Queen Elizabeth and strange baby name choices

While most queen consorts have stuck to pretty traditional methods of picking their first son's name, two have gone completely off message.  One went against the grain quite possibly because of her hatred of one of her husband's former friends while the other went all strange and used a name from myth and legend in the hope of starting a new dynasty.  And both of these queens were called Elizabeth.  In fact, the third queen consort called Elizabeth caused a stir with her choice of name for her firstborn but she had a little girl, also called Elizabeth.  It wasn't particularly royal name at the time but the successful reign of that baby, now Elizabeth II, have changed all that.

Queen Elizabeth II - her parents choice of name for her was considered by some to be rather daring

It's not really a surprise that the first to go against the grain was Elizabeth Woodville.  She'd started as she meant to go on by switching sides in the Wars of the Roses after seducing the younger Edward IV beneath an oak tree in Northamptonshire.  It took her six years to give her king his longed for heir and when she did, she named him after the king rather than his father as was traditional.

Edward IV, one of the handful of kings in English history to have his son and heir named after him

There are several reasons why this baby became an Edward rather than a Richard.  Firstly, Elizabeth liked to be different and she liked things her way and by choosing to honour the baby's father rather than his dead grandfather, she was setting a new trend.  Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, Richard was also the name of the Earl of Warwick. And just months before her son was born he had switched his allegiance from Edward to the House of Lancaster once more.  On the day the future king arrived, November 2nd 1470, Elizabeth was in sanctuary in Westminster Abbey while Warwick held the ill and frightened Henry VI on the throne as his puppet king.  Edward IV was in exile, plotting his comeback but certain that if he set foot in England again and failed to topple Warwick, he would die.  To name a son Richard at that point was unthinkable.  Lastly, Elizabeth already had a son with that name.  Her youngest child with her first husband, Sir John Grey, was by then around 11 years old and hiding in the abbey with his mother.

Elizabeth Woodville, queen consort of England, had two sons called Richard making calling them in for their dinner a bit tricky

But having one Richard in the family didn't stop Elizabeth using the name again three years later.  By the time she and Edward welcomed their second son together, the king was king once more and Warwick had been dead for two years.  The latest Richard in her family was made Duke of York but disappeared along with little Edward ten years later when another Richard, their uncle, was battling to grab the throne.

The other Elizabeth to go completely off message was the daughter of Edward IV and his Woodville wife.  She married Henry Tudor in 1486 and settled into being a quiet, background queen consort even though her claim to the throne was better than that of her husband.  Their first child was born later that year and named Arthur.  He is, so far, the only eldest son of a monarch to bear that name. 

Arthur, Prince of Wales and heir to Henry VII until his death in 1502


Henry and Elizabeth wanted to create a new Camelot and in the months before their child's birth had drawn up a family tree linking the Tudors to the court of King Arthur.  Their son's arrival marked, for them, the beginning of a new dynasty that would stretch far into the future.  But Arthur died, aged 15, in 1502 and never became king.  His widow did become queen consort - Catherine of Aragon married Arthur's brother when he became Henry VIII in 1509.  But the hoped for dynasty of course never arose and while three of Henry and Elizabeth's grandchildren ruled England, they left no heirs.  The throne went to the descendants of one of their daughters instead.

Royal baby is Prince George

George it is.  Future Queen Consort, Kate Middleton, has named her son George Alexander Louis.  The future king has a regal name - of course he doesn't have to use it to rule.  But it's a good, solid Windsor name.  The name of the founder of the house, the name of his son who took over from the king who abdicated and saved the monarchy in the process.  And the name of the dashing Duke of Kent who died a hero in World War Two. 

George VI, the last king to bear the name, became king at a crucial time for the English monarchy but left the throne secure.  His great, great grandson now shares his name.



Kate also becomes the first English queen consort to name her first born son George.  George VI's mother was born in Kensington Palace but he wasn't a first born and George wasn't his first name.  But the other first born Georges all had German mothers.  The name itself wasn't a royal name until the 18th century - used very briefly by the York dynasty in the late 15th century, it disappeared quickly then after George, Duke of Clarence betrayed his brother, Edward IV, once too often.

George, Duke of Clarence in The White Queen.  Not the most popular royal role model.

But six largely successful kings of that name have redeemed it.  Alexander has great royal pedigree in Scotland where three kings have had the name.  And Louis is a popular one with the current royal family, honouring Lord Mountbatten who was killed in 1979 and whose influence on new grandfather, Prince Charles, is well known.

In fact, Charles' influence can be seen in all the names chosen by Kate and William.  Charles idolised his own grandfather, George VI, and it's been widely reported he wants to reign as George VII when he becomes king.  Queen consorts of the past mostly gave their first born sons the name of their paternal grandfathers.  Kate may not have called her son Charles but if he is a King George then this little Prince of Cambridge may well be sharing a name with grandad - the name by which they choose to rule.

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.

Naming future queens

According to the poll results so far, picking a name for a future Queen of England is harder than choosing for a king.  For the boys, bookies' favourite George is taking an early lead but all the ballots so far for a girl's name are for something other than the favourites, Elizabeth and Diana.  So I've started a message board for more discussion on which names the Cambridges might go for if they have a little princess. 

Looking back, other Queen Consorts of England haven't had the same dilemma as future queen Kate.  After all, she's the first woman in British royal history to know that a daughter will definitely inherit the throne so choosing a name for a little girl has perhaps more weight than ever before.

Past queens of England named girls knowing they probably wouldn't be queen.  And there were protocols - set by the royal family they had married into.  It usually meant selecting an already royal name.  All our past queens, except two, had daughters named after their mothers in law.  Only Eleanor of Provence and Caroline of Ansbach bucked that trend.

Eleanor had three daughters but none of them bore the name of the mother of her husband, Henry III.  Instead she named one girl after her own mother - Beatrice - and picked different names for the other two.  The royal couple ended up with a Margaret and a Katherine, the first time either name had been used for an English royal baby. 

Caroline had five daughters but she and her husband, the future George II, didn't name any of them after his mother.  Sophia Dorothea of Celle is a strange figure in British royal history.  She married the man who would become George I in 1682, had two children with him and then found herself displaced by mistresses.  Her own close friendship with a man called Philip Christoph von Konigsmarck led to her husband accusing her of adultery and imprisoning her in a tower for the last 33 years of her life.  As Caroline and George were forming their family while the old king, George I, was still alive it's perhaps not surprising that they chose not to name a baby after Sophia Dorothea. 

Once the mothers in law were honoured, past queens very often used the names of other family relatives for their girls meaning that once a name joined the royal merry go round it took a long time for it to fall off again.  Hence the first three queens of England having Matildas while five of the seven Plantagenet queens who had daughters called one of them Eleanor.  In fact, one of the queens - Marguerite of France - used it even though it had been the name of her husband's beloved first wife, a move that made her even more popular than before.

So perhaps a quick scan of the close family will provide the name - but that brings us back to Diana and Elizabeth and thoughts seem to be turning elsewhere.

Here's the link for the board - it will be interesting to see what takes the lead!

Queens of England group

PS I did wonder whether the Cambridges might go for Eleanor but the future Queen of Spain is Leonor....what about two monarchs in Europe with the same name?