“George was the consistent front runner for months. But I didn’t think they would go for it because of the reports about Charles wanting to be George VII when he takes the throne.”
The naming was relatively quick by royal standards. Charles and his first wife Diana took a week to announce William’s name in 1982, while the world had to wait a month after Charles was born in 1948.
Under British law, parents have 42 days to register the birth – and the name – of their child at a government office. It is not clear whether William and Kate, who wed in 2011, have officially done so yet.
The queen had earlier spent around half an hour at Kensington Palace meeting William, Kate and the boy who will one day succeed her as head of state of Britain and monarch of 15 Commonwealth realms around the globe.
She said on Tuesday she was “thrilled” and remarked on how heavy he was when he was born, at eight pounds six ounces (3.8 kilogrammes).
Prince George’s uncle Prince Harry – William’s younger brother, who has been knocked down to fourth in line to the throne – and Kate’s sister Pippa Middleton made separate visits to the couple at the palace.
The Cambridges have now slipped out of the public eye after unveiling the baby on Tuesday to cheers from the international media camped outside St Mary’s Hospital in London.
The baby behaved impeccably, raising a tiny hand above his white blankets – his first royal wave of a lifetime that will be spent in the spotlight.
A beaming Kate told the reporters that motherhood was “very emotional” and that it was a “special time” while William, who is taking two weeks paternity leave from his job as an RAF helicopter pilot, joked: “He’s got a good pair of lungs on him, that’s for sure.”
Congratulations have poured in from around the world, while Chinese fortune tellers predicted the baby will grow up to be determined but introverted – and a hit with the ladies.
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