Ever since she was born at 8.34am at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, she has captured hearts across the country.
Royal watchers waited in eager anticipation to know what name Kate and Prince William would choose for the beautiful baby girl born on May 2, eight years ago today.
And within just two days, they had their answer: with the blessing of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge announced their daughter would be Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.
In a statement, they said: ‘The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are delighted to announce that they have named their daughter Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.’
Princess of smiles: Charlotte in a picture released to mark last year’s birthday
Princess Charlotte was born at 8.34am on May 2, 2015 at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington
The Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte at the close of the Royal Tour of Canada in 2016
‘The baby will be known as Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge,’ the palace said.
The choice pleased many. Bookmakers had Charlotte down as the favourite for some time, along with names including Alice.
It is customary for royals to look to the past for names as a gesture to the continuity of one of the world’s oldest institutions.
It is likely Princess Charlotte’s full name is likely to have been inspired by three highly significant figures in William’s life – embracing a number of Kate’s family members, too.
So why did Kate and William pick the name Charlotte?
It is thought that Princess Charlotte’s name is a tribute to her grandfather, the King, as it is the feminine version of Charles.
An incredibly popular name with royals throughout history, in French it means ‘petite’ and ‘feminine’ or ‘free man’.
Prince George, Prince William, Princess Charlotte, Prince Louis and Princess Kate during the Platinum Jubilee Pageant in 2022
A previously unseen photograph of King Charles with Princess Charlotte has just been released in a new BBC documentary about the monarch
Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte at Trooping the Colour in 2022
The name has historic links to the royal family dating back to Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III in the eighteenth century.
The name might also be a nod to Kate’s family heritage as Charlotte is also the middle name of Kate’s sister, Pippa Middleton.
Why did Kate and William pick Elizabeth as a middle name?
Charlotte’s first middle name doubtless honours her late great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Elizabeth is also Kate’s middle name and that of her mother Carole Middleton too. The name was passed down the Middleton family tree after Carole’s grandmother Elizabeth Harrison, who died when Kate was nine.
It was also the name of Queen Elizabeth’s mother and William’s great-grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
Following her birth, Royal aides told MailOnline that the baby’s second names would ‘speak for themselves’.
Elizabeth is also the middle name of Lady Louise, Princess Beatrice, and Princess Anne.
Princess Charlotte at a children’s party for Military families during the Royal Tour of Canada on September 29, 2016
Always the doting mother: Charlotte happily plays with an instrument as Kate smiles at her
A heartfelt photograph of Prince George and Princess Charlotte in their earlier years
Why did Kate and William pick Diana as a middle name?
While many speculated that the young princess would be named after her late grandmother, Princess Diana, William was clear that his daughter should not have Diana as a first name.
‘It would have been a millstone around her neck,’ said one of the princess’s long-time friends.
Instead, the current Prince of Wales paid tribute to his beloved mother and honoured her memory by giving Charlotte the second middle name ‘Diana’.
Princess Diana, who died in a car crash in 1997, gave birth to her two sons, William and Harry, at the hospital where Charlotte was born.
Beloved: Diana, Princess of Wales with her son Prince William in London, September 1987
Charlotte and George play football at the Billingbear Polo Club, in Berkshire, July 2019
Prince William shows ten-month-old Charlotte to the camera during her first ever day of snow
Within minutes of the name being announced, Diana’s closest friend Rosa Monckton said: ‘Diana’s spirit lives on in her sons, and now her name lives on in her granddaughter #CharlotteElizabethDiana’.
Earl Charles Spencer, Diana’s brother, also approved of the choice. He wrote on Twitter: ‘Perfect names. My 2-year-old Charlotte Diana will be thrilled at cousinly name-sharing.’
The Princess also shares her middle name with her cousin, Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s second-born child.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk