Titles of Royalty and Nobility within the British Monarchy: Duke

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11th Duke of Beaufort., David Somerset, Duke, Duke of Cambridge, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Peerage of England, Peerage of Scotland, Royal Dukedom, Royal Titles

In this post I will examine the title of Duke, both royal and non-royal. The non-royal first.

Duke (from the Latin dux, leader). Outside of King or Queen this is the highest and most important rank within the nobility. Since its inception in the 14th century, there have been less than 500 dukes. Currently there are just 27 dukedoms in the peerage, held by 24 different people.

The correct way to formally address a duke or duchess is ‘Your Grace’. The eldest son of a duke will use one of the duke’s subsidiary titles, as a courtesy title, whilst other children will use the honorary title ‘Lord’ or ‘Lady’ in front of their Christian names.

His Grace, David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort and is a male-line descendent of the House of Plantagenet, albeit through two illegitimate lines.

He and his family were descended in the male line from Edward III of England; the first Somerset was a legitimised son of Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, whose grandfather was a legitimized son of John of Gaunt. By the time he succeeded as Duke he was therefore considered the senior representative of the House of Plantagenet, through a legitimised line. Somerset’s father was the heir presumptive to the Dukedom of Beaufort and the large estates attached to it.

In the British peerage, a Royal Duke is a member of the British royal family, entitled to the titular dignity of prince and the style of His Royal Highness, who holds a dukedom.

Dukedoms are the highest titles in the British roll of peerage, and the holders of these particular dukedoms are princes of the blood royal. The holders of the dukedoms are royal, not the titles themselves. They are titles created and bestowed on legitimate sons and male-line grandsons of the British monarch, usually upon reaching their majority or marriage.

The titles can be inherited but cease to be called “royal” once they pass beyond the grandsons of a monarch. As with any peerage, once the title becomes extinct, it may subsequently be recreated by the reigning monarch at any time.

Royal status of dukedoms

In the United Kingdom, there is nothing intrinsic to any dukedom that makes it “royal”. Rather, these peerages are called Royal Dukedoms because they are created for, and held by, members of the royal family who are entitled to the titular dignity of prince and the style Royal Highness.

Although the term “royal duke” therefore has no official meaning per se, the category “Duke of the Blood Royal” was acknowledged as a rank conferring special precedence at court in the unrevoked 20th clause of the Lord Chamberlain’s order of 1520.

This decree accorded precedence to any peer related by blood to the sovereign above all others of the same degree within the peerage. The order did not apply within Parliament, nor did it grant precedence above the archbishop of Canterbury or other Great Officers of State such as is now enjoyed by royal dukes.

But it placed junior “Dukes of the Blood Royal” above the most senior non-royal duke, junior “Earls of the Blood Royal” above the most senior non-royal earl (cf. Earldom of Wessex), etc. It did not matter how distantly related to the monarch the peers might be (presumably they ranked among each other in order of succession to the Crown).

Although the 1520 order is theoretically still in effect, in fact the “Blood Royal” clause seems to have fallen into desuetude by 1917 when King George V limited the style of Royal Highness to children and male-line grandchildren of the sovereign. Thus peers of the blood royal who are neither sons nor grandsons of a sovereign are no longer accorded precedence above other peers.

Assuming that Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster and George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews succeed their fathers to become third Duke of Gloucester and third Duke of Kent respectively, their peerages (as created in 1928 and 1934) will cease to be royal dukedoms; instead their holders will become “ordinary” dukes.

The third dukes of Gloucester and Kent will each be styled His Grace because, as great-grandsons of King George V, they are not princes and are not styled HRH. Similarly, upon the death of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850–1942) (the third son of Queen Victoria), his only male-line grandson, Alastair, Earl of MacDuff (1914–43), briefly succeeded to his peerages and was styled His Grace. Before the 1917 changes, his style had been His Highness Prince Alastair of Connaught.

The Prince of Wales is also a Royal Duke. Prior to becoming the Prince of Wales he had been created Duke of Cambridge by Queen Elizabeth II on his wedding day in 2011. This is a title he still possesses.

When his father became King Charles III the Duke of Cambridge automatically became the Duke of Cornwall in the Peerage of England. This title is hereditary and is inherited by the eldest son of the sovereign.

The next day after inheriting the Duchy of Cornwall the King created his son Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.

The Duchy of Cornwall was created in 1337 by Edward III of England for his son and heir, Edward of Woodstock (also known as “The Black Prince”). A charter was also created which ruled that the eldest son of the king would be the duke of Cornwall.

Along with the Duchy of Cornwall the Duke of Cambridge also inherited other titles automatically: he became, as the eldest son of the monarch, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.

In Scotland the Prince of Wales is known as the Duke of Rothesay. Duke of Rothesay which is also a Royal Dukedom, and was a title of the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707, of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and now of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

It is the title mandated for use by the heir apparent when in Scotland, in preference to the titles Duke of Cornwall (which also belongs to the eldest living son of the monarch, when and only when he is also heir apparent, by right) and Prince of Wales (traditionally granted to the heir apparent), which are used in the rest of the United Kingdom and overseas.

The title is named after Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, but is not associated with any legal entity or landed property, unlike the Duchy of Cornwall.

King Charles III creates his son Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester

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and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Baron of Renfrew, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, King Charles III, Lord of the Isles, Prince George of Wales, Prince Louis of Wales, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Prince William, Princess Charlotte of Wales

During the King’s address to the nation he created the Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.

HM King Charles III of the United Kingdom

Thier Royal Highnesses The Prince and Princesses of Wales

Upon his father’s accession to the throne yesterday William, as eldest son of the Sovereign and heir apparent, automatically received the additional titles of Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. Today, September 9, 2022, the King announced the appointment of William as Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.

The Prince and Princess of Wales and thier Children: Prince George of Wales, Prince Louis of Wales and Princess Charlotte of Wales

His wife now becomes HRH The Princess of Wales and thier children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis lose their territorial designation “of Cornwall and Cambridge” and will now adopt the territorial designation “of Wales” becoming Prince George of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince Louis of Wales respectively.

New titles for HRH The Duke of Cambridge

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Duke of Cornwall, Duke Rothesay, HRH The Duke of Cambridge, Prince William, Tittle

HRH The Duke of Cambridge is now heir to the throne. As of today he is also His Royal Highness The Duke of Cornwall. In Scotland he will be known as His Royal Highness The Duke of Rothesay.

He is still the Duke of Cambridge but the other titles will take precedence.

At some point his father will create him Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester for those titles are not hereditary.

March 17, 1337: Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall

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Duchy of Cornwall, Duke of Cornwall, Edward III of England, Edward the Black Prince, Prince Charles, Prince Frederick Louis, Prince James Francis

1337 – Edward, the Black Prince is made Duke of Cornwall, the first Duchy in England. Prior to his elevation to the Duchy of Cornwall the highest title of nobility, outside of King, was that of an Earl.By the 13th century Earls had a social rank just below the king and princes, but were not necessarily more powerful or wealthier than other noblemen. A point had been reached where Earls were infrequently created by the King as it was seen that too many powerful Earls brought restrictions to the Royal Prerogative.

Edward the Black Prince

The best way to become an Earl was to inherit the title or to marry into one—and the king reserved a right to prevent the transfer of the title. By the 14th century, creating an Earl included a special public ceremony where the king personally tied a sword belt around the waist of the new earl, emphasizing the fact that the earl’s rights came from him.

Edward, the Black Prince, the eldest son of Edward III, was made the first Duke of Cornwall in 1337, after Edward III had lost the title of Duke of Normandy. After Edward predeceased the King, the duchy was recreated for his son, the future Richard II. Cornwall was the first dukedom conferred within the Kingdom of England.SuccessionThe charter that established the estate on March 17, 1337, set out the rule that the Duke and possessor of the estate would be the eldest son and heir of the monarch.

There were some deviations from this rule until a legal case (The Prince’s Case) in 1606 which held that the rule should be adhered to. When the estate is without a Duke, the possessor is the monarch, even if the former Duke left surviving descendants (see George III). The monarch’s grandson, even if he is the heir apparent, does not succeed to the dukedom. Similarly, no female may ever be Duke of Cornwall, even if she is heir presumptive or heir apparent to the throne. That being a distinct and even likely possibility in the future after the passage of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013.

Prince Frederick Louis

However, if a Duke of Cornwall should die without descendants (and also no sister between two brothers if younger one born after October 28, 2011), his next brother obtains the duchy, this brother being both oldest living son and heir apparent.

It is possible for an individual to be Prince of Wales and heir apparent without being Duke of Cornwall. The title “Prince of Wales” is the traditional title of the heir apparent to the throne, granted at the discretion of the Sovereign (not automatically) and is not restricted to the eldest son.

For example, after the death of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, King George II’s heir apparent was his grandson George (Frederick Louis’ eldest son and the future George III). The young Prince George was created Prince of Wales but did not become Duke of Cornwall because he was the King’s grandson, rather than the King’s son.

When the Sovereign has no legitimate son, or when the heir apparent is not the Sovereign’s son, the estates of the Duchy of Cornwall revert to the Crown until a legitimate son is born to the Sovereign or until the accession of a new Sovereign who has a son (e.g. between 1547 and 1603).

Prince James Francis

Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, son of James II-VII, was born Duke of Cornwall in 1688. Although his father lost the throne, James Francis Edward was not deprived of his own titles and honours as a result of his father having been deposed.Instead, from the (prevailing) Hanoverian perspective, it was as a result of his claiming his father’s lost thrones that James, known as the Old Pretender, was attainted for treason on March 2, 1702, and his titles were thus forfeited under English law. This not only included his title as Duke of Cornwall, but that of Prince of Wales also. However, from the (minority) Jacobite perspective, on his father James II-VII death in 1701 the Duchy of Cornwall was merged in the Crown.

The current Duke of Cornwall

HRH The Prince of Wales

The current Duke of Cornwall is Charles, Prince of Wales, eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch. Charles was officially proclaimed Duke of Cornwall at Launceston Castle in 1973 although he automatically succeeded to the title upon his mother’s accession to the throne on February 6, 1952.

As part of his feudal dues there was a pair of white gloves, gilt spurs and greyhounds, a pound of pepper and cumin, a bow, one hundred silver shillings, wood for his fires, and a salmon spear. The Duke’s second wife, Camilla, whom he married on April 9, 2005 at the Guildhall in Windsor, is the current Duchess of Cornwall. She is also Princess of Wales but does not use that title.

February 22, 1511: Death of Prince Henry, Duke of Cornwall.

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Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Catherine of Aragon, Duke of Cornwall, Ferdinand II of Aragon, Henry IX of England, Henry of Cornwall, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, House of Tudor, Janes Seymour, King Edward VI of England, King Henry VIII of England, Margaret of York

Henry, Duke of Cornwall (January 1, 1511 – February 22, 1511) was the first child of King Henry VIII of England and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and though his birth was celebrated as that of the heir apparent, he died within weeks. His death and Henry VIII’s failure to produce another surviving male heir with Catherine led to succession and marriage crises that affected the relationship between the English church and Roman Catholicism, giving rise to the English Reformation.

Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of England used from 1504 to 1554 for the reigns of Henry VIII and Edward VI.

Birth and christening

Henry was born on January 1, 1511 at Richmond Palace, the first live-born child of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, born eighteen months after their wedding and coronation. Catherine had previously given birth to a stillborn daughter, on January 31, 1510. He was christened on January 5 in a lavish ceremony where beacons were lit in his honour. The christening gifts included a fine gold salt holder and cup weighing a total 99 ounces, given by Louis XII of France, his godfather. His other godparents were William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy * At the christening, the baby prince’s great-aunt Lady Anne Howard stood proxy for Margaret, and Richard Foxe, Bishop of Winchester, stood proxy for the French king.

Young King Henry VIII of England

Celebrations and death

Henry VIII and his queen planned extravagant celebrations rivalling that of their joint coronation for the birth of his son, who automatically became Duke of Cornwall and heir apparent to the English throne, and was expected to become Prince of Wales, King of England, and third king of the House of Tudor, as King Henry IX. The tournament at Westminster was the most lavish of Henry’s reign, and is recorded via a long illuminated vellum roll, known as The Westminster Tournament Roll to be found in the College of Arms collection. Known as “Little Prince Hal” and “the New Year’s Boy”, the prince was fondly regarded by Henry’s court.

However, on February 22, 1511, the young prince died suddenly. The cause of his death was not recorded. He received a state funeral at Westminster Abbey. It was another two years until the Queen again became pregnant. There is no known portrait of Prince Henry. Contemporary reports state that both parents were distraught at the loss of their child. The deeply religious Catherine spent many hours kneeling on cold stone floors praying, to the worry of courtiers. Henry distracted himself from his grief by waging war against Louis XII of France with his father-in-law, Fernando II of Aragon.

Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England

Impact of Henry, Duke of Cornwall’s death on history

Historians have speculated what course English history might have taken had Henry, Duke of Cornwall, or any other legitimate son by Catherine survived. With the couple’s failure to provide a live son, Henry VIII’s desire for a male heir was the cited reason that led him to have their marriage annulled. A living son by Catherine might have forestalled or even prevented the marriage to Anne Boleyn and placed England in a different relationship with Roman Catholicism during the Protestant Reformation, thereby affecting, and perhaps even preventing, the English Reformation that grew out of the succession crisis prior to the birth of the future Edward VI to Henry VIII and Jane Seymour in 1537. This theme has also been explored in some alternative history fiction.

* Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy, (January 10, 1480 – December 1, 1530), the second child and only daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I of Austria and Mary of Burgundy, co-sovereigns of the Low Countries. She was named after her stepgrandmother, Margaret of York, (May 3, 1446 – November 23, 1503) the third wife of Charles the Bold Duke of Burgundy a daughter of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville.

History of the Titles of the Prince of Wales: Part X

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David Stewart, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Edward III of England, George III of Great Britain, Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scots, Prince of Wales, Robert III of Scotland, Robert the Bruce

Dukes of Rothesay

David Stewart, son of Robert III of Scotland, King of Scots, was first to be granted the Dukedom of Rothesay from its creation in 1398. After his death, his brother James, later King James I of Scotland received the dukedom. Thereafter, the heir-apparent to the Scottish Crown held the dukedom; an Act of the Scottish Parliament passed in 1469 confirmed this pattern of succession.

HRH The Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay

The Earldom of Carrick as we previously noted was created as early as the twelfth century. In 1306, Robert de Bruce, Earl of Carrick, became King Robert I of Scotland, with the earldom merging in the Crown. In the following years, successive Kings of Scots created several heirs-apparent Earl of Carrick. The Act of 1469 also finally settled the earldom on the eldest son of the Scottish monarch. The other titles we have discussed thus far, Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, were also officially attached to the heir of the Scottish Crown with the Act of 1469.

Between the 1603 Union and Edward VII’s time as heir apparent, the style “Duke of Rothesay” appears to have dropped out of usage in favour of “Prince of Wales”. It was Queen Victoria who mandated the title for use to refer to the eldest son and heir apparent when in Scotland, and this usage has continued since. This may have been as a result, direct or indirect, of the 1822 visit of King George IV to Scotland.

Duke of Rothesay and its adjoined titles became linked with the heir to the English throne and his titles Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall, between 1603-1707. During this time the Kingdoms of England and Scotland were not politically united and the titles the heir held were for each kingdom separately.

The titles were unified to the heir of the throne when England and Scotland were united in 1707 as the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707 to 1801, and now of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It is the title mandated for use by the heir apparent when in Scotland, in preference to the titles Duke of Cornwall (which also belongs to the eldest living son of the monarch, when and only when he is also heir apparent, by right) and Prince of Wales (traditionally granted to the heir apparent), which are used in the rest of the United Kingdom and overseas. The Duke of Rothesay also holds other Scottish titles, including those of Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. The title is named after Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Argyll and Bute, but is not associated with any legal entity or landed property, unlike the Duchy of Cornwall

The Duchy of Cornwall

The Duke of Cornwall holds both the dukedom (title) and duchy (estate holdings), the latter being the source of his personal income; those living on the ducal estates are subjects of the British sovereign and owe neither fealty nor services to the duke per se.[citation needed] In Scotland the male heir apparent to the British crown is always the Duke of Rothesay as well, but this is a dukedom (title) without a duchy. Similarly, the British monarch rules and owns the Duchy of Lancaster as Duke of Lancaster, but it is held separately from the Crown, with the income of the duchy estates providing the Sovereign’s Privy Purse.

History

The historical record suggests that, following the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Cornwall formed part of the separate Kingdom of Dumnonia, which included Devon, although there is evidence that it may have had its own rulers at times. The southwest of Britain was gradually incorporated into the emerging Kingdom of England, and after the Norman Conquest in 1066 the new rulers of England appointed their own men as Earl of Cornwall, the first of whom was in fact a Breton of ‘Cornwall’ in Brittany. Edward, the Black Prince, the eldest son of Edward III, was made the first Duke of Cornwall in 1337, after Edward III had lost the title of Duke of Normandy After Edward the Black Prince predeceased the King, the duchy was recreated for his son, the future Richard II. In 1421 a Charter designated that the duchy passes to the sovereign’s eldest son.

Succession

The dukedom of Cornwall can only be held by the oldest living son of the monarch who is also heir apparent. In the event of a Duke of Cornwall’s death, the title merges with the Crown even if he left surviving descendants. George III of the United Kingdom was an example of this rule. The monarch’s grandson, even if he is the heir apparent, does not succeed to the dukedom. When his father, Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall died in 1751 his son, George, did not inherit either the title Prince of Wales or Duke of Cornwall. Similarly, no female may ever be Duke of Cornwall, even if she is heir presumptive or heir apparent (that being a distinct and even likely possibility in the future after the passage of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013) to the throne. However, if a Duke of Cornwall should die without descendants and has no sister older than his next brother, his next brother obtains the duchy, this brother being both oldest living son and heir apparent.

It is possible for an individual to be Prince of Wales and heir apparent without being Duke of Cornwall. The title “Prince of Wales” is the traditional title of the heir apparent to the throne, granted at the discretion of the Sovereign, and is not restricted to the eldest son. George IIII was again and example of this rule. Though both titles, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall merged with the Crown on the death of his father, King George II created the future George III, Prince of Wales, but not Duke of Cornwall, because he was the King’s grandson rather than the King’s son. When the Sovereign has no legitimate son, the estates of the Duchy of Cornwall revert to the Crown until a legitimate son is born to the Sovereign or until the accession of a new Sovereign who has a son (e.g. between 1547 and 1603.

James Francis Edward Stuart, son of James II, was born Duke of Cornwall in 1688. Although his father lost the throne, James Francis Edward was not deprived of his own honours. On a Jacobite perspective, on his father’s death in 1701 the duchy of Cornwall was merged in the Crown. On a Hanoverian perspective, it was as a result of his claiming his father’s lost thrones that James was attainted for treason on 2 March 1702, and his titles were thus forfeited under English law.

Rights of the duke

The Duchy includes over 570 square kilometres of land, more than half of which lies in Devon. The Duke has some rights over the territory of Cornwall, the county, and for this and other reasons there is debate as to the constitutional status of Cornwall. The High Sheriff of Cornwall is appointed by the Duke, not the monarch, in contrast to the other counties of England and Wales. The Duke has the right to the estates of all those who die without named heirs (bona vacantia) in the whole of Cornwall. In 2013, the Duchy had a revenue surplus of £19 million, a sum that was exempt from income tax, though the Prince of Wales chose to pay the tax voluntarily.

Until 2011, if there was no Duke of Cornwall at any time, then the income of the Duchy went to the Crown. Since the passing into law of the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall pass to the heir to the throne, regardless of whether that heir is the Duke of Cornwall. In the event that the heir is a minor, 10% of the revenues pass to the heir, with the balance passing to the Crown (and the Sovereign Grant is reduced by the same amount).

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The Titles of the Prince of Wales

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Baron of Renfrew, Duke of Cornwall, Duke Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Edward the Black Prince, Frederick Prince of Wales, Great Steward of Scotland, HRH The Prince of Wales, Kings and Queens of England, Kings and Queens of Great Britain, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Lord of the Isles

This post is to announce the new series I am working on.

HRH The Prince of Wales

The heir to the throne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland holds the title Prince of Wales. However, A Prince of Wales also holds a number of additional titles. As heir apparent to the English/British throne he is—if the eldest living son of the monarch—Duke of Cornwall. As heir apparent to the Scottish throne he is Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.

HRH Prince Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh

In my new series my plan is to take each title, Prince, Duke, Earl, Baron and Steward and to discuss the evolution and history of those specific titles. Once that is completed I will move on to discuss, individually, the evolution and history behind the specific titles Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.

Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales

I believe this will be an informative and interesting series!!

The Prince of Wales and the Succession Crown Bill Revisited.

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Buckingham Palace, Duke of Cornwall, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Succession Crown Bill

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/9797480/Messing-with-the-monarchy-the-proposed-reforms-reflect-politicians-arrogance.html

HRH The Prince of Wales has some concerns that the new Succession Crown Bill may have negative repercussions that he doesn’t think politicians have thought all the way through. From my reading of his complaints it doesn’t sound like he is against changing some of these laws, it seems that his major complaint is that these new Laws are being rushed through without consideration for their long term results.

In many ways I agree with him. One of the issues is the removal of the prohibition toward marrying Catholics. The problem with the Succession Bill is not that it removes the outdated prohibition toward members of the Royal Family marrying Catholics, the problem is that it does not address the situation about whether or not the monarch themselves has to remain in communion with the Church of England? In other words the prince asks, can the monarch be Catholic and still be the head of the Church of England?

England/Britain has a long and bloody history over this very question. As the article states wars and lives were lost over this issue and the throne itself has been fought over this issue. This brings up the issue does the union between the Crown and the Anglican Church needs to be dissolved? The Church of England has been linked to the monarchy ever since the days and times of Henry VIII 1509-1547.

It is this writers opinion that it is time to separate the monarchy from the Headship of the Church of England. Being an American, I do see the wisdom, especially in this day and age, of the separation between Church and State. I think religion should be a private affair even for the monarch. How many monarchs since the times of Henry VIII have actually, inwardly, supported the beliefs and tenets of the Church of England?

As the Monarchy has evolved to be above partisan politics maybe it is time for the monarchy to be above a specific religious faith. After all Britain is a realm of many faiths and the monarchy should, in my opinion, represent all of the people and not just one select group.

The other concerns the Prince of Wales has is over the Duchy of Cornwall. The Duchy of Cornwall has been associated with the heir to the Crown for many centuries. Right now it is inherited by the male heir to the throne. If the Bill passes and if a female heir can now inherit the Duchy of Cornwall, then what will this do for the rest of the peerages? This law will not effect Peerage titles (other than the Duchy of Cornwall) so it may be a short time before Peers call for changes in the inheritance of their titles. So may be for a gender neutral succession for peerage titles, others may not feel so benevolent.

The Prince…nor anyone….has said a word about the Title of Prince of Wales yet! So I agree with the Prince of Wales. While the Succession Crown Bill is a step in the right direction it does not resolve all the issues.