Most people know the British royal family by their full names — or even just their
official titles. But who are they to each other, and what are the names they go by in
private company? These are the secret nicknames the royals have behind closed doors.
When Queen Elizabeth II was young, her father, King George VI, is reported to have said:
"Lilibet is my pride. Margaret is my joy."
Of course, Margaret is the late king's second and youngest child, but who is Lilibet? Yep
— it was the future queen herself. In fact, Elizabeth was known affectionately as 'Lilibet'
by her father, mother, and her grandparents. Apparently, as a child, the then-princess
had trouble pronouncing her name. The nickname quickly stuck and was subsequently used as
a term of endearment.
Unfortunately, it's unlikely that the queen goes by this name anymore. Prince Philip,
who died in April 2021, was reportedly the last of the royals to use it — meaning that
with his passing came the end of Queen Elizabeth's childhood nickname.
In the 2006 film The Queen, Prince Philip, who is played by James Cromwell, calls his
wife, Queen Elizabeth, "cabbage."
"Come on — move over, Cabbage."
Though the film is largely fictional, the real Prince Philip was known to refer to his
wife by that very nickname. Peter Morgan, who wrote The Queen, later told The Times:
"I inquired in royal circles and was told on very good authority that that is what the
duke sometimes calls the Queen."
Robert Lacey, a British historian and the queen's biographer, backed up Morgan's research,
saying:
"Yes, I've heard that is how he will sometimes refer to her."
But why in the world would Philip choose to call his wife "Cabbage"? Well, the prince
himself never publicly explained the nickname, but The Times suggests that it could be a
derivative of the French term of endearment "mon petit chou," which, when translated to
English, means "my little cabbage." How very French.
During official engagements and interviews, William routinely refers to his wife as Catherine,
rather than Kate. In private, however — or at least when he's not speaking to the public
— the prince has a more endearing name for her than that. Reportedly, Prince William
is regularly overheard referring to his wife as 'Poppet' in public. While 'poppet' is not
a word you hear very often in the United States, it is a common British term of endearment
meaning "sweet or pretty child."
In addition to 'Poppet' and 'Kate', the duchess used to go by another name when she was younger.
In an interview, she revealed:
"I was nicknamed 'Squeak' just like my guinea pig. There was one called Pip and one called
Squeak, because my sister was called Pippa and I was Squeak."
There's no telling if she'll answer to 'Squeak' these days, but at least it seems that 'Poppet'
and 'Kate' have stood the test of time.
Even die-hard royals fans probably haven't heard of Prince Fred and Duchess Gladys. You
will, however, know them by their real names.
When Prince Charles and Princess Diana were still to be married, the princess found out
about his affair with Camilla Parker-Bowles. Diana recounted the tale to her biographer,
Andrew Morton, telling him that she'd found out about a bracelet her then-fiancée had
made for his mistress. Morton wrote about their conversation in the late princess' biography,
Diana: Her True Story — In Her Own Words. She told him:
"It's a gold chain bracelet with a blue enamel disc. It's got 'G and F' entwined in it, 'Gladys'
and 'Fred' — they were their nicknames."
Of course, if the couple were using the pseudonyms to avoid suspicion from the princess, it clearly
didn't work. Painting an even grimmer picture of their relationship, the princess divulged:
"He took the bracelet, lunchtime on Monday; we got married on the Wednesday."
In 1996, Charles and Diana finally divorced and, in 2005, 'Gladys' and 'Fred' got married.
"Well, there were three of us in this marriage. So it was a bit crowded."
Prince Charles wasn't the only one to have earned a nickname from an affair, however.
According to Princess Diana's biography, she, too, was cheating on her spouse — even as
she criticised her husband for his infidelity. Diana reportedly had a few affairs during
her marriage, but one of the most notorious was the one she engaged in with her old friend
James Gilbey.
Between 1989 and 1990, the princess' phone calls were recorded and, some years later,
her affair with James Gilbey became public knowledge. And among the many details of their
encounters that became public was Gilbey's pet name for Diana. In the tapes that were
leaked to the public, Gilbey called Princess Diana 'Squidgy' no fewer than 53 times.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, 'squidgy' is a British word that means "soft and wet
and changing shape easily when pressed" — similar to the American word "squishy." As it happens,
it's also the exact kind of cutesy romantic nickname that you definitely don't want to
be broadcast around the whole world.
When they were interviewed for NBC's Dateline, William and Harry reflected on their many
childhood nicknames — at least one of which came from their mother, Princess Diana. Speaking
about his nickname, William said:
"It began when I was two. I’ve been rightfully told because I can’t remember back that
far, but when we went to Australia with our parents, and the wombat, you know, that’s
the local animal, so I just basically got called that, not because I look like a wombat,
or maybe I do."
Harry then joked that his older brother was really called Wombat because he was too lazy
to walk and, instead, crawled until the age of 6. William retaliated by revealing that
one of Harry's monikers as a child was 'Ginger.' Discussing some of Harry's other nicknames,
William explained:
"Most of them I can't call in front of here. You know, a bit rude."
Meghan Markle and Prince Harry's firstborn, Archie, came into the world in 2019. Obviously,
most media outlets and the vast majority of the public call him Archie — but it turns
out that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex refer to their son by a bunch of other names. For
example, in a 2020 video call with the Rugby Football League, Prince Harry referred to
his baby boy as 'little man.'
Then, in a May 2020 Instagram video for Save the Children U.K. on Archie's first birthday,
Meghan read a children's book to her son. During that video, she could be heard calling
him 'Arch.'
"Let's go to the next page, look, Arch."
She's also been overheard calling him 'Bubba' from time to time. Prior to their exit from
social media, Harry and Meghan also referred to Archie as 'our little pumpkin' in an Instagram
post wishing their followers a happy Halloween. Cute, no?
Princess Diana's devotion to her sons was legendary. So, naturally, she was bound to
have a few pet names for them — and her one for Harry is particularly sweet. This
nickname pays homage to Diana's side of the family, the Spencers. While neither Princess
Diana nor Prince Charles had red hair, having red hair does run in the Spencer family. This,
along with Prince Harry's resemblance to Diana's sister, Sarah, led to her dubbing her younger
son 'my little Spencer.'
Diana also reportedly called Harry "GKH," an acronym that stood for "Good King Harry."
Royal correspondent Robert Jobson said in a recent documentary that the nickname probably
came about because she thought he'd be better equipped for the role of king than William.
That said, there's basically no way to verify this, and Princess Diana never publicly commented
on which of her sons she thought was better suited for the throne of England. You can
probably take that one with a grain of salt.
Many people don't realize that Prince Harry's name is already a nickname. In fact, his actual
given name is Henry Charles Albert David — so you can't blame the royals for wanting to
shorten it a bit. Meghan Markle reportedly takes it one step further, though, referring
to her hubby by the short and sweet moniker 'Haz.'
The world learned of this nickname when Prince Harry appeared as a guest on The Late Late
Show. During the show, host James Corden took Harry's phone and called Meghan, and in their
video call, the Duchess of Sussex referred to her husband as 'Haz.'
"Haz, how's your tour of LA going?"
"Haz? I didn't know we were calling you Haz, now."
"No, you're not my wife, so."
Meghan shortens Harry's nickname further sometimes, too; she revealed in the documentary Harry
& Meghan: An African Journey that she often calls him 'H'.
You may be familiar with the name Queen Elizabeth II, but what about her alter-ego, Queen Gary?
Okay, so that's obviously not an official title, but it turns out that it may just have
been uttered in the halls of Buckingham Palace on occasion. So how did the queen get saddled
with a nickname like Gary? Well, this is one of those adorable stories that can be chalked
up to little kids having trouble pronouncing certain words.
In this case, the word in question was "granny" — and the adorable little tyke was Prince
William. Many years ago, a guest at Buckingham Palace observed a young William crying for
"Gary" after falling down. When the guest asked who Gary was, it was the queen who answered.
She reportedly told the guest:
"I'm Gary. He hasn't learned to say 'granny' yet."
Although Prince William has obviously become a little more eloquent since then, it's hard
not to imagine that this particular nickname still gets used — every now and again.
Meghan Markle hasn't had an easy time of it since joining the royal family. Not only has
the press hounded her relentlessly, but she has also revealed that she felt less than
at home with the royals themselves. In her now-notorious interview with Oprah Winfrey,
Meghan said:
"And I just didn't… I just didn't want to be alive anymore."
While the royal family may not have approved of Meghan and Harry stepping down as senior
royals, however, it seems that Prince Charles at least had a lot of respect for Meghan's
resilient nature. This was evident in the secret nickname he reportedly had for her:
"Tungsten."
As royal correspondent Russell Myers revealed on Lorraine in 2019, Charles nicknamed her
after the metal as "she is tough and unbending." Just in case you haven't brushed up on your
knowledge of metals in a while, tungsten is the strongest naturally occurring metal on
the planet — making this a pretty neat compliment, all things considered.
Being the heir to the throne is sure to set you apart from your peers, but Prince George
nonetheless seems to be blending in well at school — especially considering the decidedly
non-royal nickname that his friends call him. A parent of a student at his school told Vanity
Fair that the future British monarch is called "P.G." by his classmates. The parent said:
"He's very popular and has lots of friends, and there's very little fuss made about who
he is."
While it's kind of hard not to know who Prince George is, especially with the Duke and Duchess
of Cambridge dropping him off at school every day, his royal status is apparently downplayed
by staff and the other kids. To this end, Prince George apparently goes by the less-regal
name of George Cambridge while at school. While the royal family's last name is actually
Mountbatten-Windsor, you can kinda understand why they went for the simpler option.
Princess Charlotte's nickname isn't exactly unique, but it is awfully adorable. Like Prince
George, Charlotte's royal roots are kept relatively quiet at school, where she goes by Charlotte
Cambridge, rather than by her royal title.
At home, however, Charlotte's name is abbreviated to "Lottie." Kate Middleton let the nickname
slip recently when speaking to a woman in Northern Ireland.
While Lottie is a common nickname for Charlotte, Lottie is also popular as a given name in
its own right. In fact, it even features in the top 100 names for baby girls in England
and Wales. The name is nowhere near as popular as Charlotte itself, though, which is in the
top 20 names for baby girls. And that makes sense, too — after all, there's a good chance
many people are naming their little ones after Princess Lottie herself.
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