Here are some Instagram pics from photographer Phil Poynter, who photographed Princess Beatrice for the magazine Chaos SixtyNine. Poynter says that Beatrice was “kind enough to sit for a personal portrait session” after the magazine shoot, and the photo above was sort of a portrait outtake. Beatrice does look glam! And she’s not usually very glam-looking. No disrespect! I’m not glam-looking in photos either (nor in life). I tend to think Eugenie is simply the more photogenic sister.
Anyway, because there are really not many stories about the York princesses these days, I’ve been missing them on a gossip-level. Which is how I came across this story, which I did not know – Beatrice was supposed to be named something else entirely:
Members of the royal family always make us wait a few days before sharing the name they have picked for their newborn babies – often sending bookies into a frenzy. Picking a name for a potential king or queen is obviously a big deal, but there are also a few royal traditions they must follow before they can tell the world. The main one is telling the Queen about their choice to check she’s happy with it, and while it sounds quite intimidating it’s just an “informal chat” when she gives her blessing. And while she was clearly a fan of George, Charlotte, Louis and Archie, apparently things weren’t quite so easy when it came to the previous generation.
Back in August 1988, the Duke and Duchess of York welcomed their firstborn – a baby girl we all now know as Princess Beatrice. It took two weeks for Prince Andrew and Fergie to formally announce her name, and the reason is the Queen wasn’t sold on their first choice, according to The Sun.
Fergie had her heart set on naming her daughter Princess Annabel, but Her Maj’s feedback, apparently, was that the name was too “yuppie”. But it seems as if what the Queen takes away with one hand, she gives with another – she then suggested Beatrice, believed to having taken inspiration from the name of Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter, and the rest is history.
Beatrice’s full name is Beatrice Elizabeth Mary, with her middle names paying tribute to her grandmother and great-grandmother.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of the Sussex shenanigans, it’s that if the Queen wants to get involved with a relative’s private situation, she clearly could and often does. If she’s not getting involved, that means she doesn’t care. Imagine micromanaging your granddaughter’s name! While I doubt that the Queen actually uttered the word “yuppie” (how gauche), I bet she said something about how “trendy” the name is, etc. And isn’t there a private club in London called Annabel’s? Yes. Weird. Anyway, Beatrice doesn’t look like an Annabel, and I think her name ended up suiting her after all. Now Eugenie’s name, on the other hand. Strangely, I kind of think Annabel would have suited her?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Avalon Red and Instagram.
I think she looks more like an Annabel than a Beatrice.
I had heard that Diana wanted to give one of the boys “John” as a middle name after her father but that that name is frowned upon in the family. The story at the time was it was because of nasty King John ruining the name for the family, although one wonders if it has to do with Prince John, who was QEII’s uncle, who died as a teenager and was epileptic and probably autistic. Peter Morgan did a great miniseries on him that is worth checking out. He was a sweet boy who was basically banished to a cottage on the Windsor estate with his nanny.
The lost prince miniseries is beautifully shot and acted but is wildly inaccurate. He was much loved and wasn’t banished or hidden away but the myth persists and the miniseries is a good reason why. If you look up Winifred Thomas his playmate and there was a local boy whose name escapes me there are lovely stories of his life.
Yeah, Prince John was treated very well compared to other kids like him of the period. He lived with his family for the most of his life and when he did go to live on that house, he was visited by family and lots of people around to care for him. His parents were king and queen at that point, and they weren’t involved that deeply with any of their children’s day to day lives at that point, let alone John’s. He was mourned when he died (except by David, who was an ass about it).
When I hear “Annabel”, I think of the movie(doll). But I prefer Beatrice over Eugenie.
Ha! I was planning on watching it finaly tonight.
Me too. I was imagining the Queen saying “No grandchild of mine is going to be named after that creepy doll!”
I’ve always thought she has beautiful eyes. Big, Disney princess eyes.
I don’t when I opened this page and saw that picture I actually jumped because her eyes were overwhelming. I don’t know where she got that feature from.
She got it from Queen Victoria!
If you look at pictures of her next to Queen Victoria the resemblance is uncanny!!!
It wasn’t that the name was too “yuppie” (a term that was in wide use in the US at the time but not so much in the UK,) it was that Andy and Fergie literally wanted to name their daughter after the club, which had been a special place to them in their dating days. Naming a baby after a nightclub was a bridge too far for the Queen.
I think Eugenie was named after Empress Eugenie of France and Queen Eugenie of Spain due to portraits of the Empress and Queen which hang in Buckingham Palace and/or Windsor Castle that Sarah greatly admired.
…okay, I agree with Queenie on ONE thing. Not going to be a good day today, I guess.
That’s what first came to my mind, why are they naming their daughter after the nightclub. If the Queen doesn’t like trendy names why would she allow Zara to be named Zara? That is far out there for a queen’s granddaughter.
That’s an interesting question. My understanding is that Zara was Prince Charles’ suggestion. I’d also imagine Anne would be a hard nut to crack. But in any event it’s a lovely name.
Also, Zara is not an HRH and not technically a member of the British Royal Family.
That is a lovely picture of her. I can’t imagine her as an Annabel. I can’t imagine any princess with that name, though. Eugenie definitely got the worse name.
Her eyes have always kinda freaked me out.
+1
I think Annabel fits her well. And that is a gorgeous portrait. I can’t decide if I’m creeped out by the disembodied photo of her mouth or I love it. Either way, she looks great here and shame about the name.
She looks more like an Annabel to me. Royal naming protocols seem to yield some unfortunate results.
I’m glad Harry and Meghan got to name their own child what they wanted. I can’t imagine a family member having that kind of veto power but I guess in the case of some celebrities maybe that would be a good thing? Looking at you Elon Musk! Anyway, I like that picture of Bea, it’s very dramatic.
This doesn’t remotely surprise me. My grandmother had some pretty strong opinions on names, and in particular her grandchildren’s names and made them known. For instance, she objected to Florence as a “maid’s name” and hated any nicknames as Christian names (Jack would have to be John, Harry would have to be Harry). My mother wanted to call my brother Archie, but was told he would have to be Archibald and couldn’t stomach it!
Mainly though my gran wasn’t the queen and could appropriately be ignored as out of touch.
I can’t imagine having to get approval or even input from my MIL for my child’s name. That’s so silly to me! I like Annabel better, it’s more
Youthful and Beatrice is old fashioned sounding to me.
Don’t believe it. This is from the Daily Mail and they lie all the time. Plus Annabel is very close sounding to Anne and I don’t think they’d want so much public overlap.
Agreed. Where did this even come from? I ask because the same story for the last thirty years has been that Fergie was obsessed with Queen Victoria and wanted to name her daughters after daughters/granddaughters of Victoria.
Agreed. Where did this even come from? I ask because the same story for the last thirty years has been that Fergie was obsessed with Queen Victoria and wanted to name her daughters after daughters/granddaughters of Victoria.
No, I remember it from around the time Beatrice was born, though I remember the preferred name as Arabella not Annabel. And the expression “too yuppie” was used at the time.
Mmmm, vintage tabloid reruns. At least it’s not another W&K embiggening story, or another ‘Meghan is the devil and Poor, Dumb Harry’ story.
IDK. I’ve heard this story before but I remember when Fergie and PA were dating/engaged she made bee’s her thing. I think she wanted her family to be seen like Diana’s and said bees were part of a family crest or something. They were part of her wedding too. I always thought that is were the name Beatrice came from.
This made me laugh! My grandmother’s name was Annabel and she was a farm wife who had 9 children. Clearly she wasn’t a yuppy!
I wonder how much the queen actually vetoed the name – it wouldn’t surprise me if it was more damning by faint praise and the Yorks read between the lines and changed the name. Like when my mom said to my sister when she was pregnant and shared her top pick for the name if she had a daughter: “…. Oh, that’s an …. *interesting* name…. how…. unusual….” My mom didn’t come right out and say she hated the name, but she made her feelings very clear through the use of fraught silence and heavy-handed hints (my mom thinks she’s subtle but she’s not at all).
There are plenty of families where one particular grandma or grandpa rules the roost, but if you’re buying into the idea of being part of a royal family, then there’d be so MUCH more of an ingrained, knee-jerk deference to that one grandma/grandpa. It’d be a weird family to grow up in, for sure.
I do think the royal family occasionally uses it as way out of sticky situations, though. Like when the queen ordered Prince Charles and Lady Diana to divorce. It was already really clear at that point that they detested one another, and I’m pretty sure the main reason they hadn’t split up already was from the in-house pressure to uphold a facade of royalty being this romanticized ideal of Britishness.
The queen ordering them to divorce effectively knee-capped anyone who would have clutched their pearls at royals not stiff-upper-lipping their way through a lifetime of bad marriage.
That picture is photoshopped.