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With the British summer well and truly underway most of the Windsor clan is taking a brief break, so we thought we'd use the opportunity to take a look at the subject of royal titles.

Source : PortMac.News | Globe :

Source : PortMac.News | Globe | News Story:

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Let's talk about royal titles : Who has one? Who doesn't?
With the British summer well and truly underway most of the Windsor clan is taking a brief break, so we thought we'd use the opportunity to take a look at the subject of royal titles.

News Story Summary:

When do royals get them and why? And, of course, why do some give them up or lose them? Questions like these crop up all the time, and frankly, given all the tradition and historical context involved, we don't blame you if it gets a bit confusing.

Obviously, top of the tree is the British monarchy headed by the sovereign, and when you address them, it's "His" or "Her Majesty."

Beyond that, most titles are a gift of the monarch.

Let's kick off with what you call the sovereign's spouse. The traditional title for a female spouse is Queen Consort -- which came up earlier this year after Queen Elizabeth II shared her hope that the Duchess of Cornwall would one day use that honorific.

With husbands, it has historically been ... trickier. We all know that Prince Philip opted for the Duke of Edinburgh, but Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, went with the title of Prince Consort.

With a monarch's children, there are automatic titles in play. The eldest son always becomes the Duke of Cornwall. He is also traditionally granted the title of Prince of Wales -- a role in which Charles was invested in 1969.

Beyond the first-born son, all children and grandchildren of the monarch are born a prince or princess.

It's worth noting here that royal parents can decline the gift of a title, which the Queen's daughter, Anne, chose to do for her children.

Additionally, royal parents may want their offspring to follow similar styling to themselves.

So, in the case of the Queen's youngest son, Edward, Earl of Wessex, and his wife, Sophie, their children are styled as those of an Earl and are called Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Viscount Severn.

Great-grandchildren only get the coveted title if they are direct heirs to the throne, like the Cambridges' eldest, Prince George.

But wait, don't his siblings have titles, too? You're quite right -- but it's worth noting that the Queen made special exceptions for them to have equal titles, rather than it being standard for all the Cambridge kids.

It's for this reason that the Sussexes' two children, Archie and Lilibet, aren't prince or princess yet. However, that will change once Charles, their grandfather, becomes king.

You'll also have noticed that senior members of the family are often referred to as "HRH" or "His" or "Her Royal Highness."

With an HRH comes the expectation that you will perform duties on behalf of the monarch.

Nevertheless, there are a few members of the family who hold HRHs but don't represent the Queen, like Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice.

And, of course, there have been instances when a royal has been asked to stop using the honorific, as was the case with Prince Andrew earlier this year, or they choose to give theirs up, as with the Sussexes.

It doesn't mean that Andrew and Harry are no longer princes -- that label is still their birthright -- and they are still in the line of succession.

There are also fairly recent examples of the title being stripped away -- think of Diana, Princess of Wales, Andrew's ex-wife Sarah, Duchess of York, or Edward VIII following his abdication.

Spouses of princes also usually get courtesy titles. So, when Harry wed Meghan Markle in 2018, she became Princess Henry of Wales -- though she rarely goes by this, opting for her gifted title of the Duchess of Sussex instead.

If you've got all that down, let's move on to the peerage system.

This dates from medieval times and was designed to ensure the monarch was surrounded by a stable group of nobles to assist in governing the kingdom.

The most exclusive rank is that of a duke, followed by marquess, earl, viscount and, finally, baron.

These can be gifted to anyone -- royal or non-royal subjects.

If the precedence of peerages weren't baffling enough, it's further complicated by the fact that an individual can hold multiple peerages of differing ranks.

Wives of peers also receive courtesy titles, but husbands generally don't.

Titles are, for the most part, seen as ceremonial. But there are still hereditary ones -- duke or baron -- that can give you the chance to sit in the House of Lords, one of two of the houses of the British Parliament, and to vote on laws.

As royals are supposed to be politically independent, they don't take any seats in the House of Lords themselves.

Then, lastly, there are knighthoods, which are bestowed by the monarch for exceptional achievement and are handed out on the advice of the government.

Men who are knighted are called "Sir" and women are known as "Dame." Other non-hereditary awards that can be handed out by the monarch include Commander, Officer or Member of the Order of the British Empire (more recognizably known as CBE, OBE or MBE).

The sovereign can also choose to confer a British Empire Medal or invest an individual into the orders of the Garter or Thistle.

Phew, ok, that wraps up our overview of the intricate titles systems in play.

It's a complicated arrangement rooted in centuries of tradition.

There are some who think it's outdated and perpetuates the British class system. But whatever your perspective, it doesn't look likely to change any time soon.

Original Story By | Max Foster, Lauren Said-Moorhouse & Sofia Couceiro


Same | News Story' Author : Staff-Editor-02

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