Hello there Historians. I have a question that may or may not have been answered here before. If it has, I apologise. I couldn’t find anything when searching though so I thought I would ask here.
As many will know, here in the UK there has been a lot of talk about Queen Elizabeth II’s seventy years on the throne and this being her platinum Jubilee year. Coming along with this discussion has been much speculation about how a coronation of her Heir, Charles, will look. Will he change the style of the crown on the post boxes around the country? Does he favour the Tudor crown over the current one? Etc etc
I have a different question. So far no one has mentioned what name he will use when he is crowned. I ask this because some of our kings prior to Elizabeth coming to the throne chose a different name to their birth name. A prime example of that would be Queen Elizabeth’s father King George VI as his birth name was Albert Frederick Arthur George
My question to historians who know about Monarchy would be why do they choose a different name to rule under? Why have only some chosen a different ruling name to their birth name and some haven’t? What are the reasons and circumstance for this?
Thank you in advance for any insight.
I actually have a rather brief answer on this from a previous question, which I'll paste below:
It's not so much a tradition, since most recent British monarchs haven't done it, but the idea seems to have started with Victoria. George IV and William IV had been named George and William, but she was supposed to be christened Victoria Alexandrina Georgiana Charlotte Augusta - Alexandrina for her godfather, Czar Alexander I; Georgiana for George; Victoria for her mother. Charlotte and Augusta were names used frequently in her father's family, but most likely Charlotte was for George's deceased daughter, and Augusta could have been for one of his sisters or his aunt. But it was the Prince Regent's job to say the names during the baptismal service and he refused to say anything but Alexandrina Victoria. Her father, the Duke of Kent, tried to add Elizabeth, Charlotte, and Augusta during the service and was rebuffed. For most of her youth, she went by Alexandrina, or Drina, but people did not really like how foreign either name was. Some suggested she take Elizabeth or Charlotte when she became queen, so the idea was already there that the problem could be repaired. Instead, on her accession she immediately began signing herself as Victoria.
Her eldest son was christened Albert Edward, called Bertie by the family, and when he became king he chose to be only Edward: Albert was, of course, the name of his much-mourned father, and he claimed that he felt the name should "stand alone" without being associated with him. (Prince Albert had strongly disapproved of basically his entire lifestyle, so it's not hard to see an ulterior motive there.) The only other monarch to do it was George VI, his grandson, who was born Albert Frederick Arthur George and also known as Bertie: he chose to emphasize continuity with his father, George V, probably because his older brother was still living, which was an odd situation. (Said brother was known as David, but his first name was Edward, so his being Edward VIII isn't an example of this.) There is speculation about the current Prince of Wales taking a different name, but that's because of the associations with "Charles" rather than because changing one's name is naturally expected on succeeding to the throne.