Page 4 | To wonder whether, as per this claim, Annabel was really seen as a 'yuppie' name in the 80s?

Giselle374 · 2026-05-03T23:57:36+00:00

I read Lady Colin Campbell's book a while ago about Harry & Meghan. A lot of the claims seemed ridiculous- they can certainly be criticised but the book went beyond reasonable. Anyway, one of the points I found odd was that Campbell claimed naming rules have always been very strict for royals, and mentioned an earlier name choice for Beatrice being vetoed. I googled and found this choice was Annabel, which the Queen apparently vetoed for being 'too yuppie'. Was it really seen that way in the 80s or was this just some eccentricity of hers? I was born early 2000s and knew quite a few Annabels and Isabel/Isabellas, also one Arabella. It just seemed like a classic name, hardly one to complain about. Not a traditional royal one : but then she was OK with Zara. (Not the main point, but while I think they were wrong to choose Lilibet, I didn't agree with Campbell's argument that the Annabel veto meant the Queen remained just as strict in the 2010s. She clearly wasn't if she allowed Savannah, Sienna and Mia, all nice names but arguably more non traditional than Annabel)

ginasevern · 04/05/2026 16:55

Annabel was definitely Sloane Ranger territory, which were women born in the late 50's and early 60's to upper class or aristocractic parents. There was no such thing as a Yuppie name as anyone could become one regardless of background. So you could have a Rupert yuppie and equally a Shane yuppie, although in my experience the latter would've been slightly more unusual.

Newsenmum · 04/05/2026 16:50

GarlicMind · 04/05/2026 02:49

Annabel wore a pearl necklace, an 18th birthday present from her godfather, and a nice little angora sweater with a witty pattern knitted in. Under the sweater was a pintucked blouse of very fine linen, then a proper silk petticoat. Her plaid skirt was wool, in a tartan belonging to the Scots branch of her family. Her slightly frizzy blonde bob hid her understated pearl and diamond earrings, except when she threw her head back in very loud laughter - which was often. Everything was, for Annabel, the most tremendous lark.

She larked around at the bank where she worked ("I'm not sure what I do there! Haaaaahahahah!") and in Verbier, where she stayed with 14 of her closest friends for the ski season ("Don't forget the most important part, the après-ski! Haaaaahahahah!"), she had larks on the lakes when she summered at the family home in Como, and "Such crazy larks!" on holidays in the Med with her friends. She couldn't possibly tell you what went on there: "Highly confidential! Pain of death!" but she would after her third bottle of Bolly ("It's a truth drug! Haaaaahahahah!")

Annabel was a passable rider, knew her dogs and could shoot a deer if it stood still for a minute, but she simply wasn't serious people to the real aristocrats.

Edited

Basically like Matilda/Tilly now?

FlatErica · 04/05/2026 16:49

Yes, it definitely was. Source: I was there.

HappenstanceMarmite · 04/05/2026 16:47

Sloane name, not yuppie.

AImportantMermaid · 04/05/2026 16:44

hopspot · 04/05/2026 15:18

Annabel absolutely was a yuppie name! My first time of coming across it was in Freaky Friday with Jodie Foster! Loved that film and thought the name was very cool and modern. No one in my school was called Annabel!

Nooo, Annabel’s were the daughters of the landed gentry - pony club, trust fund, some may have been ‘honourables’, had jobs that didn’t interfere with skiing or frequent trips home to the country pile. Conservative dad may have dabbled in local or even national politics. Yuppies were Young UPwardly mobile Professional go-getters working and playing hard in sectors like advertising, marketing, banking, law, finance, and other corporate type roles. They were go getters and flashed the cash drinking champagne and eating nouvelle cuisine in fashionable restaurants. They’d also have gone to Annabel’s and there may have been some overlap between the Sloanies and the Yuppies, but they were distinct groups. You could become a Yuppie regardless of your background, but you were born a Sloane Ranger 😁

Purplewarrior · 04/05/2026 16:42

Annabel was absolutely a yuppie name

Viviennemary · 04/05/2026 16:24

Annabel was a name for a pouty vogue model I'd say.

Nitgel · 04/05/2026 16:22

Lady annabel goldsmith was about the same age as the queen i think. The club was named after her. I bet Margaret spent a lot of time there.

Fairyvocals · 04/05/2026 16:13

hopspot · 04/05/2026 15:18

Annabel absolutely was a yuppie name! My first time of coming across it was in Freaky Friday with Jodie Foster! Loved that film and thought the name was very cool and modern. No one in my school was called Annabel!

Cool and modern? Annabel?

hopspot · 04/05/2026 15:18

Annabel absolutely was a yuppie name! My first time of coming across it was in Freaky Friday with Jodie Foster! Loved that film and thought the name was very cool and modern. No one in my school was called Annabel!

RitaIncognita · 04/05/2026 15:16

JulietteHasAGun · 04/05/2026 08:24

I guess Henry is an acceptable King name. There’s been a few of them.

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And princes. The late Queen's uncle the Duke of Gloucester was Prince Henry.

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Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 15:02

GarlicMind · 04/05/2026 02:49

Annabel wore a pearl necklace, an 18th birthday present from her godfather, and a nice little angora sweater with a witty pattern knitted in. Under the sweater was a pintucked blouse of very fine linen, then a proper silk petticoat. Her plaid skirt was wool, in a tartan belonging to the Scots branch of her family. Her slightly frizzy blonde bob hid her understated pearl and diamond earrings, except when she threw her head back in very loud laughter - which was often. Everything was, for Annabel, the most tremendous lark.

She larked around at the bank where she worked ("I'm not sure what I do there! Haaaaahahahah!") and in Verbier, where she stayed with 14 of her closest friends for the ski season ("Don't forget the most important part, the après-ski! Haaaaahahahah!"), she had larks on the lakes when she summered at the family home in Como, and "Such crazy larks!" on holidays in the Med with her friends. She couldn't possibly tell you what went on there: "Highly confidential! Pain of death!" but she would after her third bottle of Bolly ("It's a truth drug! Haaaaahahahah!")

Annabel was a passable rider, knew her dogs and could shoot a deer if it stood still for a minute, but she simply wasn't serious people to the real aristocrats.

Edited

😂 I need to hear more about this Annabel!

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Darrara · 04/05/2026 15:01

MaCheCazzo · 04/05/2026 07:26

Big difference between 'Sloaney' and 'Yuppie' and I suspect HMQ would very well have known the difference. Sloppy reporting and decidedly dubious source - that well known bastion of accuracy The Sun.

Yes, this.

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Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 15:01

BH90210 · 04/05/2026 09:05

It would have never occurred to me that Annabel is thought to be negative.

Our current Queen has a sister named Annabel ( well Sonia Annabel but she goes by Annabel)

The vast majority of us are not royal so the rules of the late Queen Elizabeth thankfully don’t apply

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Yes but the connotations of Camilla having a sister called Annabel would've been different for TLQ in the 80s..

BTW I suppose this sister was named after their grandmother Sonia Keppel- she wrote quite an interesting memoir, Edwardian Daughter.

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Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 14:55

mathanxiety · 04/05/2026 13:56

Annabel was a Sloan Ranger name in the 80s.

It was also the name of the then Camilla Parker Bowles' sister, iirc.

I'd say the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up when she heard it proposed.

Yes,,that sounds likely! I didn't know about Camilla's sister but that makes sense.

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Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 14:02

Tigerbalmshark · 04/05/2026 13:51

Tbf you are basically describing Fergie there 🤣

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Exactly...

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mathanxiety · 04/05/2026 13:57

And it was the name of that nightclub they all spent their nights in.

LatteLady · 04/05/2026 13:57

I would say, that the scandal around Lady Annabel Goldsmith, would have been one of the reasons for the veto... it was, in the words of the time, rather a fast set by Court standards

mathanxiety · 04/05/2026 13:56

Annabel was a Sloan Ranger name in the 80s.

It was also the name of the then Camilla Parker Bowles' sister, iirc.

I'd say the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up when she heard it proposed.

Tigerbalmshark · 04/05/2026 13:51

GarlicMind · 04/05/2026 02:49

Annabel wore a pearl necklace, an 18th birthday present from her godfather, and a nice little angora sweater with a witty pattern knitted in. Under the sweater was a pintucked blouse of very fine linen, then a proper silk petticoat. Her plaid skirt was wool, in a tartan belonging to the Scots branch of her family. Her slightly frizzy blonde bob hid her understated pearl and diamond earrings, except when she threw her head back in very loud laughter - which was often. Everything was, for Annabel, the most tremendous lark.

She larked around at the bank where she worked ("I'm not sure what I do there! Haaaaahahahah!") and in Verbier, where she stayed with 14 of her closest friends for the ski season ("Don't forget the most important part, the après-ski! Haaaaahahahah!"), she had larks on the lakes when she summered at the family home in Como, and "Such crazy larks!" on holidays in the Med with her friends. She couldn't possibly tell you what went on there: "Highly confidential! Pain of death!" but she would after her third bottle of Bolly ("It's a truth drug! Haaaaahahahah!")

Annabel was a passable rider, knew her dogs and could shoot a deer if it stood still for a minute, but she simply wasn't serious people to the real aristocrats.

Edited

Tbf you are basically describing Fergie there 🤣

InterestedDad37 · 04/05/2026 13:47

Italian yuppie = Isabella Necessario Nella Bicicleta

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Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 13:44

Quamarina · 04/05/2026 09:11

Sloane ranger more than yuppie.

the lady Annabel Goldsmith who Annanels nightclub was named for (by her first husband, Marc Birley) was a very interesting woman (mother of Zac & Ben goldsmith & Jamima Khan by her second husband) her first marriage produced robin birley (unbelievably mauled by a friends pet tiger tiger as a child) Rupert who sadly went missing on an expedition and India who is an artist and runs her dads clubs. She was beautiful and very posh but scandalous, especially for openly cheating on her first husband with her second, mixed socially with the likes of Lord Lucan, long known in royal circles, her dad was the Marquess of Londonderry (and later a good friend of princess Diana after her divorce, she was with her on the trip to Pakistan when she met Hasnat Khans family). She did not give a single shit what anyone thought of her. It was her home in which Diana famously confronted Camilla at a birthday party about her affair with Charles, wherever Annabel was, drama seemed to be there too. In the 80s I can imagine the queen dismissing the name based on this very Annabel.

Very interesting! I'd definitely like to know more about this Annabel..

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Giselle374 · 04/05/2026 13:41

bridgetreilly · 04/05/2026 02:15

Very yuppy. And Beatrice was a lot higher up the line of succession than Zara.

Good point. Beatrice was later allowed to choose the more non traditional Sienna but notably the other non traditional choices (Savannah and Mia) were Zara's line too.

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WienerSchnitzel · 04/05/2026 09:16

Annabel, Camilla and Susannah were the 80s sloane ranger names definitely. Not "yuppie" which implied working hard in the city and making loadsamoney. Sloanes were nice gels who floated around with a "job" in an art gallery, auctioneer or PR and spent their nights in Mayfair nightclubs. Very much like Diana pre-marriage.

MouseMama · 04/05/2026 09:16

GarlicMind · 04/05/2026 02:49

Annabel wore a pearl necklace, an 18th birthday present from her godfather, and a nice little angora sweater with a witty pattern knitted in. Under the sweater was a pintucked blouse of very fine linen, then a proper silk petticoat. Her plaid skirt was wool, in a tartan belonging to the Scots branch of her family. Her slightly frizzy blonde bob hid her understated pearl and diamond earrings, except when she threw her head back in very loud laughter - which was often. Everything was, for Annabel, the most tremendous lark.

She larked around at the bank where she worked ("I'm not sure what I do there! Haaaaahahahah!") and in Verbier, where she stayed with 14 of her closest friends for the ski season ("Don't forget the most important part, the après-ski! Haaaaahahahah!"), she had larks on the lakes when she summered at the family home in Como, and "Such crazy larks!" on holidays in the Med with her friends. She couldn't possibly tell you what went on there: "Highly confidential! Pain of death!" but she would after her third bottle of Bolly ("It's a truth drug! Haaaaahahahah!")

Annabel was a passable rider, knew her dogs and could shoot a deer if it stood still for a minute, but she simply wasn't serious people to the real aristocrats.

Edited

Sounds glorious, is it too late to change my name 😂