To the majority of people she’s ‘Her Royal Highness’ or ‘Your Majesty’, but once Meghan Markle gets closer to the Queen, she might be calling her by a different nickname.
And judging by how chummy Meghan, 36, and Queen Liz, 92, looked on their first royal engagement together, they’re heading down that track.
According to Ingrid Seward – the editor-in-chief of royal-centric magazine Majesty, there’s a process that the Duchess of Sussex will have to follow.
“When Meghan [first] greets the Queen… she will address her as Your Majesty and curtsy,” she told Grazia UK.
“[Then] it is Ma’am, thrown into conversation as many times as possible,” said Ingrid, before Meghan will be able to move onto a more informal nickname that was also used by her mother-in-law.
“This can be shortened to Mama, when Meghan gets to know her as Diana did,” she said.
The Queen's full name is Elizabeth Alexandra Mary, but like most royals her full name is rarely used. There is however, one nickname which will be kept strictly off limits.
"[It's] reserved for very close family and friends," said Ingrid, referring to the name "Lillibet" - which fans of The Crown might recall the Queen's father, King George VI saying.
When it comes to her grandchildren we know that Prince William and Harry both refer to their grandmother as "granny," and in 2016 the Duchess of Cambridge told makers of the ITV documentary Our Queen At Ninety that Prince George has a rather special nickname for his great-grandmother.
"George is only two and a half and he calls her Gan-Gan,” she said.
But to us mere common-folk, it's strictly 'Your Royal Highness' or 'Your Majesty' first, and then 'Ma'am' after.
Top Comments
The Queen was Diana's mother-in-law, not her grandmother by marriage as is the case with Meghan. Diana calling the Queen 'mama' is the upper class equivalent of hoi polloi calling their mother-in-law,'mum'.
Well, thank God it's 'Diana approved'! She couldn't possibly do a single thing that wasn't approved by the deceased mother-in-law she's never met! (Anyone else reminded of that book 'Rebecca'?)
I think Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier's book) was the dead wife, not mother-in-law.
Yeah, but it's the same kind of vibe. The long deceased woman who will always be 'perfect', and the younger woman stuck in the shadows, always being compared to someone she will never live up to.
Another incongruous allusion to Dead Diana. No acknowledgement of the fact that Diana created a lot of problems for the Queen; am sure that Meghan wouldn't want to be using "Diana approved" crap to spare the Queen any reminder of her.