Copyright hellomagazine
The eyes of the world were on Prince George when he was christened at St James's Palace on 23rd October 2013. The celebration followed protocol to the letter; the three-month-old wore a handmade replica of the Honiton christening robe commissioned by Queen Victoria, and was baptised using water from the River Jordan in the 184-year-old historic Lily Font. But did you know that his parents' decision about his godparents broke with royal tradition? The Prince and Princess of Wales chose a total of seven godparents for their eldest son – and only one of them was royal. Royal expert Valentine Low explains in his book Courtiers: The Hidden Power Behind The Crown that it was "in many respects, a very traditional royal christening" yet their choice of godparents "represented something of a break with tradition". Historically, royal children's godparents should be exclusively royal, whether relatives or foreign sovereigns, but William and Kate's decision marked something of a shift towards a new era of modern royalty. The young couple, who are also parents to Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, seven, opted to bestow the symbolic honour upon six of their closest friends and confidantes, as well as William's cousin Zara Tindall, the only royal to make the list. Val Lowe expanded: "The list of godparents, seven in all, represented something of a break with tradition. Most of them were old friends of the [then] Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, rather than being drawn from the ranks of royalty, as might have happened in the past. Only one member of the Royal Family made the cut, Zara Tindall, and she did not even have a title." Who are Prince George's seven godparents? Zara Tindall was the obvious choice for the pair. Prince William is incredibly close to his first cousin and their young families have grown up together. "Our kids play with their kids in this competition we have," Zara’s husband Mike previously said of their family time. "Zara is the sister William never had," royal expert Ingrid Seward told HELLO!. "They've always had terrific fun together and they've always supported each other." Hugh Grosvenor, the 7th Duke of Westminster, has long been a close friend of both Prince William and Prince Harry, so he was another clear choice for the couple. William attended the Duke's 2024 wedding to Olivia Henson, acting as an usher during the ceremony, which was dubbed the high society wedding of the year. Julia Samuels, a distinguished psychotherapist, MBE, and host of the podcast Therapy Works, was chosen because she was a close friend of Prince William and Harry's late mother, Princess Diana. Speaking on the How to Fail with Elizabeth Day podcast last year, she revealed that she buys "feisty and cheeky" George noisy toys that take his poor parents days to put together, and joked she was a "good" godmother. A mutual friend of the couple from their studies at St Andrew's University, Oliver Baker, also made the list. The Prince and Princess of Wales were guests of honour at his 2010 wedding. William van Cutsem, one of Prince William's close childhood friends, was another apt choice for the all-important role. King Charles was friends with William's late father, Hugh van Custem, from their days at Cambridge University. Emilia Jardine-Paterson was chosen as godmother due to being a close friend of Kate's from her school days at Marlborough College. She even jetted off to Ibiza for a heartbreak holiday with the future royal during her short-lived split from Prince William in 2007. Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, former Private Secretary to Prince William and Princess Kate, was bestowed the honour as well. The former soldier, who also worked with Prince Harry at his Sentebale charity, held the role of Private Secretary from 2005 until 2013. His son Billy was one of William and Kate's pageboys at their April 2011 wedding. Valentine Lowe found the choice of Jamie one of the most interesting: "It is an absolute article of faith with just about every private secretary that I spoke to for this book that the relationship between adviser and principal is surely professional. But Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton was their friend. He had been there at the very beginning, before they had their own household, when it was just him and Helen Asprey. He was their confidant, their mentor, their older brother." A modern approach Prince William and Princess Kate followed this modern approach with the birth of their two other children, Charlotte and Louis. While they adhered to the six godparent limit for each child, they were chosen from their closest friends and immediate family rather than out of royal obligation. Prince William's friends Thomas van Straubenzee and James Meade were appointed as Charlotte’s godparents, as well as his cousin The Hon. Laura Fellowes, Sophie Carter (a close friend of Kate's) and her cousin Adam Middleton. Meanwhile, William's friends Nicholas van Cutsem, Guy Pelly, and Harry Aubrey-Fletcher were chosen for Louis, alongside Kate's beloved friends Lady Laura Mead and Hannah Carter and her cousin Lucy Middleton. King Charles' approach showed signs of relaxing royal protocol years prior. For his heir, Prince William, he selected six godparents drawn from foreign royalty, family members, and high-ranking members of the British aristocracy and the royal household. He did, however, include a personal friend of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Lady Susan Hussey. When it came to Prince Harry's godparents, King Charles and Princess Diana followed protocol by including royal relatives (Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson), but shifted towards more inclusions of close family friends.
