The entire Royal Family have picked up funny little nicknames along the way, but Queen Elizabeth II took the gold medal for having the most – and weirdest – pet names
In public, The Royal Family may seem like the most formal people in the country, but behind closed doors it seems they’re a lot less strait-laced – indulging in deliberately silly Christmas presents for each other and daft nicknames.
The King himself seems to be behind most of the affectionate nicknames – reportedly referring to himself and his wife, Camilla, by the Goon Show inspired monickers “Fred and Gladys.” And in his new biography of Catherine, Princess of Wales, royal author Robert Jobson reveals that Mike Tindall – the rugby-playing husband of Princess Anne’ daughter Zara Phillips – is fondly addressed as “Shrek” by some members of the Royal Family.
Sometimes these little pet names can serve a practical purpose. Prince Harry was often called “Spike” by friends in his younger years, and the nickname served the now Duke of Sussex as an online pseudonym when he ventured onto social media.
Harry’s older brother William was often called “Wombat” by his late mother, Princess Diana, and the name seems to have stuck. He told US new network NBC in 2007: “I can’t get rid of it now.
“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.”
Another future king has already got himself a nickname. The 11-year-old Prince George of Cambridge is referred to as “PG” by schoolmates. Vanity Fair quoted one of the parents from his old school in Battersea as saying: “George is really happy at school, his nickname is P.G. He’s very popular and has lots of friends, and there’s very little fuss made about who he is.”
Of course the late Queen’s childhood nickname, Lilibet, became international news when Prince Harry and Meghan Markle chose it as their daughters’ first name – but she had a collection of other pet names too, including Cabbage, Gan-Gan, and perhaps the strangest of all, Gary.”
It was Prince Philip who fondly bestowed the affectionate nickname “Cabbage”on his wife of 73 years, while young great-grandson Prince George cam eup with “Gan-Gan.”
But hilariously it was Prince William who came up with the long-reigning Queen’s weirdest pet name. According to the Daily Mail, when he was a toddler William had a bit off trouble pronouncing the word grandma: “A guest who went to help asked who Gary was, assuming it must be a member of the royal household. ‘I’m Gary,’ responded Elizabeth. ‘He hasn’t learned to say Granny yet.’”
