# Is it known if Charles has decided on a regnal name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928 "2014-03-30T20:26:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/1 "2014-03-30T20:26:08Z")
One of the first decisions kings make when they ascend the throne is what their name will be. His grandfather, for instance, was Albert but chose the name George as his regnal name. (Very popular with that family although I can’t think why. Most of the Georges were perfectly dreadful rulers, as incompetent as they were short-sighted). There was talk some years back that Charles’ admiration for George III (right, go figure) was leaning him towards George. Any more recent clues as to what his decision might be? I guess he could go with Charles III but there’s been a pretender king of that name so I think it unlikely. (Bonnie Prince Charlie styled himself Charles III when his father James, the Old Pretender, - son of James II - died.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/2 "2014-03-30T20:32:04Z")
Last I heard, he was still thinking of George. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/3 "2014-03-30T20:52:11Z")
His full name is “Charles Philip Arthur George.” Is it customary that the regnal name is one of those names? ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/4 "2014-03-30T21:01:29Z")
Hasn’t he always declined to discuss it? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/5 "2014-03-30T21:10:41Z")
Don’t kings, popes, and such often (relatively speaking) take the name of a pretender/antipope in order to delegitimize the pretender’s claim? He could be like [Charles IX of Sweden](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_IX_of_Sweden), who would really be Charles III if he didn’t read too many medieval comic books and think they were real. See also, psychokiller\* [Eric XIV](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_XIV_of_Sweden). They were brothers, and did the same naming thing. \*He could’ve been a ASOIAF/GOT character ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/6 "2014-03-30T21:49:32Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > (Very popular with that family although I can’t think why. Most of the Georges were perfectly dreadful rulers, as incompetent as they were short-sighted). None of them really set the world on fire, but none of them were particularly incompetent (except when George III’s illness actively made him so), I don’t think. I’d say they were mediocre more than dreadful. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/7 "2014-03-30T22:05:03Z")
No decision has been made public, and there is no requirement to do so. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/8 "2014-03-30T22:45:16Z")
The Four Georges sing, “[Born To Rule Over You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPtYmq5qFVA)”. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/9 "2014-03-30T22:59:59Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > None of them really set the world on fire, but none of them were particularly incompetent (except when George III’s illness actively made him so), I don’t think. I’d say they were mediocre more than dreadful. Yeah, but at least as of 30 years or so ago when I was in elementary school, George III was still the archvillain of the colonial era in US perspectives on history. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/10 "2014-03-31T01:16:38Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yeah, but at least as of 30 years or so ago when I was in elementary school, George III was still the archvillain of the colonial era in US perspectives on history. But that has never featured very largely in British assesments of their monarchs. George III is principally remembered for (a) reigning for a very long time, (b) going mad, and (c) being devoted to his wife while quarrelling violently with every single one of his (numerous) sons. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/11 "2014-03-31T01:33:10Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > But that has never featured very largely in British assesments of their monarchs. George III is principally remembered for (a) reigning for a very long time, (b) going mad, and (c) being devoted to his wife while quarrelling violently with every single one of his (numerous) sons. I’m more of the [poet Shelley’s opinion.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England_in_1819) > [@](#): > > England in 1819 > > An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,– > Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow > Through public scorn, mud from a muddy spring,– > Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor know, > But leech-like to their fainting country cling, > Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow … ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/12 "2014-03-31T02:42:20Z")
Well, Shelley was a radical (“I met murder on the way, he had a mask like Castlereagh”), so his views are not necessarily mainstream for his time. But even Shelley makes no mention of the loss of the American colonies in his negative appraisal of the king. (Though, presumably, he would have seen that as a good thing.) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/13 "2014-03-31T03:00:28Z")
No doubt the Peterloo massacre was a horrible thing, but I don’t think that incident in isolation sums up Hannoverian Britain. (And, for that matter, a lot of monarchs who history has remembered as great, such as Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Edward I, etc, ruled when larger massacres had occurred. The Peterloo massacre, as horrific as it was, killed 15 people. Queen Elizabeth’s Rathlin Island Massacre killed 500, Bloody Sunday killed 14.). ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/14 "2014-03-31T03:17:21Z")
Yes, but those were _Irish_ people. ---
**Author:** ![Shaggy\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Shaggy\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shaggy_Z)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/15 "2014-03-31T04:07:05Z")
I predict he will stick with Charles. He’s been known so long as Charles. I think it would be silly for him to switch it up at 70 years old. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/16 "2014-03-31T04:24:18Z")
The fact is that Charles will not discuss it, and he certainly provided no strong and direct information on whether he plans to become King Charles, or something else; he insisted that he will not answer the question on the topic. He will have the right to change his name, and he has does not have to speak to the idea before time ! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/17 "2014-03-31T04:30:39Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > His full name is “Charles Philip Arthur George.” Is it customary that the regnal name is one of those names? > [@Isilder](#): > > The fact is that Charles will not discuss it, and he certainly provided no strong and direct information on whether he plans to become King Charles, or something else; he insisted that he will not answer the question on the topic. > He will have the right to change his name, and he has does not have to speak to the idea before time ! He’s probably going to go with Arthur, and doesn’t want to spoil the surprise.😃 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/18 "2014-03-31T05:03:18Z")
IIRC, he refuses to discuss it because doing so anticipates his mother’s death. It’s a bit unseemly to be eager enough to ascend that you’re picking names while Mum’s still alive. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/19 "2014-03-31T06:00:37Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Yeah, but at least as of 30 years or so ago when I was in elementary school, George III was still the archvillain of the colonial era in US perspectives on history. George V and VI are pretty well-beloved for their leadership during the world wars, though, and George IV’s reign seems to be thought of fondly by most. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2014, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928/20 "2014-03-31T08:54:05Z")
George III was also quite respected at the time (although he had a healthy portion of the country also disliking him too, like John Wilkes!), he was proactive and seen as more down-to-earth than some of his forebears, and his responsibility for the loss of America was not a direct one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-known-if-charles-has-decided-on-a-regnal-name/684928.md?page=2)