Royals with Disabilities or Special Needs

[maria-olivia]

I am speaking about the actual Generation..

[Lee-Z]

Not completely debilatating (fortunately) but Lady Louise Windsor was born with Esotropia which required medical treatment.

[Noble Consort Ming]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

I am speaking about the actual Generation..

Infanta Margarita is alive. She is the aunt of the current king of Spain.

[Biri]

What was the reason of her blindness? Did her mother catch some disease while pregnant with her?

[Duc_et_Pair]

From Princess Christina is known that her mother did catch rubella when she visited a troop ship which made a long journey from Netherlands East-Indies (now Indonesia) to the Netherlands.

About the Infanta Doña Margarita I can only find she was born blind when her parents were in exile in Rome. Neither in Spanish nor in English articles I can google a possible cause for her blindness.

When there is no infection, no genetic disorder, it can just be a matter of the eyes not well-developed as a foetus. Or the eyes are perfectly fine but the part of the brain which regulates the vision is not working. Or the eyes and the brains are completely in order but the nerves do not transmit vision impulses from the eye to the brain. It is so complex, it is a wonder vision works perfectly well for 99% of the babies.

[Lee-Z]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

The now born royals are all healty , cute , loving and rich.

i'm just not sure what "cute" and " rich" has to do with disability (or no disability)

[maria-olivia]

Yes I am happy to see all the new born Royals without any disability .

[Biri]

And Ginevra van Eilinkhuizen, daughter of Prince Amedeo of Savoy & Kyara van Eilinkhuizen?
She is 11 years old and has Down's syndrome.

[Duc_et_Pair]

Originally Posted by Biri

And Ginevra van Eilinkhuizen, daughter of Prince Amedeo of Savoy & Kyara van Eilinkhuizen?
She is 11 years old and has Down's syndrome.

Oh yes, you are right indeed. That was a scandal for the House of Aosta when the Duke did not meet his obligations.

[Biri]

In what sense? Didn't he officially recognize her as his daughter?

[Duc_et_Pair]

It seems the Duke promised the mother to care for the child. When the Duke did not meet his promise, a DNA-test was agreed. After clarity from this test, the Duke still avoided his obligations. In the end the mother had to go to Justice to make the Duke to fulfill his paternal obligations. All by all a very ungentlemanlike attitude, unworthy the House of Savoia-Aosta.

[Biri]

So he doesn't pay child support to maintain her?
I see that care for such a child is relatively expensive, but he is wealthy, isn't he?
Especially giving the fact that his other children are already adult and independent.

Ungentlemanlike attitude, no matter what the lineage of the father is.

[Duc_et_Pair]

Originally Posted by Biri

So he doesn't pay child support to maintain her?
I see that care for such a child is relatively expensive, but he is wealthy, isn't he?
Especially giving the fact that his other children are already adult and independent.

Ungentlemanlike attitude, no matter what the lineage of the father is.

The Duke pays for the care of his disabled daughter, but he only started to do so when he was forced by the Court of Justice.

On 2005 the Duke had an affair with Ms Kyara van Ellinkhuizen, a Dutch film producer. Back then Ms Van Ellinkhuizen was 38 years old. Unintentedly there was a pregnancy. It seems Ms Van Ellinkhuizen has known the Duke since puberty and had a crush on him since. Already during pregnancy Ms Van Ellinkhuizen contacted lawyers and sought publicity (a TV interview), for she intended to safeguard the (then) future baby.

Probably this caused the Duke to act like stung by a wasp: this publicity sought by Ms Van Ellinkhuizen brought the Duke's marriage with the Duchess in rocky waters because of this affair.

On March 19th 2006 Ms Kyara van Ellinkhuizen gave birth to a daughter at the Clinica Mangiagalli in Milan on 19 March. She received the names Ginevra Maria Gabriella. The Duke of Aosta visited mother and child at hospital. He acknowledged his paternity after a positive DNA test.

So all by all the Duke did (and does) his obligations but it was the unwillingness to do so which was sort of a scandal. Not very cavaliere, so to say. But that is more than a decade ago, so time has done its work.

The Duke and Duchess of Aosta (la princesse Claude d'Orléans) - picture

The Duke and Duchess of Aosta (Donna Silvia Paternò dei marchesi di Regiovanni e Spedalotto) - picture

Amedeo padre di Ginevra. Lo dice il Dna - Corriere della Sera

[Biri]

Emperor Claudius of Rome probably suffered from cerebral palsy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudi...nd_personality

[Alison H]

Originally Posted by COUNTESS

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)

Could you be thinking of Henry VI of England? He had some sort of mental disability which caused him to be completely detached from the world during bad spells, possibly schizophrenia. He was deposed as part of the Wars of the Roses dynastic struggle, not specifically because of his health issues, but the fact that he wasn't able to rule certainly didn't help.

In more recent times, there was Prince John, the youngest brother of George VI, who had severe epilepsy and possibly learning difficulties.


I've an idea there was a law in Spain that prohibited people with learning disabilities from inheriting the throne, which was partly why it was such a problem when haemophilia got into the Spanish royal family.

[JR76]

Prince Erik of Sweden and Norway , Duke of Västmanland (1889-1918) was an epileptic and suffered from a mild learning disability thought to have been caused by the strong medication his mother, Queen Victoria, took during her pregnancy.
https://www.kungahuset.se/royalcourt...65dc12f32.html

[Chesh]

I have been reading John van der Kiste's 'Charlotte and Feodora' recently, and there seems to be plenty traits of autism in the descriptions of both of them.

[royal_enthusiast]

If a royal had autism would the person still remain in the line of succession and would there be less pressure on them to undertake a public role if they did not wish to?

[Duc_et_Pair]

Originally Posted by royal_enthusiast

If a royal had autism would the person still remain in the line of succession and would there be less pressure on them to undertake a public role if they did not wish to?

In principle he/she can stay in the line of succession. Only when it is a direct heir to a monarch (so the Number One or the eldest child of the Number One) it will become an issue.

The Tsetsarevich Alexey simply remained a successor despite his severe problems. The Prince John remained a successor despite his special needs.

The 19th C Prince Alexander of the Netherlands (an intelligent man with a lucide mind but very weak social intelligence) became The Prince of Orange while anyone knew the poor man was always on the verge of a breakdown despite holding his composure in public, trying to do his best. (Many people have this "problem" : how to engage in totally meaningless small talk?)

The Prince Alexander missed the social antenna to conversate, to ease people stiffening in front of him, to play the jovial gentilhomme. For an example he was hardly able to find a royal bride, despite being a future King of the Netherlands, Grand-Duke of Luxembourg and being general heir of the gigantic Orange-Nassau fortune because in front of ladies he had no idea what to say, how to play courtship according etiquette and have a chit-chat with a princess here or a duchess there, with a spying chaperonne in his back. Poor man.

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by royal_enthusiast

If a royal had autism would the person still remain in the line of succession and would there be less pressure on them to undertake a public role if they did not wish to?

To my knowledge, none of the reigning monarchies where hereditary succession is regulated by law explicitly exclude autistic people from acceding to the throne.

As far as public or family pressure to step aside is concerned, I suppose the degree of bias against autistic people would be dependent on the culture and the family.