Naming the royal princess

The safe arrival of Charlotte, the royal princess, has provided miles of column inches for the media. Chief among the points of interest was the name that the new great-granddaughter of the Queen. It is a rich source of income for the bookmakers, a source of delight for royal watchers, and of significant interest for genealogists.

As with most royal activity, the long shadow of Victoria falls over the royal princess and many of the traditions were established by her. She was the mother of nine, all of whom lived to adulthood – itself a remarkable fact in a time of high infant mortality – and had specific ideas about how they were to be named. She chose names that honoured her predecessors, and also secured her place in history as the founder of a dynasty.

The Hanoverian influence was strong, and as result the names of all the royal family of the Twentieth Century have had a significant Germanic flavour. Victoria (with questionable input from her consort Albert) named her children Victoria, Edward, Alice, Alfred, Helena, Louise, Arthur, Leopold and Beatrice. At first glance it might appear that Albert lost out a little by having none of his children named after him. However, they all had several names and the couple decided from the outset that every child would carry either the name Albert, or Victoria, or the variation according to gender. Only Alice (Maud Mary) escaped without this nineteenth-century hash-tagging. Victoria’s influence extended to her grandchildren as well, as she commanded that all of them either had Victoria or Albert as one of their names. Whilst some children rebelled, the practice stuck and the name Albert persists to the present as The Duke of York is named Andrew Albert Christian Edward.

In the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Century, deference played a large part in the naming of royal children, and few escaped without carrying the names of their grandparents. Whilst this was less ridiculous than the Georgian royal children (six Christian names were the norm, and the more the merrier*), children were still named by formula, especially if they were in the direct line of succession. This naming formula reached its zenith with King Edward VIII, who was doubly unlucky to be born as the direct heir to Victoria whilst she was still alive to bully his parents and carry Albert’s name, and to receive the names of all the patron saints of the British Isles for good measure. As a result he was christened Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David. He received Edward from his grandfather Edward VII, Albert from his great-grandfather the late Prince Consort, and Christian from his other great-grandfather, the King of Denmark. His family called him David. The Queen Was Not Amused.

The younger royal family are less burdened by such considerations. As dynastic marriage has become less of a pre-requisite for survival, the children and grandchildren of the Queen have married commoners. We are closer to Queen Savannah than you might think – the great-granddaughter of the Queen is fourteenth in line to the throne.

There has been a significant slimming down of names for the heir. Charles is named Charles Philip (his father) Arthur George (his grandfather). William is William Arthur Philip Louis (Louis after Mountbatten), and George is George Alexander Louis. The girls have got away with significantly less, with our present queen herself only bearing three names. She was christened Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Had she been regarded as a stronger contender for the throne on her birth (when it still seemed likely that her uncle would produce an heir) she might have been more elaborately named. Certainly Victoria would have been on the cards.

So what of the new princess, who is fourth in line to the throne? The the history of her father’s family is well represented, as she is named Elizabeth after the present queen and the Queen Mother. The choice of Diana has been a popular one, especially in the United States where the love for Charlotte’s late grandmother runs deep. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have displayed their unity by choosing Charlotte as her first name. The most recent family member to bear the name is her aunt Pippa. However, names are interpreted according to our own perceptions because the princess may also claim connection with her seven times great-grandmother, Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelitz, or her grandfather Charles. Names are just another way for us all to feel good about our past.

*King George III had a great-grandson named George William Christian Albert Edward Alexander Frederick Waldemar Ernest Adolphus…