The world finally knows how to address the latest addition to the British royal family: His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge. The baby boy is third in line to the throne,

    after Prince Charles and Prince William.

    George Alexander Louis, Great Britain’s darling baby

   BRITAIN’S Prince William and his wife Kate have chosen three traditional royal names by calling their newborn baby boy George Alexander Louis, William’s office said Thursday.

    The baby, born Monday to a global media frenzy and third in line to the British throne, will be known as His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge, Kensington Palace said in a statement.

    All three names had been among the favorites listed by British bookmakers, and the announcement was relatively quick by royal standards; it took a month for the name of Prince Charles, the heir to the throne, to be announced, and a week for William, his eldest son.

    George has been the name of six British kings. The last, George VI, was the father of Queen Elizabeth and reigned from 1936 to 1952.

    Alexandra, the female form of Alexander, is one of the queen’s middle names, and was also the name of the queen consort of King Edward VII at the start of the last century.

    Louis is one of William’s middle names, and was the given name of Prince Charles’s mentor and great-uncle Louis Mountbatten, who was assassinated by Irish nationalist IRA guerrillas in 1979.

    The baby’s arrival Monday triggered frenetic coverage from global media who had camped for days on the doorstep of the London hospital where he was born, as well as celebratory gun salutes and the illumination of London landmarks in blue.

    The choice of name, relatively short by royal standards, does not necessarily mean the baby will eventually become King George VII. The queen’s father was christened Albert, but chose to be crowned as George VI.

    “It’s interesting that they chose to go with just three names. It’s almost as if the royal family is coming down with ordinary people, who tend to have fewer middle names than monarchs,” historian Suzannah Lipscomb, told Sky News.

    “It is a name that none can find any problems with. George itself can’t be shortened in any obvious offensive way ... They’ve probably gone for something that is safe.”

    Some commentators said the names appeared to have no direct connection to Kate’s side of the family.

    “They’ve kept it very simple by not trying to represent all parts of the family,” royal historian Tracy Borman told Sky News.

    Royal commentators said the couple will try to give their son as regular an upbringing as possible.

    But the intense media interest in the birth of the new prince highlights the challenge his parents face in trying to protect his privacy and maintain a degree of normalcy.

    “This baby has two things stopping it from being normal,” historian Kate Williams said. “No. 1, it lives in a life of incredible wealth and privilege. … No. 2, it is an incredible celebrity, and we’ve seen this with the coverage.”

    A global intelligence firm on ultra high net-worth (UHNW) individuals has estimated that the royal baby could inherit as much as 1 billion pounds (US$1.53 billion) in royal legacy.

    But Prince William loved that his mother tried to give him as normal a childhood as possible, including trips to the cinema and an amusement park, and sending him to a local private school as a boy. “And that’s what he wants for little baby Cambridge,” Williams offered.

    Although the excitement over his birth is not universal, there’s no doubting the level of global interest in the prince.

    The interest stirred by the birth has given a further boost to the royal family after the public’s enthusiastic celebration last year of Queen Elizabeth’s 60 years on the throne, and Kate and William’s lavish Westminster Abbey wedding in 2011.

    The monarchy’s popularity sank to a low in the 1990s after a string of divorces and the death of William’s mother, Diana, after which many said the royal family’s response made it appear out of touch with public sentiment.

    The left-leaning Guardian newspaper described the turnaround as “an incredible recovery,” although its website offered readers a “Republican” button to block out royal stories.

    Most British newspapers devoted their front pages to big pictures of Tuesday’s first photocall, with headlines such as “Hello World” and “Our Little Prince.”

    On Monday, there were more than 19 million Facebook interactions related to the royal baby, according to the site.

    His birth also took Twitter by storm.

    But after weeks of fevered coverage, the couple are expected to try to keep a low profile. They spent Wednesday at Kate’s parents’ home in the village of Bucklebury, in southern England.

    The royal couple have been living in a remote part of Wales, where William works as a rescue helicopter pilot, but are expected to move later this year to London’s Kensington Palace, William’s childhood home.

    Royal observers say William is determined to shield his son from the obsessive attention that plagued his mother Diana, who was pursued relentlessly by the media and died in a car crash in 1997 after her car was chased by photographers.

    “William knows only too well that his baby son will be the new favorite creature in the circus he grew up in,” wrote Daily Telegraph columnist Allison Pearson. “Every plan he and Kate have put in place is to protect him.”(SD-Agencies)

    HK fortunetellers see romance in royal baby’s future

    BRITAIN’S royal baby will grow up to be determined but introverted — and a big hit with the ladies — Chinese fortunetellers predicted Wednesday.

    The young prince, born at 4:24 p.m. Monday in the sixth month of the Chinese Year of the Snake, will find romance abroad, Hong Kong-based fortuneteller Mak Ling-ling said.

    “It’s likely he will have to go overseas, perhaps representing the army or going to a boarding school. He will also find romantic relationships overseas. His marriage will arrive between 30 and 35 years of age,” she said.

    Au Chung-tak, who like Mak is a practitioner of the art of feng shui in Hong Kong, warned that the new prince should live near trees to counteract his strong appeal to the opposite sex.

    “If he wants to be stable (in marriage) he must not live close to water. Instead, he should live by the trees,” Au said.

    According to feng shui, Prince William and wife Kate’s baby boy has strong “earth” characteristics, making him headstrong and determined.

    “He is stubborn because he has a high sense of responsibility. He will always try to achieve his goals with great endurance,” said Mak.

    The baby’s “bazi” — the fate-setting traits linked to the exact time and date of his birth — also mean that he is likely to have siblings, Au added.

    “He is an introvert thinker and is quite a reserved person. He will achieve harmony with his siblings.”

    According to Western astrology, the prince is a Cancer and predicted to be a sensitive character who will “transform” the royal family.

    Meanwhile, Indian mystics predicted that the new prince would one day stand for elected office and would improve Britain’s relations with the rest of the world.(SD-Agencies)