Princess Charlotte of Wales (Charlotte Elizabeth Diana; born 2 May 2015) is a member of the

British royal family The British royal family comprises Charles III and other members of his family. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although the Royal Household has issued different lists outlining who is considere ...

. She is the second child and only daughter of

William, Prince of Wales William, Prince of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his pat ...

, and

Catherine, Princess of Wales Catherine, Princess of Wales (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982), is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne. Born in Reading, Catherine grew ...

, and a granddaughter of

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

and

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

. She is third in the

line of succession to the British throne Succession to the British throne is determined by descent, sex, legitimacy, and religion. Under common law, the Crown is inherited by a sovereign's children or by a childless sovereign's nearest Collateral descendant, collateral line. The Bil ...

Infancy

Princess Charlotte was born at 08:34 BST on 2 May 2015 in

St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is a teaching hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust ...

, during the reign of her paternal great-grandmother,

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, as the second child of

Prince William William, Prince of Wales (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982), is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales. William was born during the reign of his p ...

and

Catherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...

, then known as Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Her birth was marked by gun salutes and illuminating London landmarks pink. On 4 May her name was announced as Charlotte Elizabeth Diana, honouring her grandfather

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

, her great-grandmother, and her grandmother Diana. Charlotte was christened on 5 July by the

archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

Justin Welby Justin Portal Welby (born 6 January 1956) is an Anglican bishop who served as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England from 2013 to 2025. After an 11-year career in the oil industry, Welby trained for ordination at St John ...

, at St Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham.

Upbringing

The family lived at Anmer Hall in Norfolk during Charlotte's infancy, before relocating to

Kensington Palace Kensington Palace is a royal residence situated within Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has served as a residence for the British royal family since the 17th century and is currently the ...

in 2017. Charlotte started at Willcocks Nursery School in January 2018. She joined her elder brother George at Thomas's School in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

in September 2019, where she was known as Charlotte Cambridge. In 2022 the family relocated to Adelaide Cottage in Windsor Home Park, after which she and her brothers, George and

Louis Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also ...

, began attending Lambrook, an independent preparatory school in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. Elizabeth II died on 8 September 2022 and was succeeded by Charlotte's grandfather as Charles III. Accordingly, Charlotte became third in line to the throne. Charlotte and her brothers occasionally accompany their parents on royal engagements, tours, and diplomatic visits.

Public image

Despite the efforts of her parents to shelter their children from public view, photographs and public appearances of Charlotte continue to cause media frenzies. Shopping statistics and polls among parents show that Charlotte is a major children's style icon. Brand Finance previously estimated that she will be worth more than £3 billion to the

British economy The United Kingdom has a highly developed social market economy. From 2017 to 2025 it has been the sixth-largest national economy in the world measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), tenth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP), ...

throughout her lifetime. In August 2023, ''

Reader's Digest ''Reader's Digest'' is an American general-interest family magazine, published ten times a year. Formerly based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wi ...

'' valued her worth to the British economy throughout her lifetime at $4.6 billion or £3.6 billion.

Title and styles

Charlotte is a British princess with the official

style Style, or styles may refer to: Film and television * ''Style'' (2001 film), a Hindi film starring Sharman Joshi, Riya Sen, Sahil Khan and Shilpi Mudgal * ''Style'' (2002 film), a Tamil drama film * ''Style'' (2004 film), a Burmese film * '' ...

and title "Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Wales". Before her father was created

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...

on 9 September 2022, Charlotte was styled "Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge".

Succession

Charlotte is third in the

, behind her father and elder brother. Because of the implementation of the

Perth Agreement The Perth Agreement was made in Australia in 2011 by the prime ministers of what were then the sixteen states known as Commonwealth realms, all recognising Elizabeth II as their head of state. The document agreed that the governments of the real ...

, which replaced

male-preference primogeniture Primogeniture () is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit all or most of their parent's estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relat ...

with

absolute primogeniture Primogeniture () is the right, by law or custom, of the firstborn legitimate child to inherit all or most of their parent's estate in preference to shared inheritance among all or some children, any illegitimate child or any collateral relat ...

, she did not move down the line of succession upon the birth of her younger brother Louis in April 2018, making her the first British princess in history to rank above a brother in the line of succession.

Notes

References

External links

Princess Charlotte
at the Royal Family website * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlotte, Cambridge, Princess, Of 2015 births Living people 21st-century British people 21st-century British women British princesses Children of William, Prince of Wales Daughters of British dukes House of Windsor Middleton family (British) Mountbatten-Windsor family People from London Royal children