James Middleton’s Firstborn Continues an Interesting Middleton Family and Royal Family Tradition
The baby’s name is equally as compelling.
James Middleton, the younger brother of the Princess of Wales, and his wife, Alizee, are first-time parents, welcoming son Inigo a few weeks ago—and Inigo’s birth follows an interesting trend, both for this generation of the Middleton family and the royal family: a boy is always born first.
The trend rings true for Kate, who gave birth to Prince George first; Pippa Middleton Matthews, who gave birth to son Arthur before welcoming two girls; and now James. In the royal family, William isn’t the only one to have a son first: Queen Elizabeth did the same (King Charles), as did Charles himself (William) and Princess Anne (who welcomed son Peter Phillips before daughter Zara), and Prince Harry continued the trend (Prince Archie). Of course, there are exceptions to the rule (Prince Edward had a daughter first, and Prince Andrew had two girls), but, for the most part, the boy first trend holds strong.
After announcing Alizee was pregnant in July, James confirmed Inigo’s birth yesterday: “He has been in our lives for just a few weeks but they have been the most special of my life getting to know our beautiful baby boy,” he wrote in a post to Instagram. “No matter how prepared I thought I was…I was not prepared for the overwhelming emotion of meeting Inigo for the first time and the love for my darling Alizee as we became three,” adding “We have settled into our new life as parents.”
People reports that the name Inigo is of Spanish/Basque origin and means “fiery.” In terms of pop culture, it’s probably most remembered as a part of the 1987 film The Princess Bride, where the character Inigo Montoya (played by Mandy Patinkin) famously delivered the line “Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.” (On a lighter note, 1987 is not only the year The Princess Bride was released, but also the year of James’ birth.)
