Britain’s new princess named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana

World Today

Royal BabyBritain’s newborn princess has been named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

LONDON — Britain’s newborn princess has been named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, royal officials said Monday.

The princess is the second child of Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge. The baby will be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge.

Charlotte, the feminine form of Charles, appears to be a nod to the newborn’s grandfather, Prince Charles. The middle names honor Queen Elizabeth II, the infant’s 89-year-old great-grandmother, and the late Princess Diana, William’s mother.

The princess is fourth in line to the throne after Charles, William and her older brother Prince George.
William and Kate introduced the baby princess to the world Saturday evening, just 12 hours after Kate checked into a London hospital to give birth. The baby weighed in at 8 pounds, 3 ounces (3.7 kilograms).

The couple had kept the world guessing about the name until after both sets of grandparents got a chance to visit Kensington Palace on Sunday to meet their granddaughter.

Bookmakers had taken huge amounts of bets on the name, and Charlotte had been a favorite choice, a front-runner alongside other guesses like Alice and Victoria.

Earlier Monday, Westminster Abbey’s bells pealed and gun salutes were fired across London in honor of the newborn princess. In a display of traditional pageantry, dozens of deafening volleys were fired from Hyde Park and the Tower of London to mark the occasion.

Royals traditionally look to their family tree for name ideas, and Britain’s royal history has seen several Charlottes. Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III, was a keen botanist and founded London’s Kew Gardens. Born in 1744, the queen had 15 children.

George IV also named his only child Charlotte in 1796, but she died in childbirth at the age of 21 in 1817, leading to a mass outpouring of grief in Britain.

Britain's Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, carries his newly-born daughter, his second child, in a car seat as he walks with his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, away from the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital in central London, on May 2, 2015.  The Duchess of Cambridge was safely delivered of a daughter weighing 8lbs 3oz, Kensington Palace announced. The newly-born Princess of Cambridge is fourth in line to the British throne. AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL

Britain’s Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, carries his newly-born daughter, his second child, in a car seat as he walks with his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, away from the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in central London, on May 2, 2015. (AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL)

This story was compiled with information provided by the Associated Press story.