Royals with Disabilities or Special Needs


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Emmy

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I know this is somewhat of an odd topic, but I couldn't help wondering.

What happens if a member of the royal family gives birth to a child with an intellectual disability such as Down Syndrome, or something similar? Has it ever happened?

I realise that with modern screening and technology, the chance of this happening is close to zero, but it must have happened in the past.
 
HRH the Prince John suffered from epilepsy and, most likely, Asperger syndrome which is a form of autism.

He was 13 years of age when he died in 1919.

Prince John Charles Francis was the youngest child of Their Majesties, the King George V & Queen Mary (formerly, Duke & Duchess of York).

The little Prince resided at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate and was well taken care of until his passing, especially by his devoted nurse & confidante, Miss Charlotte Bill.

"MII"
 
• Prince Francois of France (b 1961), the eldest son of the Comte de Paris, Head of the Royal House of France, and
• Princess Blanche, the Comte's youngest daughter (b 1962) are both handicapped.

• Princess Cornelie-Cecile of Prussia (b 1978), the sister of Prince George Friedrich, Head of the Imperial and Royal House of Prussia.

• Archduke Philipp of Austria (b 1962) suffered terrible burns as a child and was severely disfigured.

• Princess Christina of The Netherlands (b 1947)
 
Cool, thanks guys. I was thinking more in terms of if that child was the heir, what would happen? And has it ever happened?
 
I'm not sure if people would count it as a disability per se, although I know it's classed as a learning disaility, but doesn't Princess Beatrice suffer from dyslexia?
 
Little_star said:
I'm not sure if people would count it as a disability per se, although I know it's classed as a learning disaility, but doesn't Princess Beatrice suffer from dyslexia?
I think this thread is more of a physical dissabilities.

But, yes, there are quite several royals who suffer from dyslexia. One famous one is Victoria of Sweden.
 
Margrethe II said:
HRH the Prince John suffered from epilepsy and, most likely, Asperger syndrome which is a form of autism.

He was 13 years of age when he died in 1919.

Prince John Charles Francis was the youngest child of Their Majesties, the King George V & Queen Mary (formerly, Duke & Duchess of York).

The little Prince resided at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate and was well taken care of until his passing, especially by his devoted nurse & confidante, Miss Charlotte Bill.

"MII"

I have seen a very touching movie, "The Lost Prince", about Prince John. Miss Charlotte Bill was played by Gina McKee (who also played Irene in Forsyte Saga). I hadn't heard of the boy, before I saw the movie.
It was a really great one, and though it's a but off-topic, I would highly recommend it to everyone. :)
 
Emmy said:
Cool, thanks guys. I was thinking more in terms of if that child was the heir, what would happen? And has it ever happened?

The Comte de Clermont, even though he is severely disabled, is still the Comte de Paris's heir, although his brother, the Duc de Vendôme, will serve as regent during Clermont's term as Head of the House.
 
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It's not off-topic, Avalon. Relax! ;)

And yes, it seems like we have a history with dyslectics in our Swedish royal family. It wouldn't have mattered to a commoner, but royal kids have to go to the best schools and get the best grades, especially back in the day. Our current king's father, prince Gustaf Adolf, was considered stupid, especially since his father the crown prince Gustaf Adolf, who later became king Gustav VI Adolf, was more intellectual. But really, he probably just couldn't keep up with school work because no one understood he had dyslexia. Instead, he became good at sports and hunting. Unfortuneately, he almost caused a crisis by dying in a plane crash, leaving his aging father and his baby son as the only heirs to the thrown. Maybe people started understanding this more and more during the 20th century, but both king Carl Gustaf and crown princess Victoria have seemed to do better than their father and grandfather did.
 
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http://www.abc.es/informacion/boda/reinas_espana/index.asp
and read the profile of Queen Victoria Eugenia

I don't know if this counts but Alfonso Pio (*1907,†1938) and Gonzalo (*1914,†1934); the eldest and the younger sons of King Alfonso XIII of Spain were hemophiliacs.

Zarevich Alexei, the heir of Nicholas II of Russia was an
hemophiliac as well
 
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and many more princes suffered from hemophilia.
But no hemophiliac did ever become king.
 
purple_platinum said:
I think this thread is more of a physical dissabilities.

But, yes, there are quite several royals who suffer from dyslexia. One famous one is Victoria of Sweden.
Don't King Carl-Gustaf suffer also from dyslexia? :confused:
 
Prince Erik of Sweden was also an epileptic like Prince John, and I think I read somewhere that he also had severe learning disabilities, or may have been mental retarded, because his mother took medications during her pregnancy with him that she probably shouldn't have, but doctors probably didn't know would have any adverse effects.

Princess Charlotte of Prussia and her daughter, Feodora, both I think were confirmed to have porphyria, which is what made George III so, well, crazy!

There were also a lot of hemophiliac princes. Alfonso, Gonzalo and Alexei were already mentioned, but there was also Prince Waldemar and Henry of Prussia (the nephews of Kaiser Wilhelm, not his brothers) Prince Leopold of GB, Prince Rupert of Teck, Prince Friedrich of Hesse, and Prince Leopold of Battenberg. I think I may have read that Princess Sibylla of Luxembourg's brother Paul, who died young, might have been a hemophiliac, but I don't know.
 
Warren, What disability do Prince Francois and Princess Blanche of France have? Also Princess Cornelie-Cecile of Prussia? Thanks:)
 
Also, HRH the Infanta Margarita (King Juan Carlos' youngest sister) has been blind since birth.
 
purple_platinum said:
I think this thread is more of a physical dissabilities.

But, yes, there are quite several royals who suffer from dyslexia. One famous one is Victoria of Sweden.

I thought HM the King also suffered from Dyslexia?

"MII"
 
Avalon said:
I have seen a very touching movie, "The Lost Prince", about Prince John. Miss Charlotte Bill was played by Gina McKee (who also played Irene in Forsyte Saga). I hadn't heard of the boy, before I saw the movie.
It was a really great one, and though it's a but off-topic, I would highly recommend it to everyone. :)

I have seen the same movie Avalon :)

I believe I watched it some time back now, in 2003, but it was a good movie although I couldn't help feel that they depicted Queen Mary as a really cold mother.

"MII"
 
Margrethe II said:
I have seen the same movie Avalon :)

I believe I watched it some time back now, in 2003, but it was a good movie although I couldn't help feel that they depicted Queen Mary as a really cold mother.

"MII"
I enjoyed the film too, Miranda Richardson performed very well as HM Queen Mary, but yes Margrethe II, a bit stern (even though it's probably more to do with her not being able to understand what was wrong with 'Johnny').

Her Majesty is also portrayed as a very brave woman in the fact of suffragettes and pacifists. Along with Sir Michael Gambon, as HM King Edward VII earlier in the film, it's most enjoyable.
 
bluebess said:
What disability do Prince Francois and Princess Blanche of France have?

The siblings are both mentally handicaped due to the fact that the then Comtesse de Clermont suffered from toxoplasmosis during the two pregnancies.
 
bluebess said:
Thank you Benjamin.:)

You are very welcome bluebess:).

Toxoplasmosis is very prevelant in France due to the high consumption of raw and lightly cooked meat. Apparently the disease only tends to affect people with weakened immune systems, and the effects on unborn children can be very damaging (the Orleans pair case in point).

Toxoplasmosis
 
Thank you again for the info. It must have been so awful for the family. To have one handicapped child is so hard but to have two is an unbelievable heartache. My sister has two handicapped boys and it can be a very rough road but we cannot forget the joy that the boys have brought to our family.
 
bluebess said:
Thank you again for the info. It must have been so awful for the family. To have one handicapped child is so hard but to have two is an unbelievable heartache. My sister has two handicapped boys and it can be a very rough road but we cannot forget the joy that the boys have brought to our family.

You're probably very correct about the impact on the family. I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't contribute somewhat to the breakdown of Henri and Marie-Therese's marriage.

It seems that alot of the time that those children/adults who have special challenges are the most friendly and kind people that you can ever meet.
 
Beatrice, the eldest daugher of prince Andrew is also dyslexic.
 
You have to remember, that not all that long ago, disabilities, especcially mental disabilities were not understood nor treated as well as they are. Even here in the U.S., there are some presidential examples of that. President Franklin Delano Rosevelt spent his presidency hiding his lameness, which resulted from a bout with adult polio, for fear that it would be construed as weakness. And President John F. Kennedy's sister Rosalyn Kennedy was born with mental disabilities, then her family had her undergo a lobotomy as they thought it would 'cure' her. It didn't, of course, and actually made her worse. She was sent away, and lived in a special nursing facility (in Michigan, I think?) where she spent the rest of her life, until she died a few years ago. Even recently, I had a family friend when I was younger who's son was mentally handicapped, and the people at the school he went to assumed that he came from an unhappy and unhealthy home.


Royals who were handicapped, particularly mentally handicapped, if they were in position to inherit, were often forced to abdicate. I remember a British prince who was forced to abdicate (this was a long time ago, a very long time ago, and I don't remember who)

Several other royals, some hundreds of years ago, had gout. Henry VIII had gout, and so did many others, to the point where they often had difficulty walking, due to their bad diets.
 
The late King Talal of Jordan who was the late King Hussein of Jordan's father had schizopherina and the late Tsarevich Alexi of Russia who was the son of the late Czar Nicholas II of Russia had haemophilia which he inherited from his mother the late Czaria Alexandra of Russia.
 
In earlier times the royals didn't have much contact with the public, thus their debilitating illnesses were well covered within the walls of the royal palaces.
The fact that hardly anybody knows about Prince John is quite telling. I wouldn't go so far to say that his very existence was kept secret, but it certainly wasn't talked about and it was clearly in the royals best interest that the public should forget or not know about the unlucky little boy.
Another hidden disease is Queen Alexandra of Britains congenital deafness, which she most likely passed on to her oldest son, the anyway unlucky Duke of Clarence. However, no reliable source can be found, only hints and rumours. (It would probably been different had he survived and ascended to the throne, but alas he died anyway, no need to bring out his deafness into the open.)
 
King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway was mentally ill and absolute monarch, secound only to good. :wacko:
 
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