王室寶貝：你不知道的五件事
Royal babies: Five things you didn't know
Amid all the excitement about the eagerly-awaited new addition to the royal family, you may think you know all you could ever want to about royal babies. But did you know...
英國王室即將喜添新丁, 被熱切等待的興奮心情包圍的你, 也許以為自己對王室寶貝了解得已經夠多了. 但是下面我們要說的你可不一定知道.
A government minister used to be present at royal births, to make sure the baby was not switched
英國政府大臣曾在場見證新王室成員的誕生,確保寶寶不被掉包
The practice is believed to have begun in 1688, when dozens of officials watched Mary of Modena, wife of James II, give birth to a son, to scotch rumors that Mary was not really pregnant and that the baby was to be smuggled into the room in a bedpan.
據說此慣例開始于1688年,當時盛傳詹姆斯二世的妻子——摩德納的瑪麗是假懷孕,孩子將放在便盆里偷偷送進產房,為了平息這一謠言,數十名英國官員目睹瑪麗王后誕下了一個兒子.
The tradition continued well into the 20th century. The last royal birth to be witnessed by a government minister was that of Queen Elizabeth II's cousin, Princess Alexandra in 1936, and the practice was only officially halted shortly before the birth of Prince Charles in 1948.
這個傳統一直延續到20世紀.上一次有英國政府大臣見證的王室寶貝誕生是在1936年,伊麗莎白女王二世的表妹亞歷山德拉公主出生的時候.直到1948年查爾斯王子出生之前,此慣例才被正式終止.
Royal husbands have not always attended the birth of their children
王室寶貝的父親在孩子出生時不一定會在旁守候
Queen Elizabeth II may not have had to contend with ministerial interference in her birth plan, but she also didn't have her husband there for support; while she gave birth to Prince Charles, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh was busy playing squash.
英國女王伊麗莎白二世也許沒有內政大臣來干預她的生子計劃, 但是在她分娩的時候丈夫卻不在身邊支持她,在她生查爾斯王子的時候,菲利普親王正忙于打壁球.
Queen Victoria was the first royal to use anesthesia in childbirth
維多利亞女王是第一個在分娩時使用麻醉劑的王室成員
The long-reigning monarch and mother-of-nine was given chloroform for pain relief during the births of her eighth and ninth children, Prince Leopold (born in 1853) and Princess Beatrice (born in 1857).
作為長期執政的女王以及九個孩子的母親,維多利亞女王在生第八個孩子利奧波德王子（出生于1853年）和第九個孩子比阿特麗絲公主（出生于1857）時使用了氯仿麻醉劑以減輕疼痛.
Her decision to opt for an anesthetic is credited with popularizing the use of painkillers during childbirth among the well-to-do of the time.
她決定采用麻醉劑對于當時英國富裕人家生孩子使用止痛藥起到了普及作用.
John Snow, the doctor who administered the drug, is better known as one of the founding fathers of epidemiology, after he traced a deadly outbreak of cholera to a Soho water pump.
