Which other queen could provide inspiration for a royal baby name?

The poll's now closed and the consensus seems to be that a baby boy will be George but a little girl will have a totally different name from the favourites like Elizabeth and Diana.  Seventy per cent of the votes were for the something else category so this week's poll will offer a choice or two or three of something else when it comes to naming girls.

While having a little Cambridge princess with the same name as one of the next generation of princesses might be unlikely, the close links between royal families around Europe could mean that the Duke and Duchess take inspiration from one of the current crop of rulers for their baby.  With both Holland and now Belgium getting new queens this year, might the royal couple go for Maxima or Mathilde in their honour?

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands - could England get a Queen Maxine in her honour?
(photo Holger Motzkau)

 

 

There are particularly close links between England and Norway after Edward VII' daughter Maud married the man who would become Haakon VII and the first king to rule Norway as a separate kingdom from Sweden and Denmark since the 14th century. 

 

 

The English princess, Maud of Wales, became Queen of Norway in 1905 and is seen here with her husband, King Haakon VII, and their son, later Olav V

 

As such, Maud is seen as the first modern Norwegian queen so could the Cambridges look to their Scandinavian cousins for inspiration - especially as fashionistas point to a vogue for Nordic names this year?

 

 

 

Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway

(photo Frankie Fouagnthin)

 

There are also Victorian links between the Spanish and English monarchies after Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Victoria Eugenie, married King Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1906.  Known as Ena, she had a hard time as Queen Consort of Spain surviving an assassination attempt immediately after her marriage and watching massive social change within her adopted country.  In 1931 her husband went into exile.  Queen Ena spent the rest of her life in Europe and died in Lausanne.

 

 

Queen Ena of Spain was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and grew up at royal residences including Windsor Castle

 

 

Current Spanish Queen Sofia is widely regarded as a great consort and Sophie remains a popular name in England as well as being the name of William's aunt by marriage, the Countess of Wessex.  The Princess of Asturias could offer a chance to revive a late medieval name - Letizia translates into English as Letitia or Lettice, the latter spelling very popular in England in the 14th and 15th centuries.

 

 

 

Letizia, Princess of Asturias - could she offer inspiration for a more unusual royal baby name?

(photo Holger Motzkau)



 

So this week's poll is about which current Crown Princess might lend their name to a future Queen of England.  The precedent is low, it's true, with precisely no Queen Consorts of England naming their first girl after a European cousin but the Cambridges are forward looking so nothing's certain yet.

 

 

 

 

 

The soon to be Queen of the Belgians, Mathilde