It was expected that Prince William and Kate Middleton would choose to name their daughter after either Queen Elizabeth II or Princess Diana – but an expert said there was a key reason why they didn’t.

Prince William and Kate decided not to name Charlotte after the late Queen Elizabeth II or Princess Diana for one important reason, it is claimed.

After months of anticipation, the royal couple announced to the world they had welcomed a baby girl on May 2, 2015.

It was expected at the time that the royal couple would choose to name her either Elizabeth or Diana, after the two defining women of modern royal history.

But instead, they opted to honour both of them in her middle name – by calling her Charlotte Elizabeth Diana. Now aged nine, her full title is Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Wales. According to royal expert Richard Kay, a shrewd Kate and William had actively decided not to give their daughter a name that would see her constantly compared to royal women before her.

Mr Kay believes that this decision was “wise”, claiming that it would have put young Charlotte in an uncomfortable position throughout her life. Speaking on the Channel 5 documentary Secrets of the Royal Palaces, he said: “I think he very wisely decided not to give Charlotte his mother’s name as her first name. Everything she did and said would have been compared with her. By giving Diana as the middle name, it means Diana is still there.”

William, 41, was just 15 years old when Diana died in Paris on 31 August 1997. Touching on how Princess Diana’s memory has had an impact on him, Emily Andrews, royal editor of the Mail on Sunday, said: “William has spoken about the loss of his mother and the impact it had. He thinks about her pretty much every day and he wants to keep his mother’s memory alive.”

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry didn’t seem as worried in 2021 about any comparisons however when they gave their daughter the late Queen Elizabeth’s family nickname – Lilibet. It was a move that raised some eyebrows, especially as some sources claimed the couple hadn’t asked the Queen’s permission.

But a spokesman for the Sussexes, who live in the Los Angeles suburb of Montecito after quitting their roles as senior royals, said they wouldn’t have used the name “had she not been supportive”. They said: “The duke spoke with his family in advance of the announcement, in fact his grandmother was the first family member he called.” This was however disputed in a later autobiography by royal journalist Robert Hardman, who said the late Queen was “as angry as I’d ever seen her” over claims she had approved the name.