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*London papers, commenting on the birth at Glamis last week traced the origin of the Home Secretary-Royal birth rule to the famed Warming Pan legend of the birth of James II's son, James the Old Pretender, father of Bonnie Prince Charlie, in 1688. Mary, James II's consort, gave birth to a son before her time. Contemporary rumor was that the child was not Mary's at all, but was brought to her, new born, in a long-handled warming pan. Whether this is the origin of the custom in Britain or not, nearly all other monarchies have similar laws. In France under the Bourbons any French citizen had the right to be admitted to the Queen's bedroom when an heir was being born. An end of the room was grilled off, curious Parisians filed solemnly through.
*Sir Henry Simson, described in British despatches as an "expert in the Caesarian section,'' brought the Duchess of York's first child, Princess Elizabeth, into the world in 1926.
*The last were "Martyr King" Charles I, born at Dunfermline, 1600, and his brother Robert, Duke of Kintyre, 1602.
†The London Evening News stated that the new Princess was not fourth in line but jointly third with her sister, Princess Elizabeth, quoted an opinion of the late famed Genealogist John Horace Round that the law specifically states that the throne shall go to the eldest son, does not specifically state that it shall go to the eldest daughter in case of a girl. Other papers taking it up, called for an Act of Parliament to fix the exact status of the newborn baby.
