In days gone by, the godparents of a royal baby could only be foreign heads of state, other royals, or at the very least, high-ranking members of the aristocracy.
As well as this, many senior royals were in high demand to act as godparents themselves, for example, Queen Victoria had around 58 godchildren and the current Queen has 29.
But like with many elements of today’s society, the Royal Family has moved with the times. The godparents of many royals are now more of a mix of friends of the couple and foreign dignitaries.
When Prince William was born in 1982, the decision about who would serve as his godparents broke with many centuries of tradition.
One of those honoured is Lady Susan Hussey, a treasured member of The Queen's inner circle and considered to be one of her closest friends.
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Prince William Arthur Philip Louis was born on June 21, 1982 at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. He is the eldest son of The Prince and Princess of Wales as well as a grandson of The Queen.
Prince William was christened by The Archbishop of Canterbury in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on August 4 and had three godfathers and three godmothers.
Those honoured were King Constantine II of Greece, Princess Alexandra, The Duchess of Westminster, Lady Susan Hussey, Norton Knatchbull, 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma and Prince Charles' mentor, Sir Laurens van der Post.
While there was significant representation from royalty and nobility, the list broke with tradition that had previously been set with royals such as The Queen and Prince Charles.
The appointment of Lady Susan Hussey was a particular nod to her decades of service to The Queen.
Lady Susan, 82, is a long serving lady-in-waiting to Her Majesty but originally joined the Royal Household in 1960 as someone to help answer letters.
She quickly rose through the ranks and has since become one of The Queen's closest friends.
Lady Susan is the youngest daughter of the 12th Earl and Countess of Waldegrave and was married to BBC Chairman of the Board of Governors Marmaduke Hussey from 1959 to 2006.
Already Dame Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, she was promoted to Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order in 2013.
Lady Susan has also been honoured with the Queen Elizabeth II Royal Household Long and Faithful Service Medal and holds the 30, 40, 50 and 60-year bars.
The Queen personally asked Lady Susan to sit next to her in her car as she arrived at Prince Philip's funeral in April. She was most recently pictured walking into the memorial service for the late Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey in March.
The Duke of Cambridge himself has three godchildren, the eldest of whom is Prince Constantine Alexios of Greece and Denmark who was born October 29, 1998, in New York City.
He is the eldest son of Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece. His elder sister is Princess Maria-Olympia and his younger brothers are Prince Achileas-Andreas, Prince Odysseas-Kimon and Prince Aristidis.
Constantine was christened in a Greek Orthodox ceremony at St Sophia’s Cathedral in Bayswater, London on April 15, 1999.
The ceremony was memorable for many because Prince William, who was just 16 at the time, was wearing his arm in a sling following surgery to fix his broken finger sustained during a rugby match.
Prince William also has two other godchildren. The first of these is Thomas Pettifer, the now 18-year-old son of William's former nanny Alexandra 'Tiggy’ Pettifer (nee Legge-Bourke).
His final godchild is fondly remembered as ‘the grumpy bridesmaid’ because of her facial expressions on the Buckingham Palace balcony at the 2011 royal wedding. Grace van Cutsem was just three-years-old when she acted as a flower girl at the wedding of her godfather.
