Shireen Baratheon

Princess Shireen Baratheon is a character in the third season. She is played by Kerry Ingram.

Background
She is the daughter of Stannis and Selyse Baratheon. Her father Stannis is the head of House Baratheon of Dragonstone and has declared himself King of the Seven Kingdoms. She is Stannis' only child and heir. She is the same age as Arya Stark.

Behind the scenes
Her inclusion in the series was uncertain; She appeared in the first season House Baratheon family tree issued by HBO and was then removed from the second season family tree. However, she was confirmed as a role for the third season. Child actress Kerry Ingram later tweeted that she had got the part.

In the books
In the Song of Ice and Fire novels, Shireen is the daughter of Stannis Baratheon and Selyse Florent. As an infant she contracted the dreaded disease known as Greyscale, which is usually fatal. It nearly killed her, but she survived, however it left a swath of flesh on her left cheek and neck visibly dead, grey and flaking. As a result (and possibly combined with her parents relatively unloving marriage) she became a sullen and quiet girl, withdrawn around all except for the castle's court jester, Patchface.

Stannis' opinion of Shireen is ambiguous. Certainly, he is as distant from his family as he is everyone else around him. Stannis is also deeply troubled by the fact that he has no male heir to carry on the Baratheon dynasty, thus Shireen doesn't seem to be very valuable to him. On the other hand, Stannis has remarked in the books that should he ever die in the war, he expects his soldiers to keep fighting to put Shireen on the throne.