Will Kate follow Letizia's fashion lead?

There was quite a furore recently when fashion commentators accused Princess Letizia of Spain of copying the fashion choices of Kate, Duchess of Cambridge.  Letizia has a pretty cool fashion pedigree with a reputation for liking on trend clothes be they from top designers like Felipe Varela or High Street chains like Mango.  In fact just this week she cracked out the pale pink Mango lace dress that first caused a stir in 2011.

 

Princess Letizia in a pale pink Mango dress, first worn while visiting the company's headquarters in 2011.  The princess has a reputation for following fashion.

 

 

It's not the first time it's been suggested Letizia is less than original in her clothes choice with some commentators suggesting she was trying a bit too hard to be like that ultra fashionable royal lady, Queen Rania of Jordan.

 

 



Queen Rania of Jordan visits the White House in 2009

 

 

But in recent years Letizia has taken a bit of a lead in the fashion stakes among Europe's royal women, regularly voted among the best dressed at big get togethers like the recent wedding of Luxembourg heir, Guillaume, or the coronation of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands in April 2013.  So the idea that she was copying Kate when it came to couture didn't go down too well with some fashion followers or Letizia loyalists.

 

But might Kate and William be about to copy Letizia when it comes to naming their first baby?  A quick scan of the names chosen for future queens among European royalty points to three main elements shared by most name choices.

 

• they begin with a vowel - Estelle of Sweden, Elisabeth of Belgium, Ingrid of Norway, Amalia of the Netherlands
• they have an historic connection - Leonor of Spain, Elisabeth of Belgium, Amalia of the Netherlands, Ingrid of Norway
• and they usually have six or seven letters - Amalia of the Netherlands, Leonor of Spain, Ingrid of Norway and Estelle of Sweden

So which names does that leave us with for a future Queen of England?  Just one given to previous queen consorts fits all three requirements.  If a queen consort has already borne it then it's got history so now we need six or seven letters and starting with a vowel.  And that leaves us with just one name really...Eleanor.  And that's just what Letizia called her first little girl.

 

 

 

Princess Letizia with her Leonor, alongside Prince Felipe and the Infanta Sofia in the family's Christmas card

 

Leonor, or Eleanor, was well used in both Spanish and English royal families in the middle ages but fell out of use in recent centuries.  Letizia surprised many with the choice and if the Cambridges go for it, they'll cause a shock as well.  But Eleanor is quite popular as a baby name at the moment without being top of the tree and there are three queen consorts with the name.  And three years after the Spanish heirs used it, the soon to be king and queen of the Belgians, Philippe and Mathilde, named their youngest child Eleonore.  So it's got a bit of energy behind it.

 

The new royal family of Belgium - Princess Eleonore sits on mum Mathilde's lap during an official photo call

 

There's one other possible contender if we change the spelling of the name quite a bit.  There have been three queen consorts of England called Isabella or Isabelle.  None of them used the modern spelling Isabel so they go over our letter limit but they start with a vowel and they've got the history factor.  Isabella, Isabelle, Isabel and a lot of variant spellings have been really popular names in the UK in the last decade so a future queen with that name would have a lot in common with her future subjects.  If Kate does have an Isabella she'd ben following the trend set by Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.  But whether the Cambridge baby name fits the European model remains to be seen.