Kate Middleton, The Duchess of Cambridge. Photograph by Tom Soper
The Duchess of Cambridge has left hospital after her bout of severe sickness related to her pregnancy, but with with a history of twins in the Middleton family, and cases of hyperemesis gravidarum often being related to twins, what would happen to the British throne if the Duchess has twins?
The sixteen Commonwealth nations have already agreed to a change in the laws of succession for the British throne, so that the first born child, boy or girl, would become heir to the throne, replacing various centuries-old laws including the Bill of Rights Act 1689, the Act of Settlement 1701 and the Royal Marriages Act 1772. The new laws will also remove the ban on Catholics becoming heir to throne, even with the British monarch being head of the Anglican Church since Henry VIII’s quarrel with the Pope in the 16th century.
But what about twins? If the twins are born naturally then the first to be born would become heir. The real constitutional difficulty would arise if the twins were born by caesarian section, where the doctors involved essentially choose which baby to deliver first. Then the British monarchy would truly be in the hands of another.
Even with a few medical pointers towards twins, however, the chances of the Duchess having twins remains only around 2.5%, and so this remains speculation for the time being.