Prince Harry was almost called something else but Princess Diana ‘joke’ was vetoed by royals
The Princess of Wales seemingly had a different moniker in mind for her younger son - one with extremely negative connotations for the monarchy
Prince Harry is one of the most famous people in the world and one of the few to be instantly recognisable by one name alone. But he might not even have been called Harry if his mother had gotten her way.
In fact, he isn’t actually called Harry at all. Born in September 1984, the Duke of Sussex was christened Henry Charles Albert David in December that year.
He went on to be referred to as ‘Harry’ but was called ‘Harold’ by his brother, Prince William. Why he ended up being called Harry remains something of a mystery, and he even referred to it in 2022, admitting to being in the dark.
Eight English kings were named Henry, so it is a regal name. But perhaps because Henry VIII was so notorious, the family decided to give him the nickname Harry and it has stuck ever since.
But if Princess Diana had got her way with a bit of mischief, he might have had another name with a connection to the royals – and not a good one. According to the Daily Mail, the Princess of Wales once joked that she wanted to call her second son ‘Oliver’, after Oliver Cromwell – Britain’s most famous republican.
How serious she was is up for debate but either way she was soon made aware that the name was on ‘verboten list’. And it is little wonder.
In the 17th century, Cromwell was a leading advocate of executing King Charles I and was a commander of the parliamentarian forces in the ‘Wars of the Three Kingdoms’ – a series of conflicts between 1639 and 1653 which eventually culminated in the abolition of the monarchy in Britain and creation of an English republic, with Cromwell himself acting as Lord Protector.
