Introducing the Prince Yeong-hwan
The king and queen of Corea welcomed their first child, a son, on April 18.
It seems only yesterday when this author first reported on the mysterious new queen of Corea
Now I must admit my eyes are going misty that we have come along since then, we have met the queen, she’s no longer mysterious. Her Majesty is, in fact, quite marvelous
And now the kingdom is rejoicing at the birth of the Prince Yeong-hwan
The prince royal of Corea was born on April 18 at 4:27am. The king was present at the birth, and the queen was attended by her appointed surgeons.
No traditional easels were propped up here in this kingdom. Gwangyeongjeon Palace in Busan will not be thronged by crowds of well-wishers wishing to take a photo of a piece of paper framed on an easel.
No, the announcement was simply released by the Royal Public Affairs Office, hand-delivered in luxurious cream cardstock to all establishments of the press.
That’s the cardstock Corea’s newspapers have published. All the papers were late and had cream and blue front pages today. Once that cardstock was on hand, it was a race to the printers.
Needless to say, I’m going to have mine framed.
His Royal Highness the Prince Yeong-hwan: what’s in a name?
Yeon. What a lovely name. I’ve been told that the hangul of Yeon means several things like kite and year? And the hanja means “beautiful” and “graceful.”
It’s pronounced “yun.” But never mind, we’re not going to use that name. We’re just lucky they shared the name, and so soon! When I was fortunate enough to interview the queen last October about the Eomoni Foundation, I knew the Her Majesty was already prepared for her baby. Name included!
And they don’t need to appear like they’re considering the name carefully: they’re the king and queen. They only need to please themselves.
Unlike their European counterparts and their three to four names, Corean royalty traditionally have monosyllabic names.
Since the Goryeo dynasty, monosyllabic names were used by (and at one point restricted to) the royal family.
But it has since been more used, though still uncommon. Parents simply prefer two syllables to one for their child’s given name. More options for the hanja characters.
Some celebrities and idols have monosyllabic screen names. However, if you do come across a Corean with a monosyllabic name, it’s very likely it’s a family tradition, and also very likely a family tradition proudly continued because it was a granted royal privilege for service or contribution as vassal.
The prince’s title and historic name
Every single one of us will refer to the little prince by his title, the Prince Yeong-hwan.
Yeong means perpetual, eternal, brave, glory, honor, hero. It’s the first name of Jo Yeong, the king’s Unbreakable Sword and Captain of the Royal Guard. There’s a reason that name is popular, usually combined with another character, and not just because the mother was crushing on Jo Yeong.
Hwan means shining, brilliant, lustrous, understandably a traditional addition for royal titles, and often given to first sons. Before he became king, His Majesty’s title was Prince Dae-hwan, as was his father’s before him.
Popular speculation is that the little prince’s title honors Jo Yeong.
Yeon is also the personal or birth name of Jangsu of Goguryeo, who reigned in a golden age when Goguryeo was one of the great powers in Asia, a veritable empire he expanded by conquest and ruled with justice and diplomacy. Jangsu successfully perpetuated what his father Gwanggaeto the Great started: a loosely unified Three Kingdoms.
He perfected and innovated many of the kingdom’s political, economic and institutional systems.
He also had the longest reign in East Asian history, ruling for 79 years until he died at age 98.
And best of all, it was Yeon, or Jangsu, who shortened the kingdom’s name from Goguyreo to Goryeo, which evolved to how we know it today: Corea.
Now I’ve seen some papers say the little prince royal has quite big shoes to fill. I say, his parents simply gave him a good name.
And with parents like that, I’m sure His Royal Highness will be well-equipped to be a great king like his namesake, like his father, when he’s conferred as Crown Prince.
This is the first baby born to the royal family of Corea since His Majesty himself was born thirty four years ago. Sadly, the late queen had been in poor health, and soon passed when the king was only three years old.
The whole kingdom held its collective breath when the queen was flown to CorGen. Though the media was promised a press conference, none came.
The palace website banner has been updated about the queen’s health and the newspapers fairly flew off the stands at the announcement.
We still wait to hear from Their Majesties, but everyone is content to know the queen and baby are safe and healthy.
The Royal Public Affairs Office did give us a few tidbits. The palace had received 5734 gifts from friends of the royal family (royalty, aristocracy and democratic leaders of the world), Corean organizations and citizens, and international well-wishers.
Corea also woke up and spent the day being serenaded by bells. There is still no standard for the bell ringing, but all proposals have been reviewed and approved by the palace. The result was an experience I won’t soon forget. It was like an all-day concert! Who knew bells could sound so lovely?
Corea’s towns and cities coordinated with each other so that their bell ringing would be a veritable symphony. I've seen some social media posts of people who "followed the bells" and enjoyed their drive.
Come evening, LED and clever engineering lit up several buildings and entire blocks across the cities of Corea. Blue for the prince, blue for the queen, and black and gold to celebrate the royal family.
And if you drive around, you might feel overwhelmed at all the flags. Every home, every establishment flew the flag of Corea.
Needless to say, the flower festivals are gearing up to become a celebration of the prince's birth. But I have a feeling this contingency has already been in the plans long ago!
I am so tremendously happy. Congratulations, Your Majesties!
“It seems only yesterday when this author first reported on the mysterious new queen of Corea”
On this day last year, in fact! Corea Stories is one year old today!
It’s been crazy! Thank you all for your reviews and notes, here, on AO3 or on Twitter, you awesome people.
