Princess Charlotte General Chat

[amabel]

no

[Curryong]

No, I don't believe that Charlotte was named after a remote ancestor of the Spencers. Charles has all his life had a great interest in the George III period and Charlotte may have been a nod towards the tragic Charlotte Duchess of Brunswick, heiress to the British throne, who died in childbirth, and who was herself named after her grandmother Queen Charlotte.

However, it's just as likely to be the feminine version of Charles POW, just as her middle name came from her grandmother Diana, a graceful compliment to both William's parents, leaving neither out.

[amabel]

Do you mean Princess Charl of Wales, the bouncing girl who was indeed heiress to the thorne and died in childbirth?   She was a bit of a mixed blessing for the RF, an improvement on her uncles and popular but silly..
.  I'd say that it s simlply that Charlotte is a royal name.. there have been lots of them and it si also of course the femimine verison of Charles. if I were Kate I'd insist that they stck in my name as well.

[Curryong]

^ Yes, Charlotte was the Duchess of Brunswick, married to Leopold, later King of the Belgians. It is a Royal name and one that was common among the Hanovarian Georges' wives and daughters. However, it hasn't been used as a first name in the BRF for quite some time, and I think it's a nod to Charles myself, to keep him happy because Diana was among the names.

[Trudie]

It could be that the name touched both sides of the family. My daughters middle name Mary was chosen as it was the name of my great grandmother and my grandmother in law but I believe it was chosen in honor of her paternal grandfather.

[sandy]

I still don't think she was named after Charles. Charlotte is a name in both sides of the family

[amabel]

so right her grandfather is Charles and sh'es charlotte and its not a reference to him

[LouisFerdinand]

Charlotte may have been in honor of Queen Charlotte, the spouse of King George III.

[Curryong]

The Cambridges may have named Charlotte after Queen Charlotte. However, I just don't see the Cambridges, or any of the younger royals huddled over family trees in the library at Windsor castle  to gain inspiration for a forthcoming baby name.

Like most parents the Cambridges IMO would have primarily gone for a traditional name they liked. Charlotte is reasonably popular among the British upper classes so William would have been used to it when growing up.

Secondly, my intuition is that William had long determined that if he had a daughter then Diana would figure in her names somewhere. As Charles might have felt a bit peeved if there had been no nod to him in the name but one to his late ex wife, I believe that Charlotte was chosen because it's the female equivalent of his name, not because of some long gone ancestress.

I just don't believe that William or Kate are history buffs, certainly not to the extent that they would be searching back centuries for a daughter's name.

[sandy]

so right her grandfather is Charles and sh'es charlotte and its not a reference to him

The Cambridges never publicly said she was named after her grandfather. But Charlotte is not the name Charles. They could have named George "Charles." Princess Charlotte, Queen Charlotte are historical characters. And Charlotte is name in the Middleton family. If they wanted to honor Charles then "Charles" would have been the first name or a name assigned to their male child.

Certainly, the boys saw portraits of Queen Charlotte their ancestress in their ancestral home. They don't have to read books to discover this.

[Curryong]

Charlotte is the feminine of the name Charles.

I doubt very much that portraits of Queen Charlotte would have been hanging on the walls of Highgrove or the London apartment of Diana at KP, which is where the two boys spent most of their childhood.

I don't think Queen Charlotte would be on the walls of Sandringham either. There are only a couple of portraits of Charlotte as Queen and they are at Windsor. I can't see the boys going round at Windsor pointing at portraits and asking who the subjects were.

It's been said that Charles has regarded his name (a Stuart name) as unlucky and ill-omened. He wouldn't therefore have regarded the naming of a baby as Charles with unalloyed pleasure. I have read that he wished he'd been christened George.

I think that Charles can be a very difficult and rather prickly personality. Because William is semi-reliant on him for income and he is his sole remaining parent my view is that William informed him of his daughter's names but in case Charles should feel that it was a dig at him, told him that he and Kate had chosen a name they really liked (and is Pippa's middle name) and it was Charlotte. This Charles accepted as a compliment to him, which it probably was because of the above reasons.

[sandy]

There are portraits of Queen Charlotte at BP. And then there was the play and film, the Madness of King George, all in the boys lifetime. I don't think William and Harry are intellectuals but I think they heard about their ancestor, who appears in several branches of their genealogies.

Charles could have been a Middle Name for George and no "bad luck."

I don't think the boys are in fear and trembling of Charles, especially since William apparently spends more time with his in-laws.

[Curryong]

I think Charles heartily dislikes his name and wouldn't want it for his grandson.

I don't believe Charles spends much time with his grandchildren at all nor does William spend that much time with him. Charles's children aren't in fear and trembling of him and get on with him to a certain extent.

However, I do think there's a certain amount of catering to their father's moods and wishes that both sons do, even today, as they are semi-reliant on generous yearly allowances from him. Earlier, for public consumption anyway, they accepted Camilla because of their father's wishes, whatever their private feelings.

We will just have to agree to disagree about the source Princess Charlotte's name(s) as I keep to my view that those names were a complement of her paternal grandparents, a liking for the name from both parents and maybe a nod to Pippa as well, rather than a trawl back to the late 18th century and a Queen neither Kate nor William have ever expressed any interest in.

[amabel]

I hardly think Charles is such a meanie that he wodl be annoyed at the name Diana being used.. and clearly Will and K did't want to have a logn string of names and stuck to 3 for each child.  (and I'm sure htat  Will loves his father and is hardly going to feel that he does not want to use his name for one of the grandchildren.. ).
with George, clearly George was the name that was for him to be called by, a trad royal name.. (and oene of C's names too).  Alexander is for the queen and Louis is one of Wil's names.
with Charltote, again Charlotte is a ncie name and a royal one.. and it honours Charles  (nad Is Philippa's middle name)  Eliz is for the queen and is Kate's middle name and Diana is for Diana.
I imagine that if Charles was one of georges names people would say it was for Charles II...

[sandy]

With the spin "moving on" by sympathizers/writers/relatives of Charles I think there would be some ruffled feathers of the baby having a middle name Diana. And there seemed to be fear in some circles or emotions of the baby being named Diana.

I don't think people would have cared if George were called Charles. Some just ignore historical events/people like Charles II.

[amabel]

With the spin "moving on" by sympathizers/writers/relatives of Charles I think there would be some ruffled feathers of the baby having a middle name Diana. And there seemed to be fear in some circles or emotions of the baby being named Diana.

I don't think people would have cared if George were called Charles. Some just ignore historical events/people like Charles II.

noboby was going to be bothered by the baby being called Diana.  It was expected that that would be among her names. Just as no one wold be bothered if George had had Charles amongh his names
Double post auto-merged: April 12, 2017, 07:13:35 PM

Charlotte is the feminine of the name Charles.

I doubt very much that portraits of Queen Charlotte would have been hanging on the walls of Highgrove or the London apartment of Diana at KP, which is where the two boys spent most of their childhood.

I don't think Queen Charlotte would be on the walls of Sandringham either. There are only a couple of portraits of Charlotte as Queen and they are at Windsor. I can't see the boys going round at Windsor pointing at portraits and asking who the subjects were.

It's been said that Charles has regarded his name (a Stuart name) as unlucky and ill-omened. He wouldn't therefore have regarded the naming of a baby as Charles with unalloyed pleasure. I have read that he wished he'd been christened George.

I

never read any of this.  I would have expected a romantic reactioinary type like Charles to be fond of the Stuarts and to like the name Charles,... FWIW I think that the Cambs should have givn George another Xtan name and stuck In iehter Charles or Michael for Kate's father..  But I suppose as they were likelty to have 2 kids, the second one could have Charles or charlotte as one of the names..

[sandy]

Well I looked at some boards before the second child was born and there were people who did not want the second to be a girl because she might have Diana in her name. I'm serious about this. I could not believe this was going on.

[amabel]

Sadny, I believe you but I'm rather surprised.  However I meant that in general the RF and people in general who know about royals would have expected Di's first Granddagther to have Diana as one of her names.. and I'm sure that Charles wuodl have expected it
I know there were people on discussion boards wo said it wouldn't be a good idea to give a daughter the name Diana as her "chosen name", which I think is a fair point.  I think it would be a lot of "burden" on a new litlte girl to be "Princess Diana of cambridge" when Di was such a beautiful and iconic figure.  But I don't believe that Wil and K would have ever chosen Di as a first name.

[TLLK]

Charlotte is the feminine of the name Charles.

Yes it is a@Curryong and considering that it is a traditional name with a royal history and it's her maternal aunt's middle name, I'm not surprised to see that it was used by the couple.

[LouisFerdinand]

Princess Maud of Wales, future Queen Consort of Norway, was Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria.

[amabel]

Charlotte is the feminine of the name Charles.

Yes it is a@Curryong and considering that it is a traditional name with a royal history and it's her maternal aunt's middle name, I'm not surprised to see that it was used by the couple.

True, I certainly don't thnk that Will and Kate are that well versed in history, even royal history that they would know all the Royla charlottes of the past.  However they probably have a rough idea that there was a queen Charlotte, and it is of course a nod to the baby's grandfather.

[sandy]

I don't think Will is that ignorant about his ancestors. There was even a play and film featuring Queen Charlotte. He certainly would be aware of that if nothing else. He has about three lines of Queen Charlotte in his ancestry. He is not stupid.

[amabel]

He's not too biright either.  And I doubt if he's watched the Madness of King George..

[sandy]

He might have he did go to University which seems to be fussed over by the media.

[amabel]

What has going to Univeristy got to do with seeing a rather dull film?