James Middleton’s Firstborn Continues an Interesting Middleton Family and Royal Family Tradition

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published 28 October 2023

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.)

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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