So shock!I predicted exactly the name of the new infant prince!!
Yesterday, I made a wild guess what possible name to be given to the newborn son of Prince William, I mentioned the name GEORGE, I had a strong intuition with that name because of its significant history ties to the royal family.
His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge, the name I easily predicted yesterday.
My intuition was right, he would be named George because by royal standard
it's the most meaningful name for the royal family.
There were two King Georges of England in the past whom Prince William directly descended and it's also the name of William's paternal great grandfather,
King George I of Greece, the paternal grandfather of Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
There were six Georges who became Kings of England in the past and two Georges from the Greek monarchy. The Georges came over the British throne after the declaration of the Act of Settlement restricting the succession to protestants so Princess Sophia, the Electress of Hanover and the granddaughter of King James I, who was only 50th successor at that time suddenly became the heir presumptive of Queen Anne, but she predeceased Anne, so when the latter died, the throne passed to her eldest son, George, the Elector (Prince) of Hanover.
King George I of England, the first of the Hanoverian Kings, was
the first British monarch who was not in England at the time of his accession, he
was in Germany. This fate was followed by Queen Elizabeth II in 1952, she was
in Kenya when her father, King George VI, died in his sleep. George I was also
the first British King who was divorce at the time of his accession.
Three more Georges followed after George I, his son George II, his
great grandson George III and great great grandson George IV, each would carve
a historical mark, often intriguing and controversial, later in their reign.
George II whose concentration was at the state of Hanover than in England, was not famous to his
subjects due to his arrogance and boorish tendencies. He married a German princess, Caroline of Ansbach. His heir, Prince Frederick, predeceased him so the throne passed to his grandson after his death.
George III, the longest serving King in British history and who
had the most number of children among the British monarchs (13 all), was
considered by many historians as mad and insane. He was partly blamed for
giving away some of the British territories in the US, at the end of his life,
he was totally blind and reportedly seen talking to trees at Hyde Park, his
insanity was aggravated when his favourite and youngest daughter, Princess
Amelia, died when she fell from her pony. For the last nine years of his
reign, he was incapacitated and the Kingdom was ruled under a regent, his
successor, George IV.
The last George of the House of Hanover was another controversial
figure. After heavily indebted and could not meet his financial obligations, he
was forced to marry his first cousin, Princess Caroline of Brunswick, his
father agreed to pay all his debts provided he marry Caroline. The
marriage was a disaster and the King abandoned his wife later whom he called
"fat" and "ugly", they had one daughter, Princess
Charlotte, the only legitimate heir of the King. When the Princess became 18
years old, she married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, however, she died
while giving birth to their stillborn son.
Upon her death, the throne left no legitimate heir, thus all sons
of King George III who were all singles at that time, scrambled to find a
suitable royal bride to provide the throne with legitimate royal heirs. Prince
Leopold, who was extra close to one of his deceased wife's uncles, Prince
Edward, the Duke of Kent, arranged a meeting with his widow sister, Princess
Victoria, with Edward, later the two got married and had a daughter, Princess
Victoria. Edward died nine months later. After the death of Princess Charlotte,
the presumptive heir of George IV was his next brother, William, the Duke of Clarence, who later
became King William IV. The King had no legitimate children as all the
pregnancies of his wife, Princess Adelaide, ended in miscarriages, so when he
died the throne passed to his niece, Victoria, and ended the House of Hanover.
Victoria reigned in England but she could not inherit the crown of
Hanover in Germany because the state followed a Salic Law prohibiting a woman
from succeeding, it was inherited by her uncle, Prince Ernst Augustus. Victoria
chose to reign under the house name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, where her husband,
Prince Albert, and her mother, also named Victoria, descended. It ended in 1917
when her grand son, George V, changed it to Windsor, due to bitter anti-German
sentiments in England during World War I.
If Charlotte had lived, Victoria would never become a Queen and
British history might have been very different.
The other Georges were direct descendants of Queen Victoria,
interestingly, they were not originally destined to become Kings. George V, the
grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II, was the second son of King Edward VII, he
had an older brother, Prince Albert Victor, the heir apparent of his father,
but several weeks after the Prince announced his engagement to Princess Mary of
Teck, he died from illness. Prince George, who was then the Duke of York, inherited
everything from his brother including his fiancee. He did not only become King
but also married Princess Mary of Teck. The had five children.
King George VI, known as Prince Bertie, the father of Queen Elizabeth
II, was also a second son. When George V, was still alive, he
secretly admired Bertie's solid marriage and doted Princess Elizabeth, the King
detested his heir-apparent's choice of life. Prince David, the Prince of Wales
and George V's eldest son, followed an unconventional lifestyle, he loved the night
life and associated himself with married women, at the end of the King's life,
he made swear his wife, Queen Mary, not to accept commoners and disgraced women
in their circle, so the Queen strongly refused to acknowledge David's lover,
Wallis Simpson. She was everything the royal family despised, divorce, commoner
and American. But David was deeply in-love with Wallis, so after only 11 months
of his reign as Edward VIII, he chose to abdicate and lived in a lonely exile
all because of an inappropriate marriage. He was succeeded by his reluctant
brother who reigned for 16 years as George VI.
The Greek monarchy, to which the husband of the Queen, Prince
Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, descended, has also two George Kings. King George I, the grandfather of
Prince Philip and King George II, Philip's first cousin.
So the name George has a significant history ties to Prince William,
that's why I have a strong feeling it would be chosen as the infant prince's
name and my guess was right!!
The baby's official name is GEORGE ALEXANDER LOUIS, and will be known as HRH Prince George of Cambridge. He will be the first British prince who has only three names. All current Princes of the blood royal has four names:
Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales: Charles Philip Arthur George
Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge: William Arthur Philip Louis
Prince Harry of Wales: Henry Charles Albert David
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York: Andrew Albert Christian Edward
Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex: Edward Anthony Richard Louis
No explanation yet how Prince William came up with Alexander and Louis but I easily got the point why such names are chosen. Alexander is one of the most famous names among mighty Kings in the past and it is name of Prince Philip's maternal great grandfather, Prince Louis Alexander of Battenberg. One of the real names of Queen Elizabeth II is Alexandra (she is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary by birth) which was taken from the name of Edward VII's consort, Queen Alexandra. Louis is very obvious, it's one of the names of Prince William attributed to Prince Philip's maternal uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, recognized by Prince Charles as his dearest grandpapa. Lord Mountbatten was assassinated in 1979 by the Irish Republican Army.
History and royal tradition always played an important role in choosing the name of a royal baby. That's why I easily predicted it :-D
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