The birth on Saturday of a princess to a direct heir of the House of Windsor – the first for 65 years – has been the cause for celebration and reflection. Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge, the second child and first daughter of William, Duke of Cambridge and his wife, Catherine, has come into a world brimming with promise as the fourth in line to the British throne.
In choosing their child’s first name, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge must have overlooked a more recent member of the family. Charlotte was the name of George V’s beloved parrot. He would carry her to breakfast on his finger and allow her to roam about the table. The king would slip a mustard pot over the spot where she disgraced herself.
But this 21st-century Charlotte is a bird of a different feather; her names the result of much thought – traditional, cautious, respectful, inclusive – so typical of the couple who chose it; paying homage, in turn, to the baby’s grandfather, great-grandmother and grandmother. Something for everyone.
Although primarily a tribute to the Prince of Wales, the name Charlotte evokes the only child of George IV, an indulgent man but certainly not an indulgent father. And yet his daughter was widely loved for her warmth and charm. Her death in childbirth in 1817 set off a state of national mourning that would not be eclipsed until the demise 180 years later of William’s mother, Diana, the People’s Princess.
Although her name is placed last, Diana never seems far from her son’s thoughts (putting her name first – holding her up to impossible comparison – would have been a millstone for all concerned). The huge sapphire-and-diamond ring on the Duchess’s finger is a constant reminder of her – and that early promise.
While, individually, both of William’s parents were devoted and caring, the tears and rows that framed their fractured union have made the closeness and warmth of the marriage of his parents-in-law, the Middletons, not just a comfort but a model for his own. The cosy seclusion of Anmer Hall in Norfolk, safe from the vociferous press that tormented her grandmother, will give the young princess the sort of home life her mother had led and her father envied.
Prince William’s determination to shield his children was brought into sharp relief by the cheers that erupted on the steps of the hospital on Saturday when his 2-year-old son, Prince George, appeared with him in public – for the first time in the United Kingdom – since his birth. It was not only his appearance that caused such delight, but the comfortable, affectionate way the Duke held and kissed his son as they went to meet the new addition to their family. It somehow recalled the phrase used by King George VI, whose devotion to and dependence on his wife and daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, he summed up simply as “We four”.
Diana's affection for her sons in public was always enthusiastic and uninhibited – so much at odds with the dutiful young Queen, weighed down by protocol and her sacred role as sovereign, who, in May 1954, not having seen Charles for six months, was pictured by the newsreels aboard the Britannia shaking her 5-year-old son's hand, having first greeted the receiving line of dignitaries. An earlier newsreel recorded another similarly restrained reunion in 1951: "Britain's heiress presumptive puts her duty first. Motherly love must await the privacy of Clarence House."
The second child of a sovereign, commonly dubbed “the spare”, guarantees a dynasty for another generation. But so often “the spares” have found themselves wearing the crown. Elizabeth I succeeded her sister Mary, who had, in turn, succeeded their brother Edward VI. More recently, in the House of Windsor, George V and George VI stepped up to replace their siblings. But the birth of Prince George in 2013, and now of Charlotte, pushes their uncle, Prince Harry, one step further from the throne. Rather than being envious or resentful, he seems delighted.
The Succession to the Crown Act of 2013 ensures that young Charlotte, unlike her predecessors, cannot be relegated by younger brothers. This was the fate of her great-aunt, Princess Anne, who was twice gazumped – by Prince Andrew in 1960 and Prince Edward in 1964. Indeed, had Charlotte arrived before George, she would be third in line to the throne, after her grandfather and father.
The relationship between the heir and “the spare” is an absorbing one. The bond between princes William and Harry is striking in its warmth and strength (similar to that of the Middleton siblings), and surely the Cambridges will seek to replicate this with their son and daughter.
While it’s not particularly evident among the Queen’s four children, she and her sister, Princess Margaret, though wildly different, were always close. Their mother, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, insisted that, despite the four years between them, the sisters were treated exactly the same – and dressed to match. The only deviation was that Elizabeth, as heir, was tutored in constitutional history, to the lasting resentment of Margaret.
Another enduring bond was that between George V and his unmarried second sister, Victoria. She would phone her brother every day. One day, according to George V’s biographer, when the telephone bell rang at the usual hour, she took up the receiver and said: “Hallo, you old fool.” The voice of the operator broke in: “Beg pardon, Your Royal Highness, His Majesty is not yet on the line.”
Since 1642, when Charles I, his head and crown still intact, declared his daughter, Mary, to be the Princess Royal, the firstborn daughter (who is not the heir) has usually been accorded this honour. Over three and a half centuries, there have been only seven Princesses Royal, and Charlotte can expect to be the eighth.
Princess Anne, who’s regularly acknowledged as the hardest-working member of the family, is the current title holder. No-nonsense and detached, for decades she has visited orphanages, refugee camps and shelters, though she has always resisted cuddling babies; and would bridle at unfavourable comparisons with the magnetic Diana, who never resisted the embrace of a hungry, sick or abandoned child. Yet Princess Anne’s dedication and dignity have never wavered.
The next generation of princesses, Beatrice and Eugenie, the daughters of Andrew, Duke of York, and his former wife, Sarah Ferguson, are entitled as "princesses of the blood royal", because they are children of the monarch's son. But they have been accorded no official role, despite the wishes of their enthusiastic father, and must carve out their own careers or be content to live the life of 21st-century celebrities frequently featured in the glossy pages of Hello! magazine. Indeed, the York princesses' dilemma appears to reflect the Prince of Wales's preference for a slimmed-down monarchy, shorn of cousins. Already the children of the Queen's cousins, the dukes of Gloucester and Kent, and Princess Alexandra, play no part in public life.
The pre-eminence of women has become a monarchical trait in Britain via the epoch-making reigns of Elizabeth I, Victoria and the present queen. Across the Channel, too, girl power has taken hold. In Spain, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, and (in the next generation) Norway, the heirs are all princesses who should, in time, take their places as queens regnant.
Come September, Britain’s Queen Regnant will have broken the record for the longest reign in the history of the Empire and Commonwealth. Given the family’s matriarchal longevity (the Queen Mother lived to 101), Princess Charlotte can expect to see the 22nd century.
How the monarchy will look then is beyond imagination. If she were to replace or succeed her brother, how might Queen Charlotte be remembered? Born on the birthday of Catherine the Great, will she be Charlotte the Sublime? Charlotte the Shy? Charlotte the Assured? Charlotte the Chic? Or Charlotte the Shrewd? Whatever the case, this princess’s journey will be a fascinating one.
weekend@thenational.ae
Follow us @LifeNationalUAE
Follow us on Facebook for discussions, entertainment, reviews, wellness and news.