In the late 1600’s, another Prince William was thought to be the hope of Great Britain. His uncle and aunt, King William III and Queen Mary II, had deposed his grandfather, King James II, and taken the throne of Great Britain. Unfortunately, these two cousins could not produce a child. William’s mother was Queen Mary’s younger sister, Anne, who was married to a Danish prince. Before William’s birth, Anne had already lost six children: two miscarriages, two stillbirths and two infants. She’d go on to lose ten more. While William survived, he wasn’t thriving and his health was precarious.
William’s uncle, the King, was his namesake and godfather. The King titled the newborn the Duke of Gloucester at his baptism, although the dukedom was never officially created. At three weeks old, William started having convulsions, likely caused by meningitis. This also caused hydrocephaly. To aid the boy’s health, his mother moved him to Craven House, which was surrounded by gravel pits. She believed these gravel pits would help his health, and surprisingly to this modern person, they did. William’s doctors treated him with quinine and had to aspirate liquid from his head, due to the hydrocephaly. He had trouble walking but his father would hit him with a birch until he climbed the stairs on his own.
