A royal bastard is a child of a reigning monarch born out of wedlock. The king might have a child with a mistress, or the legitimacy of a marriage might be questioned for reasons concerning succession.
Notable royal bastards include Robert, Earl of Gloucester, son of Henry I of England, Henry FitzRoy, son of Henry VIII of England, and the Duke of Monmouth, son of Charles II. The Anglo-Norman surname Fitzroy means son of a king and was used by various illegitimate royal offspring, and by others who claimed to be such. In medieval England, a bastard's coat of arms was marked with a bend or baton sinister.Given-Wilson, Chris, and Alice Curteis, The Royal Bastards of Medieval England (1995), pp. 52, 48-49.
Notable fictional examples include Mordred, the villainous illegitimate son of King Arthur. Some fictional portrayals of royal bastards are less negative, such as the character of Philip the Bastard in William Shakespeare's King John.
Ancient Rome Unlike medieval royalty, the Romans were more concerned with continuity of family name than with bloodline.Catharine Edwards, The Politics of Immorality in Ancient Rome, pp. 51–52. If a man recognized a child as his, this was accepted by law, and the issue of who the biological father was did not arise. Children not recognized could be exposed or brought up as a slave. For example, Emperor Claudius initially accepted a girl as his daughter, but later rejected her and had her exposed. Emperors often adopted their successors. There are no recorded examples of aristocrats in classical times accusing other aristocrats of being illegitimate, as was common in later periods.
Caesarion was possibly the illegitimate son of Julius Caesar by Cleopatra, which would also make him Caesar's only known child besides Julia.
Belgium A book published in February 2011 claimed that Albert II of Belgium has an illegitimate half-sister named Ingeborg Verdun, the daughter of King Leopold III and Austrian-Belgian ice skater Liselotte Landbeck.Leo Van Audenhaege, From Küssnacht to Argenteuil
In October 2020, the illegitimate daughter of Albert II of Belgium was legally acknowledged after DNA testing to be titled Princess Delphine of Belgium by the Belgian Court of Appeal. Ms Delphine Boël intends to change her surname to her father's Saxe-Coburg.Daughter of Belgium's former king wins long battle to become Princess; Reuters; By Marine Strauss, October 2, 2020
Flanders and Brabant Older illegitimate children founded important family branches, as reported in the Trophées de Brabant: tome 1:Trophées de Brabant: tome 1, réparti en dix livres: Christophe Butkens - Christ. Leger, 1637 -addition contenant la succession de aucuns bastards de Brabant; p. 652 House of Witthem, legitimised son of John II, Duke of Brabant. House of Brant, legitimised son of John III, Duke of Brabant. House of Glymes, legitimised son of John II, Duke of Brabant. House of Nassau-Corroy, legitimised son of Henry III of Nassau-Breda House of Dongelberghe, legitimised son of John I, Duke of Brabant. House of Mechelen, legitimised son of John I, Duke of Brabant.
England, Scotland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom English kings
Papal legates decree in 786
In the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy then Kingdom, descendants of kings were called aethelings, whether legitimate or not. When a kingship became vacant, a Witan would meet to name an aetheling as king. Papal legates visited the great hall of Offa of Mercia in 786 and decreed that an English king "must not be begotten in adultery or incest" and that "he who was not born of a legitimate marriage" could not succeed to the throne.John Cannon, Ralph Griffiths, The Oxford Illustrated History of the British, p. 37 It is likely no rule of succession had set as to bastardy before this decree.
Anglo-Saxon kings Two Anglo-Saxon kings of England had sons who faced opposition to their succession seemingly based on the status of their mother. Leading figures in the kingdom refused to accept the succession of Æthelstan, eldest son of Edward the Elder. Some medieval chroniclers writing centuries later describe his mother, Ecgwynn, as a concubine or of low social status, while others portray her as a noble wife, and some modern historians have attributed the challenge to his succession as related to questions of the status of his mother. Edward the Martyr, eldest son of Edgar the Peaceful, likewise faced opposition due to the nature of his birth. A contemporary charter calls the king's later spouse his 'lawful wife' and seems to afford her son, Edmund, a higher status than his elder half-brother, Edward. Later chroniclers are contradictory, one making Edward an illegitimate child born to a nun, another calling his mother a noblewoman wed to his father. Scholarly opinion is divided whether Edward was born to an extramarital liaison or simply bore lesser status because his mother had not been consecrated as queen, unlike the powerful Ælfthryth, mother of his younger half-brothers.
Henry I Henry I had about two dozen recognized illegitimate children, including Robert, 1st Earl of Gloucester, Sybilla of Normandy (wife of King Alexander I of Scotland), Maud FitzRoy (wife of Conan III, Duke of Brittany), Constance FitzRoy, Mabel FitzRoy, Alice FitzRoy, Gilbert FitzRoy, and Emma. "It might be permissible to wonder how it was that Henry I managed to keep track of all his illegitimate children, but there is no doubt that he did so," wrote historian Given-Wilson.
Stephen Gervase de Blois (written variously, often in latest books Gervais of Blois), an illegitimate son of Stephen, was Abbot of Westminster from 1138 to 1157.Chris Given-Wilson, Alice Curteis, The royal bastards of medieval England (1984). Stephen had two other illegitimate children from the same mother – Ralph and Americ of Blois.
Henry II Henry II had several illegitimate children, most notably Geoffrey, Archbishop of York and William Longespée, 3rd Earl of Salisbury (who inherited his earldom from his wife's father, William of Salisbury). William's mother was Ida de Tosny, while Geoffrey's may have been called Ykenai.
Richard I Richard the Lionheart had at least one illegitimate child: Philip of Cognac, who died young (possibly in battle). He features as Philip the Bastard in Shakespeare's King John.
John John had at least five children with mistresses during his first marriage to Isabelle of Gloucester, two of whom are known to have been noblewomen. He had eight or more others including Jeanne/Joan, Lady of Wales (wife of Llywelyn the Great) and Richard FitzRoy.
Henry IV Henry IV had one known illegitimate child, a son named Edmund by an unknown woman. Edmund was born in 1401, after Henry overthrew his cousin Richard II but before his second marriage to Joan of Navarre occurred in 1403. Edmund took holy vows in 1412 (the year before his father's death), at which point he disappears from the historical record.
Edward IV of England Edward IV had at least five illegitimate children, including Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle (later Lord Deputy of Calais) by his mistress Elizabeth Lucy.
Perkin Warbeck closely resembled Edward IV and claimed to be his son Richard of Shrewsbury; it has been theorised that Perkin was one of Edward's illegitimate children.
Richard III acceded to the throne after Parliament declared his brother's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville invalid and thus all of their children illegitimate. This ruling, known as Titulus Regius, was decided on the grounds that Edward had allegedly been pre-contracted (which was considered to be legally binding) to marry another woman, Eleanor Butler (née Talbot), at the time of their marriage. Most historians consider this to be nothing more than a dubious pretext for Richard to usurp the throne from his nephews and it was quickly repealed under Henry VII as he had married Edward IV's eldest surviving child Elizabeth of York.
Richard III Richard III had at least two illegitimate children: John of Gloucester (Captain of Calais for a time) and Katherine, second wife of William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
Henry VII Sir Roland de Velville was, in one account, the illegitimate son of Henry VII and "a Breton lady."
Henry VIII
Henry VIII had one acknowledged illegitimate child, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset. As he had many mistresses, historians put forward six other likely instances including the mercenary Thomas Stukley, the poet Richard Edwardes and two of Mary Boleyn's children.
His daughter Elizabeth was in then Catholic canon law illegitimate, as Henry had married her mother, Anne Boleyn having divorced Queen Catherine; it was lawful under his new Anglican legal system.
Scottish kings Máel Coluim mac Alaxandair (fl. 1124–1134) was an illegitimate son of Alexander I of Scotland (r. 1107–1124) who unsuccessfully claimed his throne. William the Lion (r. 1165–1214) had at least 6 illegitimate children, including Isabella Mac William. Alexander II's (r. 1214–1249) illegitimate daughter Marjorie married Alan Durward. Robert the Bruce (r. 1306–1329) had possibly six illegitimate children, including Robert Bruce, Lord of Liddesdale. Robert II (r. 1371–1390) had 13+ illegitimate children, including Thomas Stewart, later Bishop of St Andrews. Robert III (r. 1390–1406) at least two illegitimate children, including John, ancestor of the Shaw Stewart baronets. James II (r. 1437–1460) had an illegitimate son, John Stewart, Lord of Sticks (d. 1523). James IV (r. 1488–1513) had at least 5 illegitimate children with his mistresses, including Alexander Stewart, Archbishop of St Andrews, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray and Lady Janet Stewart, la Belle Écossaise. James V (r. 1513–1542) had at least 9 illegitimate children with his mistresses, including Lady Jean Stewart (by Elizabeth Bethune), Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Orkney (by Euphemia Elphinstone) and James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray (by Margaret Erskine).
Kings of Great Britain Charles II Charles II fathered at least 20 illegitimate children, of whom he acknowledged 14.George Edward Cokayne, The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain, Vol. 6, p. 706. The most famous of these was James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, his son by Lucy Walter. After Charles' death, Monmouth led a rebellion against his uncle James II. Charles had no legitimate children who survived childhood.
When Nell Gwynn brought her first child to Charles, she told it, "Come hither you little Bastard and speak to your father!".The Museum of foreign literature, science, and art, Volume 14 edited by Robert Walsh, Eliakim Littell, John Jay Smith Charles responded, "Nay, Nellie, do not call the child such a name", to which Gwynn replied "Your Majesty has given me no other name by which I may call him." Charles then named the child "Beauclerk" and bestowed the title "Earl of Burford".
Illegitimate children of Charles II By Lucy Walter (c.1630–1658): James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth (1649–1685), found and executed nine days after skirmish of his forces' Battle of Sedgemoor.
By Elizabeth Boyle, Viscountess Shannon (1622–1680): Charlotte FitzRoy, Countess of Yarmouth (1650–1684), By Catherine Pegge Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth (1657–1680), known as "Don Carlo", created Earl of Plymouth (1675) Catherine FitzCharles (born 1658; she either died young or became a nun at Dunkirk)Hutton, p. 125 By Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland (1641–1709) Anne Lennard, Countess of Sussex (1661–1722). She may have been the daughter of Roger Palmer, but Charles accepted her. Charles FitzRoy, 2nd Duke of Cleveland (1662–1730). Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton (1663–1690). Ancestor of the Dukes of Grafton. Charlotte Lee, Countess of Lichfield (1664–1717). George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland (1665–1716).