A royal bastard is a child of a reigning monarch born out of wedlock. The king might have a child with a mistress, or the legitimacy of a marriage might be questioned for reasons concerning succession.
Notable royal bastards include Robert, Earl of Gloucester, son of Henry I of England, Henry FitzRoy, son of Henry VIII of England, and the Duke of Monmouth, son of Charles II. The Anglo-Norman surname Fitzroy means son of a king and was used by various illegitimate royal offspring, and by others who claimed to be such. In medieval England, a bastard's coat of arms was marked with a bend or baton sinister.