Charlotte has been a hot favourite with bookies since day one - it's the female version of Charles which would keep granddad happy and it's Pippa Middleton's middle name so both sides of the family are included. It's also a well used name in the UK, hovering around the top 20 names for baby girls last year although in the last decade or so it's been much more popular and might be seen to have had its day.
Charles, Prince of Wales - will baby Cambridge have a version of his name, whether boy or girl?
(photo Dan Marsh)
Queen Charlotte was consort of England from 1761 to 1818 and until recent times she was the longest serving consort in British history, being overtaken in April 2009 by the Duke of Edinburgh. Her long tenure saw her produce fifteen children including eight sons who lived to adulthood but when she died in 1818 the succession was in crisis as at that point she had no legitimate grandchildren eligible to wear the crown. Just six months after her death, her fourth son became the father of Princess Victoria and Charlotte's family was safe on the throne once more.
Queen Charlotte with two of her fifteen children
And Queen Charlotte was very aware of the problems monarchies at that time faced in ensuring their surivival. She was a penpal of Marie Antoinette and had rooms prepared for the French Queen and her family to stay in as they prepared to flee the revolution. She is said to have been shocked by the execution of the French royals in 1793 and by the assassination of the King of Sweden the year before.
Marie Antoinette's execution in 1793 shocked Queen Charlotte who had been willing to offer refuge to the French royal family
Queen Charlotte was actually born Sophia Charlotte, the daughter of Duke Charles of Mecklenbueg-Strelitz and his wife, Elizabeth. Their duchy was small and wielded comparatively little power and the choice of the teenage Charlotte is said to have been influenced by the fact that she had virtually no experience of court politics and wouldn't get involved in affairs of state. George III had watched his own mother, Augusta, wrestle with power when he became heir to the throne aged just fourteen. Her relationship with one of the royal advisers, Lord Bute, was the subject of widespread gossip and led to a massive drop in her popularity. Charlotte was advised to be a more submissive wife and she seems to have agreed.
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George III, King of England from 1760 to 1820, and husband of Queen Consort Charlotte
Charlotte became known as a patron of the arts and music and was known for her love of plants and botany. She was also a devoted mother and she and George enjoyed a happy marriage. But his ill health affected her badly. After his first bout of porphyria - characterized then as madness - she was said to have noticeably aged, Like many wives and husbands now who find their spouses altered by conditions affecting their brains, emotions and psychology she worried about violent outbursts and the king's behaviour towards her. But she remained devoted to him and from 1811 she was his legal guardian as his illness became unstoppable. The kingdom was ruled by their eldest son as Prince Regent but the king himself remained in his queen's care.
Queen Charlotte in later years in a portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Queen Charlotte died in 1818 - perhaps the saddest part of the story is that the husband who had made her queen and remained faithful to her through almost sixty years of marriage didn't know she was dead. George III was too ill to understand his wife had died.
But Charlotte's life and reign as queen as overall a happy one and her legacy as a grandmother of royalty was cemented by Victoria's success in marrying her descendants into many of the European royal families that Charlotte had worried would wobble and fall in her own lifetime.
Queen Charlotte as a young woman. She began life as an obscure German princess but through her granddaughter, Victoria, she became an ancestress of many of Europe's modern royal families
If Charlotte doesn't appeal to the Cambridges there is another way they can honour Charles - the name Caroline is also a feminine form of his name and it's been used by two queen consorts of England. And of course it's really the same name as Carole - so a granddad and a granny would be very happy with a Princess Caroline of Cambridge.
The first queen consort of England to bear the name was Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline of Ansbach, always known by her last name and queen consort of George II from 1727 to 1737. She was also the daughter of minor German royalty - in her case daddy was Margrave John Frederick of Brandenberg-Ansbach and mummy was a princess called Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach. Her father died when she was three and her mother entered into a very unhappy second marriage before being widowed again soon afterwards and dying herself when Caroline was just thirteen.
Queen Caroline of England, consort from 1727 to 1737 was actually called Wilhelmina but the Cambridges are probably more likely to go for a female version of grandpa Charles' name than try a feminine version of William
The future queen had been ferried around Europe up until this point and experienced a fragmented and sad childhood. But at this point, things took a happier turn. She went to live with one of her mother's friends, Sophia Charlotte of Brandenburg, whose husband Frederick had just become king of Prussia. In this new home, Caroline was given an education in a court renowned for its intellectual prowess and daring. She became very close to Queen Sophia Charlotte and within a few years had gone from being a sad, lonely teenager to one of the most sought after brides in Europe. A real Cinderella.
Caroline ended up choosing the man who would become George II as her husband - they married in 1705 when his father was still the heir to Hanover and in the middle of negotiations that would secure the English crown for his family as well. Caroline and George had a large family and by 1714, when his father became King of England, they left Germany for their new home and soon established themselves as popular members of the new English royal family.
A later portrait of Caroline of Ansbach, queen of England, by Joseph Higmore
But her reign was far from plain sailing. She became queen consort in 1727 at the age of 44. By then her eldest son, Frederick, was 20 years old but had been kept in Hanover by his grandfather, George I, as a future rule of that state while his parents had lived in England as heirs to that throne. But Caroline's husband became ruler of both Hanover and England on George I's death and when they brought Frederick to London they found him head of a large opposing court. George II didn't trust his son and made his wife regent whenever he needed to leave England.
But Caroline was queen consort for only a decade. In 1737 she became seriously ill with complications from the birth of her last child over thirteen years earlier. Her womb ruptured leading to massive internal complications and she endured operations without anaesthetic over the next two weeks before dying of a ruptured bowel. There was widespread mourning at her death - she had proved to be a popular queen through her reign for her sensible nature, education and desire to integrate into the life of her adopted country.
Frederick, Prince of Wales and eldest child of Queen Consort Caroline - he never became king
The next Caroline to be queen of England was also popular but for very different reasons. Caroline of Brunswick married Caroline of Ansbach's great grandson, the future George IV, in 1795 and the marriage was famously a disaster from the very beginning. Caroline of Brunswick showed none of the charm, intellect and education that her forebear had brought with her. She had one child with her royal husband before they separated and she was surrounded by rumours of affairs and even illegitimate children for decades.
Caroline of Brunswick queen consort of George IV
But George was becoming increasingly unpopular with his future subjects - partly because of his expensive lifestyle and constant demands for cash from parliament. Caroline went into exile in Italy but when her daughter died in childbirth George didn't bother to tell her and she found out from a passing messengers. This act of cruelty further cemented opinion around the royal couple.
When George became king Caroline returned to England but he refused to let her into their coronation at Westminster Abbey. Caroline became even more popular as a result and a figurehead for opposition to George. She enjoyed this popularity for just a short time - Queen Caroline of England died in 1821, just over a year after becoming consort.
So a mixed bag for the Cambridges to choose from. While the names would honour several current family members, none of the Charlottes or Carolines who have ruled as consort has had a totally happy reign though all have been extremely popular. It will be interesting to see whether the Duke and Duchess choose a name that has been associated with public happiness and private sadness in equal measure.
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