Queen Elizabeth II's Pregnancy Photos Resurface in Viral Video: 'It's Mad'

Rare photos showing Queen Elizabeth II during her four pregnancies have gone viral on social media, leading users to voice their consternation at never having seen the royal while she was visibly pregnant before.

The post, uploaded to the video sharing social media platform TikTok by user spencer.royal, has been viewed over 700,000 times and received in excess of 74,000 likes since it was created.

The images used show Elizabeth, who died after reigning for 70 years at the age of 96 in September, during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s while she was carrying her four children. King Charles III was born in 1948, Princess Anne in 1950, Prince Andrew in 1960, and Prince Edward in 1964.

"It's mad I actually have never seen her pregnant all this time," wrote one user on the post.

"Never seen her pregnant, but she was gorgeous and still is no matter where she is 🥰," posted another.

Images of the late queen while pregnant are rare for two main reasons, the first being that once pregnancies became obviously visible, royal women traditionally retired from public duties until after they gave birth, and secondly that it was considered indecent to publish photographs of members of the royal family while they were expecting a baby.

The photographs that do exist show the monarch heavily dressed to obscure her tummy, or in the very early stages of pregnancy, where it was less obvious.

The royals' attitudes towards pregnancy and sharing information surrounding the births of their children have changed over time. For each of her pregnancies, the subject was deemed so sensitive in nature that they were not explicitly announced, instead, the public were told that the queen "will undertake no further engagements" past a specific point in the year. This was enough for newspapers to report she was expecting a child.

Elizabeth gave birth to all four of her children at home, after increasing periods of bed rest. For her first child, Charles, the then-Princess Elizabeth gave birth at her parents' home, as was traditional among the upper classes. This meant that the future Charles III was born at Buckingham Palace in a guest room named the Buhl Room. After a lengthy labor ,Charles was eventually delivered via Caesarean section.

The queen's only daughter, Princess Anne, was born at Clarence House, the home of the then-Princess Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip, on August 15, 1950. The house was used while large areas of Buckingham Palace were being renovated after damage sustained during the bombing raids of World War II.

Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, spent the day with her daughter and the new baby while a special messenger was sent to Balmoral Castle in Scotland to tell King George VI, who was reportedly out participating in a shoot on the estate.

The birth of Prince Andrew on February 19, 1960, marked the first royal baby born to a reigning monarch since Queen Victoria gave birth to her last child, Princess Beatrice, in 1857.

The prince was born in Buckingham Palace's Belgian Suite, a collection of rooms on the ground floor of the palace used to host official dignitaries. He was delivered using the "twilight sleep" method. This would see a mother induced into a state of semi-consciousness during delivery. The method has since been abandoned.

Queen Elizabeth II's last child, Prince Edward, was born on March 10, 1964. The prince's birth is reported to have been the only one at which Prince Philip was present, holding his wife's hand. Edward was also born at Buckingham Palace, and was the last royal baby to be delivered at the palace.

The queen's children subsequently abandoned the idea of home births, with all of her grandchildren instead being delivered in hospitals.

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