[bapimporb]

...which hints at the gipsy woman's prophecy and the delight Herr von Knobelsdorff experiences upon Klaus Heinrich's birth...

Indeed. Although there's also the whole idea of royalty being 'special' in general: of being different from the rest of the people, apart. At it's most simplistic, Mann could be reminding us that that is nonsense and that royalty are human like the rest of 'us' – but the Grand Duke's attitude is certainly one of believing his own propaganda, if you will. Therefore, someone has to be to blame for the hand – yet his first son is not strong: not perfect in terms of health. Perhaps Mann is even hinting here at the problems of breeding from such a very small – almost incestuous – pool?

... I realized the symbolism of the constriction, while knowing little of the complete picture as Sybarite has explained. Even allowing for a lack of background knowledge, the symbolism has an almost, er, heavy handed approach and is rather obvious. I'm thinking that the novel is referred to as a fairy tale of sorts?

I think that the novel has been referred to in such a fashion, yes. You can see elements of that – indeed, mann makes specific reference to fairy tales (think it's a little later so won't go into detail here). There's also, in general, a sense that this very much a Mittel Europa romance.

I thought the next chapter, The Country, lovely and timeless:

The detail in it delightful. And, as with the rest of what I've read thus far, it's very gentle and quite soothing.

A couple of additional points: according to Anthony Heilbut (Mann's biographer, who I mentioned earlier), Kaiser Wilhelm II had a similarly deformed left hand. And such a deformity (together with left-handedness) was considered by some to indicate homosexuality and/or impotence.