Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge
Born July 22, 2013, AT 4:24 p.m.
(8 pounds, 6 ounces)
George shares his name with King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II’s father, who ruled from 1936 to 1952. Experts in this sort of thing speculate that “Alexander” could be a nod to one of Queen Elizabeth’s middle names, Alexandra, while “Louis” probably refers to Earl Louis Mountbatten, the queen’s cousin.
Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge
Born May 2, 2015, at 8:34 a.m.
(8 pounds, 3 ounces)
“Charlotte” is the female version of “Charles,” a tribute to her grandfather Prince Charles of Wales. (Incidentally, it is also Pippa Middleton’s middle name.) “Elizabeth” is a nod to her great-grandmother, and “Diana” to her late grandmother, Diana, Princess of Wales.
$368 million
The estimated boost in retail spending with the birth of Prince George.
$120 million
The estimated boost in retail spending to the British economy in response to the birth of Charlotte.
*Though Charlotte inspired a smaller spending burst in the short term, she could add much more to the economy—around $1.5 billion, some say—over her lifetime, especially in the fashion sector.
+600%
The increase in sales of the Aden + Anais blanket George was swaddled in on his way from the hospital to the royal car. The company had 7,000 orders in nine days, and their website crashed twice.
24 hours
The time it took for the Rachel Riley–designed shirt-and-shorts combo George wore to Charlotte’s christening to sell out.
69
The number of royal babies christened in Queen Victoria’s original gown (and replicas of it), as Princess Charlotte was on July 5.
$2.4 million
The amount bookmakers received in bets on the future prince’s name in 2013.
$1.5 million
The amount bookmakers paid out to gamblers who bet on “Charlotte” as the future princess’s name in 2015. (The odds finished at 3:1, so bookies surely took in far more on the second royal-baby bet.)
Place in Line to the Throne
Third (George) and fourth (Charlotte), behind Prince Charles and Prince William. Harry got bumped down to fifth.
$1 billion
The estimated net worth of the royal family, much of which will eventually trickle down.
774
The estimated number of official gifts received by Prince George during royal tours in 2014. This is seven times the number received by his great-grandmother. His gifts included a silver box with soil from a WWI battlefield; a possum-skin cloak; and a stuffed wombat, “which he has taken to chewing so lovingly,” according to his dad.
Strangest Related Project
Royal Baby Sick Bag
Dunkin’ Donuts Royal Munchkin
Tweets
There were more than 1.1 million #royalbaby tweets posted about Charlotte’s birth, compared to 900,000 for George’s. (Twitter also saw 60 million more active users in the meantime, which could help explain the added enthusiasm.)
