lots of pressure

Kate Middleton Open Up About How She And Prince William Chose Names For Their Kids

The Princess of Wales said that they felt a lot of pressure to pick the right names.

Catherine, Princess of Wales visits the Royal Surrey County Hospital's Maternity Unit at the Royal S...
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When most common folk are choosing a baby name for their kid, it’s normal to feel a little outside pressure — perhaps from your parents, in-laws, or a stray judgmental aunt or uncle. So just imagine what it would be like naming three babies with the entire world watching, including a lot of royalty.

That’s the kind of pressure that Kate Middleton (Catherine, Princess of Wales, to our more formal-leaning readers) felt when she and Prince William had the task of naming George, 9, Charlotte, 7, and Louis, 4.

She opened up about the process when talking to Amy Stubbs, deputy director of midwifery at Royal Surrey County Hospital, as she gave the princess a tour this week.

Stubbs told People all about the conversation.

"She just really talked about her own children including how they chose their names. A lot of the new mums and dads are thinking about how to choose names for their babies, and they spoke with her about how Kate and William made their choice," Stubbs explained in the interview.

"She said they were their favorite names and that obviously the world was waiting for them to name their children — and that felt like quite a big pressure!" Stubbs said. "She was just delightful. She spent a lot of time talking to a lot of the staff and meeting mums and dadas and new babies across the whole service. It was a really joyful for everyone to have that opportunity and hugely validating for us as a service for her to take the time out to visit us."

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Kate was visiting the hospital to learn more about maternal health, maternity care, and maternal services, as part of her long-term mission to help babies and their parents stay healthy.

"She was particularly interested in maternal mental health and how we are supporting maternal mental wellbeing through pregnancy and in the early post-natal periods," Stubbs told the magazine. "She particularly spent a lot of time talking to staff and families about that aspect of care and how that felt for them."