In his new memoir Spare, Prince Harry has revealed that he was circumcised as a baby, confirming what many have wondered for years.
Speaking about his return from the North Pole, Harry revealed he had "frostnipped" genitals which took a while to heal. He then explained that while many had believed that his late mother, Princess Diana, had been against circumcision, he was in fact "snipped as a baby".
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The NHS website defines male circumcision as 'the surgical removal of the foreskin'. The procedure is normally performed on a day patient basis and is mainly done for either religious or medical reasons.
Harry's revelation has us wondering if male infant circumcision is a tradition in the British royal family.
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© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince Harry with his wife Meghan
HELLO! spoke to Dr Mihail Evans, a historian who has written on the history of circumcision.
Mihail told us: "There have been claims of a ‘circumcision tradition’ in the royal family dating back to Queen Victoria or further but careful research (by Robert Darby) has shown that they are without foundation and only started circulating relatively recently.
"Given that Victoria’s last born male child, Prince Leopold (b.1853), was a haemophiliac, it is entirely improbable that he could have been circumcised.
"It is likely that some time after circumcision became popular in the UK in the 1890s that the royal family, like many upper and middle class British people, started to have their son’s circumcised. But there is no documentary evidence for any individual before King Charles."
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© Photo: Getty ImagesPrince Harry as a baby with brother William and father Charles
Mihail adds: "A 1952 profile of Charles by Geoffrey Bocca, stated that shortly after birth 'he was vaccinated, inoculated against diphtheria and circumcised'.
"This is likely based on inside information he obtained while researching his portrait of the royal couple.
"The operation is now understood to have been performed by Dr Jacob Snowman, a well known London physician who was am Orthodox Jew and mohel (a religious circumciser). He was very proud of having been asked to perform this task and was open about the fact of his having done so. The matter was eventually put into print several decades after the event."
It is not known if Princes William and Harry have continued the tradition with their own sons. William is dad to Prince George and Prince Louis, while Harry shares his son Archie Harrison with his American wife Meghan Markle.
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