Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
Quick Facts
Biography
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 baptism
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, with her middle names being chosen in honour of her paternal great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and paternal grandmother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
On 5 July 2015, Princess Charlotte was baptised 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 Queen Victoria's first child.
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 on their royal tour of Canada in September 2016 and on their diplomatic visit to Poland and Germany in July 2017.
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.
Public interest
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. 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.
Titles and succession
Charlotte is, from 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 elder sister of a British prince to be ranked above him in the line of succession.