Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting - Hardcover

by Carolyn Harris (Author)

How royal parents dealt with raising their children over the past thousand years, from keeping Vikings at bay to fending off paparazzi.

William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, are setting trends for millions of parents around the world. The upbringing of their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, is the focus of intense popular scrutiny. Royalty have always raised their children in the public eye and attracted praise or criticism according to parenting standards of their day.

Royal parents have faced unique challenges and held unique privileges. In medieval times, raising an heir often meant raising a rival, and monarchs sometimes faced their grown children on the battlefield. Conversely, kings and queens who lost their thrones in wars or popular revolutions often found solace in time spent with their children. In modern times, royal duties and overseas tours have often separated young princes and princesses from their parents, a circumstance that is slowly changing with the current generation of royalty.

Author Biography

Carolyn Harris teaches history at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. She received her Ph.D in European history from Queen's University in 2012. Her writing concerning the history of monarchy in the U.K., Europe, and Canada has appeared in numerous publications including the Globe and Mail, Ottawa Citizen, Smithsonian Magazine and the BBC News Magazine, and she is the author of Magna Carta and Its Gifts to Canada and Queenship and Revolution in Early Modern Europe: Henrietta Maria and Marie Antoinette. She lives in Toronto.