Countess of Rothesay's Twin Babies

Dolls representing the Countess of Rothesay, Alice, and her twin babies. Color plate after an illustration by Alan Wright from Frances H. Lows’, Queen Victorias Dolls, George Newness, London, 1894.

The Royal title, “Duke of Rothesay” is a dynastic title of the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707, of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and now of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Today’s current Duchess of Rothesay is William's wife Catherine, Princess of Wales.

The way royal succession works in the UK today is through absolute primogeniture, so, should twins be born into the royal family now, it would only matter which came first, not whether they were boys or girls.

Since half of the dolls in the young Princess’ Collection are courtiers named after people in Kensington palace that perhaps were friends of the princess or historic figures, it is no surprise that there would be a Duchess of Rothesay courtier. The Princess named the Duchess, Alice, and featured her with two adorable twin babies. The last twin heirs to the throne were in Scotland - Alexander and James Stewart, born 16 October 1430 to King James I and his queen, Joan Beaufort.

Here is a snapshot of the Countess of Rothesay’s twin babies from the collection. Made of cloth, one is dressed in silk satin and the other in a simpler cotton gown. Speculation is the one in silk is the heir apparent to the throne.

Our inspired version of the babies are carved in wood and feature one piece jointed legs and floating joint wood stub arms. The costumes, inspired by the originals, are in keeping with our costume specifications; both are made from 100% natural fabrics.

Featured here is Last summer’s UFDC dinner souvenir doll, Leontine Heberle, holding our carved twin babies.

As with all our dolls, we took the liberty of making one a boy and one a girl wearing blue and pink respectively even though pink and blue did not arrive as colors for babies until the mid-19th century, and were not used as gender signifiers until just before World War I.

The baby boy has slightly darker brown hair and a single wavy curl in the middle of his forehead while the girl has tiny pin curls framing her face.

The dolls are packaged in their own box with the cover illustration from the Frances Low book and their own wooden COA. We are currently in the process of designing a prototype for the Countess of Rothesay, because naturally, the twin babies need their mother.

You can purchase the Countess of Rothesay’s twin babies HERE.