Royal nicknames are an endless source of fascination, with everyone from Queen Elizabeth (a.k.a. Lilibet) to Prince George (PG Tips) going by some adorable aliases. But when it comes to Queen Camilla, she has a rather unexpected nickname, according to royal author Gyles Brandreth.
Writing in his biography of the late Queen, Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait, Brandreth shares that King Charles “sometimes calls” his wife Camilla “Mehbooba,” noting the nickname is “Urdu for ‘my beloved.’”
Urdu is the official language of Pakistan and is also commonly spoken in India, a country Charles has a deep affinity for and has visited 10 times since 1975.
The King and Queen have been married since 2005.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
King Charles tries his hand at making chapati bread while visiting India in 2019.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Elizabeth: An Intimate Portrait
The King has even called Queen Camilla by her Urdu pet name during public speeches, like when he attended an event for the British Asian Trust in 2022.
“I cannot quite believe it is almost two years to the day that both my mehbooba and myself were able to be with all of you,” he told the crowd at the time.
Although King Charles doesn’t speak fluent Urdu, he’s proficient in French and can speak conversational German and Welsh, along with having knowledge of the Scottish Gaelic and Greek languages.
As for Queen Camilla’s nickname, she also has another unusual one, although King Charles reportedly didn’t care for it. According to royal biographer Robert Hardman (via the Daily Mail), some friends and family started calling her “Lorraine,” a play on the French word for Queen, “la reine,” when it seemed she’d never become Queen. “She always saw the funny side of that—even if Prince Charles did not,” a friend said.
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