A Japanese zoo has been forced to apologise for naming a baby monkey Charlotte after the Royal Princess following floods of complaints that the name was disrespectful.
Mount Takasaki Wild Monkey Park asks the public to vote for the name of the first Macaque monkey born every year and announced on Wednesday that it would be named Charlotte.
It was the most popular choice but the name hadn’t received a single vote before Monday, when the name of the Royal Princess Charlotte was announced.
Since then, the zoo has since been flooded with complaints that it’s disrespectful to the British Royal Family.
A zoo official said: ‘The name was publicly solicited and Charlotte suddenly became the most popular choice with 59 votes out of the total 853 after the British baby princess’s name was announced.
‘There was no vote for ‘Charlotte’ before the Monday night announcement.
‘Since we announced the name we’ve been receiving calls and emails from people mostly complaining that it is rude to British people to give a monkey the same name as a member of their royal family.
‘This morning a TV commentator said he thinks it is alright, but most voices are against the idea.’
Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana was born in London to Prince William and his wife Kate last week, a younger sister to Prince George, who is in line to inherit the British throne.
Kyodo News reported complainants had asked how people in Japan would react if a British zoo had named an animal after a member of Japan’s revered imperial family.
Officials confirmed that the zoo in southwestern Oita, south west Japan, on the island of Kyushu, is now considering the option of renaming the baby monkey.
Princess Charlotte’s birth caused an outbreak of patriotic fervour in Britain, where the press and public lauded her names, seen as a triple homage to her grandfather Prince Charles, great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and William’s late mother Diana.
Britain’s royals are immensely popular in Japan, where their easy familiarity with the public stands in marked contrast to the austere image of the country’s own imperial clan.
A recent visit by Prince William, who left heavily pregnant Kate at home, was covered in minute detail by Japan’s media and pictures of him dressed as a samurai lord made headlines everywhere.
