The Sweet Nickname King Charles Had For Princess Margaret

Some royal traditions of the British monarchy can be traced back through centuries of pomp and routine, while others have a far simpler origin, such as a toddler struggling to say their R's. Such was the case for King Charles III, then still Prince Charles, the eldest son of the late Queen Elizabeth II. The young boy's inability to pronounce certain consonants resulted in his adopting an adorable nickname for his mother's younger sister, Princess Margaret, in his early years. 

A 1953 edition of Woman & Home magazine profiled the family life of Queen Elizabeth and her two young children, Prince Charles and Princess Anne. The article, written by royal expert and author of "The Pictorial History of Windsor Castle," Marguerite D. Peacocke, revealed that the young prince addressed his aunt by her first name instead of using formal titles reserved for older relatives. 

"But like most children just beginning to talk, he found R's rather a problem, and therefore invented his own private version, which was interpreted as 'Margot,'" wrote Peacocke (via Yahoo).

The then-Prince Charles' nickname for his aunt, Princess Margaret, might have resulted from an early childhood difficulty pronouncing R's, but it stuck around long after he became the eloquent speaker he is today. Charles' first wife, the late Princess Diana, also fondly referred to her aunt-in-law as Margo. In an excerpt of Andrew Morton's "Elizabeth and Margaret," published by Town & Country, Morton recalled Diana saying: "I've always adored Margo. I love her to bits, and she has been wonderful to me from day one." 

Unsurprisingly, Diana's children, William, Prince of Wales, and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, took up the same name for their great-aunt. The younger of Diana's two sons offered a fleeting glimpse into his distant relationship with Princess Margaret, whom he referred to as Aunt Margo, in his memoir "Spare" (via the Daily Mail). The Duke of Sussex compared his relationship with William to Margaret's relationship with Elizabeth, calling him and his great-aunt "two spares," referring to their secondary position in the royal family's line of succession.

Harry's depiction of his relationship with his Great Aunt Margo was far colder than his mother's, writing in his memoir that he felt little attachment to his distant relative besides pity for her life in her older sister's shadow. He also described a Christmas during which he received a ballpoint pen with a rubber fish wrapped around it from his Aunt Margo, calling the gift "cold-blooded."

While members of the royal family are more commonly addressed formally by their first name and title, most royal relatives have a secret nickname used behind closed doors. Much like then-Prince Charles' nickname for his Aunt "Margo," the late Queen Elizabeth II's familial nickname, Lilibet, resulted from her inability to pronounce her full name when she was a young girl. Years later, the queen would adopt an even stranger moniker. 

The late Prince Philip had a rather unusual nickname for his wife, Queen Elizabeth: Cabbage. The Sunday Times confirmed the odd nickname in 2006, explaining that it was most likely derived from the French phrase "mon petit chou," which means "my little cabbage" when translated directly to English (via Reader's Digest). The monarch would later be called Granny by her two grandchildren and Gan-Gan by her great-grandchildren.

Other strange nicknames within the royal family include Wombat and Ginger, which were reserved for Prince William and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. In a 2007 interview with NBC, William explained that his nickname, Wombat, originated on a trip to Australia with his parents. Harry's nickname was unsurprisingly selected due to his crop of red hair.  William also mentioned he had nicknames that were too "rude" to disclose in the interview, which leaves us wondering what other oddball monikers get thrown around at private royal family gatherings.