According to The Times, copies of the bulletin “were posted on the gates of Clarence House, on a board outside the Home Office in Whitehall, and at the Mansion House.”
The infant princess weighed “exactly 6lbs, at birth.” Queen Elizabeth arrived at Clarence House five minutes before her daughter gave birth. She returned several hours later and stayed for two hours.
The Duke of Edinburgh was the first to announce the birth. The new Princess’s health was “toasted in champagne by the Duke and his staff.” He then called Balmoral, where King George VI was “out shooting,” and his mother, Princess Andrew, who is staying with her mother, the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven, at Kensington Palace.
Queen Mary, who is at Sandringham, and Princess Margaret, staying with the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch in Dumfriesshire, were also informed, as were other members of the Royal Family.
A 41-gun royal salute was “fired in Hyde Park by the King’s Troop of the Royal Horse Artillery.”
At the time of her birth, the infant princess was third in line to the British throne after her mother, Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, heiress presumptive, and her older brother, Prince Charles of Edinburgh, who was born in November 1948.
The new princess’s names – Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise – were announced on August 29, 1950. Her official title was HRH Princess Anne of Edinburgh.
Elizabeth was a name “shared by the princess’s mother and grandmother,” the Times reported. The Duke of Edinburgh’s mother’s Christian name was Alice. The Times added that “it is also one of the names of the Princess Royal,” who was Princess Elizabeth’s paternal aunt, Princess Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary, known as Princess Mary, who, at the time of Anne’s birth, was also the Dowager Countess of Harewood. Since 1931, she has been styled as the Princess Royal.
Queen Victoria’s second daughter, Princess Alice, who married Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine, was the infant princess’s great-great-grandmother.
Victoria – Alice – Victoria – Alice – Philip – Anne.
Louise was the “name of the Duchess of Fife, eldest daughter of King Edward VII.” It should be noted that Elizabeth and Philip were not thinking of the late Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife, the Princess Royal, who died in 1931. Louise was also the feminine version of Louis, as Philip’s uncle, the Earl of Mountbatten of Burma, would be named as a godfather.
The first names of Elizabeth and Philip’s first two children gained prominence with the Stuart dynasty: Kings Charles I & II and Queen Anne, who had been named for her grandmother, Anna of Denmark, the consort of King James VI & I.
Charles I and his wife Henrietta Maria had a daughter, Princess Anne (1637-1640). Queen Anne had at least seventeen pregnancies. None of her children survived childhood. One daughter was named Anne Sophia, who was born on May 12, 1686, and died on February 2, 1687, from smallpox.
Princess Anne of Edinburgh was the first British royal to have the name Anne since Princess Anne, Princess Royal (1709-1759), the eldest daughter of King George II and Queen Caroline. She married Willem IV, Prince of Orange.
In 1930, the Duke and Duchess of York (King George VI and Queen Elizabeth) wanted to name their second daughter Ann Margaret. The Duchess of York thought “Ann of York” sounded pretty, but the name was vetoed by King George, and the princess was named Margaret Rose.
Anne’s baptism took place in the “white and gold music room” at Buckingham Palace. The Archbishop of York officiated at the service on October 21st.
The King and Queen, Queen Mary, Princess Margaret, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and other members of the Royal Family sat on “gold and crimson chairs before the historic silver-gilt lily font.”
Princess Anne’s five godparents were her two grandmothers, her aunt, the Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark), Vice Admiral Earl Mounbatten of Burma, and the Rev. Hon. Andrew Elphinstone, Princess Elizabeth’s first cousin.
Princess Andrew was unable to attend her granddaughter’s baptism and was represented by Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone.
The infant Princess was carried into the music room by her nurse, “who walked behind the King and Queen,” Princess Elizabeth with Prince Charles.”
The Queen held her granddaughter until she handed her to the Archbishop. The infant princess “lay peacefully” in his arms as he asked for her names, which were given by the Queen. After the Archbishop sprinkled holy water on the princess, he handed her back to the Queen, who “held her for the rest of the ceremony.
A reception for 60 guests was held after the ceremony. The one-tier christening cake was “covered with white icing and surmounted by a small silver cradle containing a baby dressed in ivory lace.”
