Queen Elizabeth II was a woman of many names, titles and styles. While she was just the Queen to many of us in the UK, she was known as ‘Mother of all People’ by the Salish nation in Canada, ‘Paramount Chief’ to many in Fiji, and ‘The White Heron’ by the Maori people of New Zealand. At the time of her passing in 2022, The Queen's official title was: Elizabeth II, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
But when it comes to the Royal Family's private family life behind palace walls, there are a whole host of sweet nicknames that they use for one another. The late Queen, for example, had a handful of nicknames which were used by her nearest and dearest, from Cabbage to to Gan Gan and even Lilibet - but there is one pet name that tops all of these. During her lifetime, custom dictated that when you met the monarch for the first time, you would call her ‘Your Majesty’, before using the term ma’am - pronounced to rhyme with ‘ham’, rather than ‘farm’. While her close relatives would bow, curtsey and show respect to the late Queen, Prince William came up with a rather hilarious way to call his grandmother over.
According to Daily Mail, while a young William was playing at Buckingham Palace, he took a little trip and called out for help. But instead of shouting for ‘Granny’, he called for ‘Gary’ - much to the confusion of everyone present. The column reports: “A guest who went to help asked who Gary was, assuming it must be a member of the royal household. ‘I’m Gary,’ responded the Queen. "'He hasn’t learned to say Granny yet'.".
Prince William has also had numerous nicknames over the years that have been given to him by everyone from his mother to his wife and children. In 1983, 10-month-old Prince William joined his parents on his first royal tour to Australia. While he was there it was revealed that his mother has started calling him 'Wombat'. In an NBC interview in 2007, William admitted to being stuck with the name, “I can’t get rid of it now,” he said.
“It began when I was two. I’ve been rightfully told because I can’t remember back that far, but when we went to Australia with our parents, and the wombat, you know, that’s the local animal, so I just basically got called that, not because I look like a wombat, or maybe I do.”. According to The Sun, The Princess of Wales used to use two hilarious nicknames for her husband, which were reported to be "baldy" and “big willy". Prince William is also said to have used the terms "babykins" and "DoD", which stands for "Duchess of Dolittle".
The couple have also been heard using more conservative pet names for one another. At The Chelsea Flower Show in 2016, the royal couple were heard calling each other “babe” and “darling". Landscape gardener Charlie Albone told Grazia U.K. that when Prince William asked his wife about a plant she replied: “Babe, we’ve got those. We’ve got loads of those.”. Another one of the designers at the show revealed to Hello! that the prince stopped to look at poppies and asked Catherine: “Could you make one of these, darling?’”.
