Monaco's royal twins: only one to get the throne

Only one of Monaco's royal twin babies will get to be the principality's future ruler.

Her Serene Highness Princess Charlene, 36, gave birth to twins but the doctor who delivered them had no more than a symbolic hand in deciding the destiny of the Grimaldi dynasty.

Prince Albert II, the 56-year-old son of the late American actress Princess Grace, had some subjects worried by his long bachelorhood and his lack of an heir since his two previous children were born out of wedlock and are not eligible for the throne. Then prince married Charlene Wittstock, a Zimbabwe-born, South Africa-raised former Olympic swimmer, in 2011.

Now the tiny royal state on the Riviera has two reasons to rejoice.

"This is going to create an immense joy. Immense!" said Monaco resident Isabelle Roux. "Everyone is talking only about that."

"Two babies for the price of one. I think it's very good for the image," said Adelaide de Clermont-Tonnerre, editor-in-chief of the celebrity weekly Point de Vue. "With twins, there's always an extra interest."

The babies will be the first twins in the royal household, which dates to the 13th century, but they will not share the throne. Albert said the first one out will be first in line, but in this case, a boy and a girl emerged, and now the boy becomes the royal heir, reflecting the male priority of Monaco's laws of succession.

In principle, there's no medical reason a doctor would have an active role in deciding which newborn is delivered first, even in the case of a cesarean section, an expert said.

"The obstetrician will always deliver first the twin that presents itself first when the uterus is opened at the time of cesarean section," said Dr. Patrick O'Brien, spokesman for Britain's Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. "We don't decide in advance which twin to deliver first."

Prior to the twin's birth, Albert said he didn't know the sex of the twins yet.

"It is one of the beautiful surprises that life offers us," he told BFM-TV.

Only one woman has ever reigned over Monaco, Princess Louise-Hippolyte, but she died months after assuming the throne in 1731.

In 2002, with no heirs in sight, Monaco's parliament quietly changed its constitution to allow royal power to pass from a reigning prince with no descendants to his siblings - potentially Albert's two sisters. That ensured the continuation of the Grimaldi dynasty, one of the oldest royal houses in Europe, even if Albert never produced an heir.

Now the palace has decreed that 42 cannon shots will sound in December with the births, instead of the 21 that would boom for a single baby.

Other dynasties have produced royal twins. The crown prince and crown princess of Denmark became the parents of royal twins in 2011 - a boy and a girl. The boy, Prince Vincent, is fourth in the line of succession, ahead of sister Princess Josephine - but only because he emerged from the womb first.