What’s in a name?
King Charles and his wife Queen Consort Camilla have been known to use nicknames in private, but a royal expert has revealed the little-known true meaning.
Royal commentator Charles Rae spoke to Slingo about their secret monikers, Fred and Gladys, which have been public knowledge for years thanks to Princess Diana’s tell-all book by Andrew Morton.
But Rae claimed he knows what inspired the pair’s seemingly random pet names for one another.
Rae noted that “Fred” and “Gladys” were names they both used before their 2005 wedding, since Charles, 74, and Camilla, 75, infamously had a relationship dating back to the 1970s — while they were both married to other people.
It turns out, Rae revealed, that they pulled the names from “The Goon Show,” a British radio show broadcast between 1951 and 1960.
“These are names they used before their marriage and chose them from characters in ‘The Goon Show,’ of which they are both fans,” Rae explained.
He also disclosed how the late Princess Diana had once found a bracelet engraved with the initials, F and G, the “pair’s secret nicknames.”
This event was even depicted in Season 4 of Netflix’s hit royal drama, “The Crown,” in which a young Diana (Emma Corrin) confronts Charles (Josh O’Connor) just before their 1981 wedding after finding the jewelry — a real-life event noted in Morton’s book, “Diana: Her True Story.”
“[Charles and Camilla] also have other nicknames for each other, including ‘darling’ and ‘mehbooba,’” Rae said.
“Camilla has been heard using the nickname ‘mehboob’, which means ‘my beloved’ in Urdu, for Charles on a number of occasions including back in February when she was giving a speech at the British Museum,” he continued.
Rae also disclosed the nicknames that Diana had for her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry.
She had often referred to William, now 40, as “Wombat” when he was a young child.
“Diana dubbed Harry [as] GKH — ‘Good King Harry’ — because she thought he would have been better equipped for the role as a future king,” he added. “It was also used to make Harry feel that extra special.”
Among the other royal family monikers, Harry, 38, is often referred to as “H” or “Haz” by his wife Meghan Markle.
The Duke of Sussex also calls William “Willy,” and the Prince of Wales calls his younger brother, “Harold,” which Harry revealed in his memoir, “Spare.”