What Princess Charlotte will be called at school

Princess Charlotte will attend her first day at school tomorrow, Thursday 5 September.

The four-year-old will be a student at Thomas’s Battersea, the same private preparatory school her elder brother Prince George, 6, attends.

Last week, the Palace confirmed both of Princess Charlotte’s parents and older brother will be present tomorrow as she begins her time at the £18,915 per year day school.

But how will Princess Charlotte’s classmate and teachers refer to the only daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge?

Her full title is “Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Cambridge”.

READ MORE: Inside Princess Charlotte's £18,915 per year school

However, Richard Fitzwilliam, a royal PR expert, tells Yahoo UK that Princess Charlotte will go by a much more conventional name in the classroom.

“William and Kate want their children, all of whom have the title HRH, to grow up in as normal an environment as possible,” Fitzwilliam told us.

“It would obviously totally inappropriate for her Her Royal Highness [title] to be used in the classroom. This would give her a totally separate status from the other pupils, the reverse of what her parents want and it would also be so lonely,” he added.

So what name will Charlotte go by instead? Famously, the royals do not use surnames if they have the “Royal Highness” title.

However, there is a clever solution to this which George has already set the precedent, and this is to use the family title – Cambridge – in place of a surname.

“Charlotte will follow George in using her father's title of Cambridge, as her second name, just as William and Harry used their father's title of Wales,” says Fitzwilliam.

READ MORE: Duchess Kate 'takes George and Charlotte to favourite London private members club'

Therefore, Princess Charlotte will go by simply “Charlotte Cambridge”, according to Fitzwilliam.

An informal nickname might also be used by those close to Charlotte, he speculates.

“When she makes friends among her classmates they may call her Lottie as Kate reportedly does.”