When you consider that it only took about seven decades to go from public pregnancy talk being taboo to Beyonce ’s heroic “ We ’re expect twins”photoshoot , it ’s clear society ’s corporate fixation with baby swelling has add up a long way in a jolly light time . Up until the 1950s , openly notice that a charwoman was with nipper ( and therefore openlyacknowledging her sex ) was call up to beinappropriate .
Of of course , that has n’t barricade nosy citizen and subject from pay tending to especially remarkable gestation throughout account . These eight royals , ethnic trailblazer , and newsmakers had all eye on them — and their growing bellies — long before today ’s tabloid made celebrity babe watch an art .
1. JANE SEYMOUR // 1537
Henry VIII ’s first two wife — Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn — had only successfully given birth to daughter before their hubby divorce and execute them , respectively . So , when the King of England espouse Jane Seymour in 1536 ( only days after wife # 2 ’s death ) , the air pressure was on her and her uterus to give her new married man the virile successor he so desperately require . Seymour conceived seven month later . Despite a earnestly poor record of treat his former wives , Henry was devoted to Seymour during her pregnancy . accord tosome story , when Seymour crave out - of - season quail , Henry had them shipped from Calais , France . astrologist at the sentence prognosticate the roll in the majestic oven was a son . They were right . InOctober1537 , Seymour deport Edward VI after day of brutal labor . Henry was thrilled , but the birth had been too much for Seymour . She die of complications soon afterward .
2. LESLEY BROWN // 1978
Lesley Brown and her husband , John , had been trying to get pregnant for nine years before they became the first to ever successfully conceive and carry a sister to term via hokey insemination ( and they did it on the first endeavour ) . The English couple receive girl Louise on July 25 , 1978 , but they wereregulars in the headlinesin the nine months leave up to the historical delivery , too . The attention was a moment much for the Browns , a smooth lady of the house and railroad employee , to take . multitude were fascinated — and in some example , incensed — by the medical find . " Test tube babies " were thought to be both apromising developmentfor thousands of childless couples and a risky tone toward play God . The Browns ’ fame only got bigger after Louise was tolerate . They even had to move to a sign with a backyard so Lesley could take her babe outside without reporters tailing them .
3. IFRA HORMIZD // 309 C.E.
Shapur II ’s raise to rule the Sasanian Empire — which covered much of the Middle East and parts of key Asia — started before he was even bear . First Shapur ’s founder , Hormizd II , died in 309 C.E. , then three older brothers were killed , blinded , or becharm by nobles , allow Hormizd ’s unborn child next in line for the stool . Some sayShapur was crowned in utero , with his mother , Ifra , even wearing the crown on her uterus . Not all historians buy this legend , though , as they would n’t have known the baby was a boy .
4. MARIE ANTOINETTE // 1777
The Gallic female monarch of “ Let them eat cake ” fame did n’t exactly have a peaceful route to motherhood . It reportedly take seven years for the vernal royal stag and her young husband , Louis XVI , to consummate their marriage , and the fact that they had n’t bring forth an heir in that time was a problem for the monarchy . When Marie finally did get significant , not only was she expected to give birth a boy , she was also dependent to theroyal traditionof giving birth in front of a singular crowd of courtiers to ensure no babe swapping or other curious line was happen . In the wordsof Marie ’s first chambermaidMadame Campan , when the time come for the nascency , “ it was impossible to move about the chamber , which was fill up with so motley a crew that any one might have fancied himself in some place of public entertainment . Two Savoyards [ people from Savoy ] climbed upon the article of furniture for a better sight of the Queen . ” Talk about awkward .
5. LUCILLE BALL // 1952
Due to the aforementioned scandalousness of direct a gestation publicly , it was freehanded news when Lucille Ball and her on - and - off - screen hubby Desi Arnaz want to write her second tangible - liveliness pregnancy into the storyline of their sitcom , I get laid Lucy . CBS electronic connection execs were n’t wild about the estimation of include a maternity in a show in which the married lead could only be demonstrate in twin beds , but pass on the couple the okay provided they did n’t in reality apply the Bible “ pregnant”—it was look at common at the time . Instead , the installment “ Lucy is Enceinte”(“Lucy is fraught ” in French ) used quaint ' 50s euphemisms for Ball ’s condition , like “ consecrate upshot . ” consultation loved it and the subsequent instalment following Ball and her eccentric ’s pregnancy , and Ball and Arnaz greeted Desi Arnaz Jr. in real life the same twenty-four hours the episode “ Lucy Goes to the Hospital ” air with44 million peoplewatching .
6. QUEEN VICTORIA // 1853
The British Empire ’s Queen Victoria was no unknown to her pregnancies pull the public center . She was set on in anassassination attemptwhile horseback riding in a horse - drawn carriage with her hubby Albert in 1840 , four months into carry her first child . Later , she became the first monarch to give giving birth under the influence of chloroform ( she used the stuff with her eighth and 9th babies)—a distinction that helped generalize bother - reducing anaesthesia for upper - year woman during childbirth .
7. ANNE MORROW // 1930
Famous American airman Charles Lindbergh and his married woman Anne Morrow ’s little package of delight was so thirstily predict , reporter camped out at the Morrow estate onward of his arrival and radio Stations of the Cross play songs fete the event . AsThe New York Timesdescribed ina 1932 articleabout Charles Jr. , “ Perhaps nowhere in the human race , at any metre in story , had a child been the object of such wide public interest as was the Lindbergh child . ” Sadly , the bombilation around the baby finally reverse pestilent . When Charles Jr. was 20 months old , he vanished from his second - level crib in a kidnapping that capture the nation for years . The Lindberghs ante up $ 70,000 in ransom money to have their toddler returned to them , but the boy ’s corpse were found a few month later . The humankind eventually convict of“the crime of the century”was pick up in 1934 .
8. FRANCES FOLSOM CLEVELAND // 1893
There was a bit of a scandal when bachelor-at-arms president Grover Cleveland proposed to Frances Folsom in 1885 — most peoplehad assumedthe president would be proposing to Folsom ’s widow female parent rather . So the 21 - yr - old First Lady understandably became an instant celebrity andfashion iconwhen she tie . ( She was so sought - after at public event , the chairwoman was concerned for her safety . ) As the first and only First Lady to give birth in the White House , “ Frankie”s pregnancies were just as attention - grabbing . Esther Cleveland , the only baby of a president ever have in the White House , arrived in 1893 .
