A royal historian has told Express.co.uk that she does not believe there will ever again be a King James in England due to contention with the regnal numbers in Scotland.
King James I of England, who had previously been known as James VI in Scotland, became the first Stuart king of England after Elizabeth I died in 1603 without having any children.
His reign united the English and Scottish crowns, with his grandson King James II ruling from 1685 until he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
There has not been another King James since, and while James II was a highly unpopular monarch, royal expert Marlene Koenig believes the true reason why it has not been used again might be quite different.
She said: “When Queen Elizabeth II succeeded in 1952, there was a bit of a fuss in Scotland who wanted her as Elizabeth I. This led to a debate in Parliament with the decision: a sovereign will have the higher regnal number from either Scotland or England.
“James VI of Scotland was James I in England. James VII was James II (the last king named James). So if there is to be another King James, he will be styled as King James VIII.
“Not King James III, which is why I think James will not be used again as a regnal name because of this controversy.”
There is a James in the Royal Family – the Earl of Wessex, the 16-year-old son of Prince Edward and Duchess Sophie of Edinburgh, however he is very far down the line of succession.
Ms Koenig said that similar rules regarding the regnal number also apply to the name Alexander, as she explained: “If there is a King Alexander, he will be King Alexander IV, even though there has never been a King Alexander of England.”
George’s siblings Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are named appropriately after other royals, with Charlotte being the female version of Charles after William’s father.
Louis is named after Lord Louis Mountbatten, Prince Philip’s uncle who was killed by an IRA bomb in 1979 while on a fishing boat.
