What’s in a name? While the royal family is known to be stoic in public, the endearing monikers they call each other are a nod to the sweet, soft side of The Firm.
Prior to her passing in September 2022, Queen Elizabeth II was often referred to as “the queen,” even by members of her family. However, her four children — as well as her eight grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren — would also interchange her formal title for more familial ones.
For King Charles III, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Edward, they referred to their late mother as “Mama,” as evidenced by their touching tributes after Her Majesty’s death at age 96. Elizabeth and the late Prince Philip’s grandchildren, meanwhile, referred to their grandmother as “Grannie.”
Prince William and Princess Kate’s eldest son, Prince George — who was born in July 2013 and is third in line to the throne — had a special nickname for his great-grandma.
“George is only 2 1/2 and he calls her ‘Gan-Gan,’” the Princess of Wales revealed in the 2016 ITV documentary, Our Queen at Ninety.
When it comes to their grandparents — including the late Princess Diana — William and Prince Harry’s kids have cute nicknames for them as well.
To his five grandchildren — William and Kate’s kids, George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, and Harry and Meghan Markle’s little ones, Archie and Lilibet — Charles is known as “Grandpa Wales.” His wife, Queen Consort Camilla, has the nickname “Gaga,” she revealed in 2016.
Diana, for her part, is called “Granny Diana” by William and Harry’s children. Though she was killed in a car accident decades before her grandchildren were born, her memory lives on in the princes’ respective homes.
“Dear Granny Diana, I am thinking of you on Mother’s Day,” Charlotte penned in a poignant letter to her late grandmother in 2021. “I love you very much. Papa is missing you. Lots of love.”
In his Apple TV+ series The Me You Can’t See, Harry recalled that one of son Archie’s first words was “grandma” — referring to Diana.
“I got a photo of her in his nursery, and it was one of the first words that he said — apart from ‘mama,’ ‘papa,’ it was then ‘grandma.’ Grandma Diana,” the Duke of Sussex shared in the 2021 docuseries. “It’s the sweetest thing, but at the same time, it makes me really sad because she should be here.”
Keep scrolling to see all of the royals’ nicknames for each other:
