Princess Eugenie has welcomed her first daughter into the world with a name steeped in history, family and sentiment, but amid all those carefully chosen tributes, there is one rather awkward omission staring us squarely in the face.
The 36-year-old announced that she and her husband Jack Brooksbank have named their newborn daughter Adelaide Elizabeth Annina Brooksbank, revealing the name two weeks after their little girl was born in Lisbon, Portugal, on August 3.
And this was not simply a case of Eugenie and Jack picking three names because they sounded pretty together, as the Princess made a point of explaining that their daughter was “named after three people we love and admire past and present”.
Elizabeth, Adelaide and Annina – but no Sarah
Elizabeth provides the touching and unmistakable nod to Eugenie’s late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, while Adelaide carries links to both Portuguese and royal history - the two countries Eugenie herself said the family “love and call home”.
It is thoughtful, sentimental and very royal, with seemingly every syllable carrying its own carefully considered meaning. But for all that family history packed into one tiny baby’s name, there is apparently no obvious tribute to Eugenie’s own mother, Sarah Ferguson - and, goodness, that feels brutal.
Now, Eugenie can obviously name her daughter whatever she pleases, and there is absolutely no evidence that leaving Sarah’s name out was a calculated snub or proof of some dramatic mother-daughter fallout. But when you publicly announce that your baby’s names honour people you “love and admire”, people are inevitably going to start doing the family roll call - and Fergie’s absence rather jumps off the page.
A family under scrutiny
This is, after all, the mother with whom Eugenie has long shared an exceptionally close public relationship, and the woman who raised her alongside her elder sister Princess Beatrice.
Yet there is an Elizabeth, there is an Adelaide, there is an Annina - but not a Sarah or any other obvious little wink towards Fergie. Ouch.
Had Eugenie simply announced “Adelaide Elizabeth Annina” and left it there, nobody could reasonably read much into it, but by deliberately explaining that the names honour three admired people, she has rather invited us all to inspect the guest list.
The timing makes that omission all the more uncomfortable, as the York family has endured an extraordinarily turbulent period, with Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice repeatedly facing public scrutiny over their parents while trying to build independent lives of their own.
Neither sister should be held responsible for controversies involving their mother or father, and it would be grossly unfair to suggest otherwise, but perhaps that is exactly why every public gesture involving the family now attracts considerably more attention than it once did.
A missed opportunity
Against that backdrop, a newborn granddaughter could have provided the sweetest possible opportunity for a subtle tribute to Sarah.
Instead, Eugenie reached backwards through royal history, honoured her beloved late grandmother and acknowledged the family’s connection with Portugal, while her own mother appears - at least obviously, is nowhere in the name. And that is quite an omission.
Nobody expects every grandmother’s name to be squeezed onto a birth certificate, royal children would need names long enough to require their own stationery.
But Eugenie herself chose to highlight the meaning behind her daughter’s names, inevitably inviting us to look at who made the cut - and who didn’t.
Perhaps Fergie couldn’t care less and is simply delighted to welcome another granddaughter, but there is something undeniably awkward about Eugenie celebrating those she “loves and admires” while seemingly leaving out the woman who gave her her own name.
Sometimes in royal circles, the name left unsaid makes considerably more noise than those announced to the world.
