In 1817, for example, Princess Charlotte of Wales, King George IV’s twenty-one-year-old daughter, spent four days in labor. Her nine-pound boy was in a sideways position with a head too large for Charlotte’s pelvis. Only after the fiftieth hour of active labor did he finally emerge—stillborn. Six hours later, Charlotte herself died, from hemorrhagic shock. As she was George’s only child, the throne passed to his brother instead of her, then to his niece—which is how Victoria became queen.
story of princess charlotte
