Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (Charlotte Elizabeth Diana; born 2 May 2015) is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. She is fourth in the line of succession to the British throne.
Birth and christening
Princess Charlotte, the second child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, was born at 08:34 BST on 2 May 2015 in Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, London. Several landmarks were illuminated pink to mark her birth, including Tower Bridge, the London Eye, and the Trafalgar Square fountains; there were also gun salutes at Hyde Park and the Tower of London. On 4 May, her name was announced as Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, honouring her great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and grandmother Diana, Princess of Wales. She has been affectionately called “Lottie” and “Mignonette” by her parents.
On 5 July 2015, Princess Charlotte was christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham, the same church where her paternal grandmother was christened in 1961. Her godparents are her parents’ cousins Laura Fellowes and Adam Middleton, and family friends Thomas van Straubenzee, James Meade, and Sophie Carter. Princess Charlotte wore the royal christening gown, and the ceremony used the Lily Font, which was made for Princess Victoria.
Education
Charlotte started her education at the Willcocks Nursery School, near her family’s home in Kensington Palace, in January 2018. She joined her brother Prince George at Thomas’s School in Battersea in September 2019, where she is known as Charlotte Cambridge.
Official appearances
On 11 June 2016, she made her first public appearance, which was on the balcony of Buckingham Palace during Trooping the Colour. She accompanied her parents and brother, George, on their royal tour of Canada in September 2016 and on their diplomatic visit to Poland and Germany in July 2017. In March 2020, she joined her siblings, George and Louis, in an online video to applaud key workers during the coronavirus pandemic. In September 2020, they met David Attenborough; Kensington Palace subsequently released a video of them asking Attenborough questions regarding environmental conservation. In December 2020, the children made their first red carpet appearance accompanying their parents to the London Palladium for a performance of a pantomime held to thank key workers for their efforts during the pandemic.
In the media
Despite the efforts of her parents to shelter their children from the press, each photograph or public appearance of Charlotte has caused a media frenzy. According to shopping statistics and polls among parents, Charlotte is a major children’s style icon. Retailers, particularly in clothing, benefit greatly from their products appearing in photographs of the Princess. The phenomenon has been referred to as the “Princess Charlotte effect” or “Charlotte effect”. Brand Finance have estimated that she will be worth more than £3 billion to the British economy throughout her lifetime. In July 2018, Reader’s Digest valued her at $5 billion or £3.8 billion.
Title, style and succession
Charlotte is, by birth, a princess of the United Kingdom entitled to the style of Royal Highness under letters patent issued by Queen Elizabeth II on 31 December 2012, which gave the title and style to all children of the Prince of Wales’s elder son. She is thus styled “Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge”.
Charlotte is fourth in the line of succession to the British throne, after her grandfather, father, and elder brother. Due to the implementation of the Perth Agreement, which replaced male-preference primogeniture with absolute primogeniture, she did not move down the line of succession when her younger brother, Prince Louis of Cambridge, was born on 23 April 2018; this makes her the first British princess to rank above a brother in the line of succession.