The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists would like to congratulate our Royal Patron, the Duchess of Cambridge, and of course the Duke of Cambridge, on the birth of their third child, Prince Louis Arthur Charles born on the 23rd April 2018.
The College was delighted when Her Royal Highness agreed to be our patron and we welcomed her formally to Sussex Place on 27th February 2018. It had been 71 years since the College last welcomed a Royal Patron when in 1947 Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother accepted the role on the award of the College’s Royal Charter. The RCOG has also awarded an Honorary Fellowship to 10 members of the Royal Family over its history, including Her Majesty the Queen, then Princess Elizabeth (1949), Princess Margaret (1966), The Princess Royal (1979), Diana, Princess of Wales (1987) and Sophie, The Countess of Wessex (1996). There are a multitude of photographs and other material in our archives relating to Royal visits, as seen below.
Princess Elizabeth at the RCOG in 1949
The expectancy of the latest addition to the Royal Family led to a look through our Archives in search of material relating to previous Royal births of which there are naturally several mentions made over the course of time.
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, was born in November 1948, meaning he will be 70 this year. There is a lot of interest at the moment in the 70th Anniversary of the 1948 National Health Service Act. Looking through the archives, interspersed in notes, minutes and correspondence regarding major legislation such as the founding of the NHS are side-line references to the pregnant Princess Elizabeth and the subsequent birth.
Official photographs can also be found, including Princess Alexandra with her infant son, James, Princess Margaret and her baby daughter Sarah and Katharine, Duchess of Kent with her daughter Helen, all of whom were born in 1964.
Jumping forward a few decades and the College sent a letter to the Earl and Countess of Wessex on the birth of their children in 2003 and 2007. A copy of this 2007 letter can be found in the archive along with a response from the home of the couple, Bagshot Park, in January 2008.
In July 2013 Prince George Alexander Louis, the eldest son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived. As usual a letter of congratulations was sent to the happy couple and a response was later received from Kensington Palace, along with an official photograph which we also have in our archives.
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Heritage Blog 