Wednesday 24 July 2013

The royal baby's name is....

William and Kate no doubt have that rather hungover feeling that new parents get.  It's not too much champagne to wet the baby's head, it's not enough sleep. Even by day two the tiredness is so extreme that even if they have picked a name for the baby, summoning up enough brain power to remember it and say it out loud could be beyond them.  With everything focussed on looking after their new son, choosing how he will be called in the history books might be the furthest things from their minds.  But then past queen consorts could help them make the decision.
 
Most women who mothered kings kept to a pretty safe pattern.  They named their first born son after his paternal grandfather.  Matilda of Flanders got things going by giving number one son the same name as her husband's father.  Robert never became King of England but he did get granddaddy's Duchy of Normandy so life didn't turn out too bad.  Through the House of Norman to the House of Windsor, using the dad's dad's name is pretty much standard form.  And with Charlie a popular name in England at the moment already, a little bonny prince with that name might just tick all the boxes.

History is a sad affair and sometimes the first born didn't live long enough to be king.  In that case, second and third sons who became king brought mother's father's names into play or even just random choices.  But thankfully things are far better now and with a long and healthy life in front of him, this little Prince will need to check his history books to find out what mum and dad might have in store for him.

Charles fits all the rules but all rules need exceptions and history has several of those.  The first to go off message was Eleanor of Aquitaine who picked her own dad's name for son number one.  Eleanor of Provence also dared to be different and named her eldest son after England's saint, at that time Edward the Confessor.  And then we have Caroline of Ansbach whose husband, the future George II, was so fed up with his father that he named their first born after his wife's mother's best friend's husband. 

But the House of Windsor reverted to type.  George V named his first born Edward, after his own father.  Edward VII had gone for Albert Victor after both mum and dad and Victoria chose Albert Edward after her husband and her father.  Elizabeth II's choice of Charles surprised a lot of people and there are no Williams in the immediate family tree of either the Prince of Wales or Diana, Princess of Wales but these last two generations are the only ones to go off message.  And as William will most likely be king in 2066 giving him the same name as the Conqueror whose anniversary he will mark was a pretty historical gesture.  Or possibly just a name they liked.

Because that is the conundrum all queens and future queens face.  The world and the royal household all have opinions as to what your baby should be called.  But he remains Kate and William's little boy and whatever a mum and dad want to name their son is always the right choice.

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