Happy Birthday to HRH The Princess of Wales

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Catherine Elizabeth Middleton, HM King Charles III of the United Kingdom, HRH The Duchess of Cambridge, HRH The Duke of Cambridge, HRH The Princess of Wales, Prince William of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

HRH The Princess of Wales (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; January 9, 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to HRH The Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, making Catherine the likely next queen consort.

Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on January 9, 1982 into an upper-middle-class family. She was baptised at St Andrew’s Bradfield, a local parish church, on June 20, 1982.

She is the eldest of three children born to Michael Middleton (b. 1949) and his wife, Carole (née Goldsmith; b. 1955), a former flight dispatcher and flight attendant, respectively,

She was educated at St Andrew’s School and Marlborough College before studying art history at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, where she met Prince William of Wales in 2001. Prince William of Wales the son of the then Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales and his first wife, Lady Diana Spencer.

Catherine held jobs in retail and marketing and pursued charity work before their engagement was announced in November 2010. They married on April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey.

On the morning of thier wedding Queen Elizabeth II created Prince William Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus. The letters patent granting these titles were issued on May 26 that year. Catherine became The Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn and Baroness Carrickfergus.

By marrying a Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Catherine became a Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. However, the privilege to be called Princess, followed by thier first name, is reserved for Princesses that are born into the Royal Family.

Had her husband not been elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom, Catherine would have been addressed as Her Royal Highness Princess William of Wales. See Princess Michael of Kent as an example.

On the accession of the Duke of Cambridge’s father to the throne as HM King Charles III on September 8, 2022, as the eldest son of the monarch, the Duke of Cambridge automatically became Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.

As heir to the throne the title Duke of Cambridge was to be used along with his new title Duke of Cornwall and for one day William and Catherine were officially The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Cornwall.

However, this new styling was only to last one day for on the next day, September 9, 2022, His Majesty the King announced the creation of the Duke of Cambridge and Cornwall as Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.

His wife took on the feminine form of her husband’s titles and is addressed as Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales in England but in Scotland is addressed as Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Rothesay. As mentioned above, since the Princess of Wales was not born into the Royal Family it is not correct to refer to her as Princess Catherine.

The couple’s children—Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis—are second, third, and fourth in the line of succession to the British throne, respectively.

Catherine holds patronage within over 20 charitable and military organisations, including Action for Children, SportsAid, and the National Portrait Gallery. She undertakes projects through The Royal Foundation, with her charity work focusing on issues surrounding young children, addiction, and art.

To encourage people to open up about their mental health issues, Catherine envisioned the mental health awareness campaign “Heads Together”, launched with William and Prince Harry in April 2016.

In 2011, 2012, and 2013, Time magazine selected her as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

June 21, 1982: Birthday of HRH The Duke of Cambridge

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Catherine Middleton, Diana Princess of Wales, HRH The Prince of Wales, Lady Diana Spencer, Prince Charles, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Prince William Duke of Cambridge, Prince William of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, The Duchess of Cambridge, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, The Duke of Cambridge

Official photo released on The Duke of Cambridge’s 38th birthday.

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, KG, KT, PC, ADC (William Arthur Philip Louis; born June 21, 1982) is a member of the British royal family. He is the elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales. Since birth, he has been second in the line of succession to the British throne.

HRH The Duke of Cambridge

His father is HRH The Prince of Wales eldest son and heir to the throne of HM Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and her husband HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

His mother, Diana, Princess of Wales was born Lady Diana Spencer (1961-1997) the fourth of five children of John Spencer, Viscount Althorp (1924–1992), and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (née Roche; 1936–2004). The Spencer family had been closely allied with the British royal family for several generations; Diana’s grandmothers, Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer and Ruth Roche, Baroness Fermoy, had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

HRH The Prince of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales

Prince William was born at Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, London, at 9:03 pm on June 21, 1982 as the first child of Charles, Prince of Wales—heir apparent to Queen Elizabeth II—and Diana, Princess of Wales. His names, William Arthur Philip Louis, were announced by Buckingham Palace on June 28.

Prince William was baptised by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert Runcie, in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on 4 August 4, the 82nd birthday of his paternal great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. He was the first child born to a Prince and Princess of Wales since the birth of Prince John in 1905.

William’s mother wanted him and his younger brother Prince Henry (Harry) to have wider experiences than are usual for royal children. She took them to Walt Disney World and McDonald’s, as well as AIDS clinics and shelters for the homeless, and bought them items typically owned by teenagers, such as video games. Diana, who was by then divorced from Charles, died in a car accident in the early hours of August 31, 1997.

Prince William, then aged 15, together with his 12-year-old brother and their father, were staying at Balmoral Castle at the time. The Prince of Wales waited until his sons awoke the following morning to tell them about their mother’s death. William accompanied his father, brother, paternal grandfather Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and his maternal uncle Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer, at his mother’s funeral; they walked behind the funeral cortège from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey.

The decision to place William in Eton went against the family tradition of sending royal children to Gordonstoun, which William’s grandfather, father, two uncles, and two cousins all attended. Diana’s father and brother both attended Eton. The royal family and the tabloid press agreed William would be allowed to study free from intrusion in exchange for regular updates about his life.

After completing his studies at Eton, William took a gap year, during which he took part in British Army training exercises in Belize, worked on English dairy farms, visited Africa, and for ten weeks taught children in southern Chile. By 2001, William was back in the United Kingdom and had enrolled at the University of St Andrews. The extra attention did not deter him; he embarked on a degree course in Art History, later changing his main subject to Geography, and earned a Scottish Master of Arts degree with upper second class honours in 2005.

Having decided to follow a military career, in October 2005 William attended the four-day Regular Commissions Board at Westbury in Wiltshire, where he underwent selection to judge his suitability to become an army officer. He passed selection and was admitted to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst in January 2006. After completing the course, William was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant at Sandhurst on 15 December 2006; the graduation parade was attended by the Queen and the Prince of Wales, along with other members of the Royal Family.

Prince William officially received his commission as a lieutenant at midnight. As “Lieutenant Wales”—a name based on his father’s title Prince of Wales—he followed his younger brother into the Blues and Royals as a troop commander in an armoured reconnaissance unit, after which he spent five months training for the post at Bovington Camp, Dorset.

In January 2009, William transferred his commission to the RAF and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. He trained to become a helicopter pilot with the RAF’s Search and Rescue Force. In January 2010, he graduated from the Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury, where he had been under the instruction of Squadron Leader Craig Finch. On January 26, 2010, he transferred to the Search and Rescue Training Unit at RAF Valley, Anglesey, to receive training on the Sea King search and rescue helicopter; he graduated from this course on September 17, 2010. This made him the first member of the British royal family since King Henry VII to live in Wales.

In November 2011, he participated in a search-and-rescue mission involving a cargo ship that was sinking in the Irish Sea; William, as a co-pilot, helped rescue two sailors.

William was deployed to the Falkland Islands for a six-week tour with No. 1564 Flight from February to March 2012. The Argentine government condemned the Duke’s deployment to the islands close to the 30th anniversary of the beginning of the Falklands War as a “provocative act”.

In June 2012 Prince William gained a qualification to be captain or pilot in command of a Sea King rather than a co-pilot. His active service as an RAF search-and-rescue pilot ended in September 2013.

Prince William’s private life became a subject of tabloid speculation, especially around his relationship with Catherine Middleton, one of William’s university flatmates whom William began dating in 2003. Middleton attended William’s passing-out parade at Sandhurst, which was the first high-profile event that she attended as his guest.

On November 16, 2010, Clarence House announced that Prince William and Middleton were to marry; the couple had become engaged in Kenya in October. The engagement ring given by William to Catherine had belonged to his mother.

The wedding took place on April 29, 2011 in Westminster Abbey, London. A few hours before the ceremony, Her Majesty the Queen ennobled Prince William with new peerage titles Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, and Baron Carrickfergus were announced.

His wife’s first pregnancy was announced on December 3, 2012. She was admitted on July 22, 2013 to the Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital, London, where Prince William had been delivered. Later that day, she gave birth to Prince George. On September 8, 2014, it was announced that the Duchess of Cambridge was pregnant with her second child. She was admitted on May 2, 2015 to the same hospital and gave birth to Princess Charlotte. The Duchess’s third pregnancy was announced on September 4, 2017; Prince Louis was born on April 23, 2018.

Happy 2nd Birthday to HRH Prince Louis of Cambridge.

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1917 Letter's Patent, Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Prince George of Cambridge, Prince Louis of Cambridge, Prince William of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

Prince Louis of Cambridge (Louis Arthur Charles; born April 23, 2018) is a member of the British Royal Family. He is the third and youngest child and second son of the Duke of Cambridge, and Duchess of Cambridge. He is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne.

On April 27, 2018, it was announced that the baby had been named Louis Arthur Charles, the first and last names honouring his paternal great-great-great-uncle Lord Mountbatten (born HSH Prince Louis of Battenberg) and his paternal grandfather the Prince of Wales, respectively.

Title and succession

Louis is from birth a Prince of the United Kingdom, entitled to the style of Royal Highness. Under the 1917 Letters Patent issued by King George V (1910-1936) Louis would not have been entitled without the dignity Prince of the United Kingdom and the style of Royal Highness.

The Letters Patent, dated November 30, 1917, stated that “the children of any Sovereign of these Realms and the children of the sons of any such Sovereign (as per the Letters Patent of 1864) and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (a modification of the Letters Patent of 1898) shall have and at all times hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names or with their other titles of honour”.

Louis, as a younger son of the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales he would not have met the requirements to be a Prince of the United Kingdom. It was very rare that a reigning sovereign would live long enough to have great-grand children. The birth of Princess Charlotte was the first British Royal to have been exempted from a title under the 1917 Letters Patent.

On December 31, 2012 Queen Elizabeth II made an amendment to the 1917 Letters Patent by issuing a Letters Patent which gave the title and style His/Her Royal Highness and Prince/Princess of the United Kingdom to all the children of the Prince of Wales’s eldest son. Therefore at birth Louis was thus styled “His Royal Highness Prince Louis of Cambridge”.

Prince Louis is fifth in the line of succession to the British throne, behind his grandfather, father and older siblings, Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

Prince Louis, is the first British Prince to be ranked behind an elder sister in the line of succession following the implementation of the Perth Agreement.

The Perth Agreement is an agreement made by the prime ministers of the sixteen countries of the Commonwealth of Nations which retain the Westminster model of constitutional monarchy (“the Commonwealth realms”). The document agreed to amend the succession to the British throne (and ancillary matters). The institutional and constitutional principles of Commonwealth realms are greatly and at root shared equally as enacted in 1931. The changes, in summary, comprised: replacing male-preference primogeniture ― under which males take precedence over females in the royal succession ― with absolute primogeniture (which does not distinguish gender as a succession criterion); ending disqualification of any person who had married Roman Catholics; and that only six people closest to the throne require the monarch’s permission to marry.

This date in History: August 31, 1997. Death of Diana, Princess of Wales

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Diana, Princess of Wales (July 1, 1961 – August 31, 1997). Diana Frances Spencer was born on 1 July 1961, in Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the fourth of five children of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer (1924–1992), and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (née Roche; 1936–2004). The Spencer family has been closely allied with the British royal family for several generations; Diana’s grandmothers had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

The Spencers were hoping for a boy to carry on the family line, and no name was chosen for a week, until they settled on Diana Frances. The name Frances was chosen after her mother. Diana was the name chosen after Lady Diana Spencer (1710-1735) daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland (1675-1722) and his second wife, Anne Spencer, Countess of Sunderland (née Lady Anne Churchill) (1683-1716). This Lady Diana Spencer was a many-times-great-aunt and she was chiefly remembered for the unsuccessful attempt to arrange a marriage between her and Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales (1707-1751) eldest son of King George III of the United Kingdom.

Lady Diana Spencer (1710-1735)

Diana came to prominence in 1981 upon her engagement to Prince Charles, Princes of Wales the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, after a brief courtship. Their wedding took place at St Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981 which made her HRH The Princess of Wales, a role in which she was enthusiastically received by the public.

The couple had two sons, the Prince William (current Duke of Cambridge) and Henry (Harry, current Duke of Sussex), who were then second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. Diana’s marriage to Charles, however, suffered due to their incompatibility and extramarital affairs. The couple separated in 1992, soon after the breakdown of their relationship became public knowledge. The details of their marital difficulties became increasingly publicised, and the marriage ended in divorce in 1996.

(My favorite picture of Diana, Princess of Wales)

As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and represented her at functions across the Commonwealth realms. She was celebrated in the media for her unconventional approach to charity work. Her patronages initially centered on children and youth but she later became known for her involvement with AIDS patients and campaign for the removal of landmines.

She also raised awareness and advocated ways to help people affected with cancer and mental illness. As princess, Diana was initially noted for her shyness, but her charisma and friendliness endeared her to the public and helped her reputation survive the acrimonious collapse of her marriage.

Exceptionally photogenic, she was a leader of fashion in the 1980s and 1990s. Media attention and public mourning were extensive after her death in a car crash in a Paris tunnel in 1997 and subsequent televised funeral. Her legacy has had a deep impact on the royal family and British society.

On this Date in History: April 6, 1889. Death of Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, Duchess of Cambridge.

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Today is the 130th anniversary of the death of the Duchess of Cambridge, (born Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel), on April 6, 1889.

Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel

Augusta was the Last holder of the title Duchess of Cambridge prior to the current Duchess of Cambridge. Augusta is the Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother of the current Duke of Cambridge.

Princess Augusta Wilhelmine Luise of Hesse-Cassel (July 25, 1797 – April 6, 1889) was the wife of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the tenth-born child, and seventh son, of George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The longest-lived daughter-in-law of George III, she was the maternal grandmother of Mary of Teck, wife of George V of the United Kingdom.

HRH The Dowager Duchess of Cambridge

Princess and Landgravine Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, third daughter of Landgrave Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel and his wife, Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen, was born at Rumpenheim, Offenbach am Main, Hesse. Through her father, she was a great-granddaughter of George II of Great Britain, her grandfather having married George II’s daughter Mary. Her father’s older brother was the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. In 1803, her uncle’s title was raised to Imperial Elector of Hesse—whereby the entire Cassel branch of the Hesse dynasty gained an upward notch in hierarchy.

Marriage

Prince Adolphus Frederick, The Duke of Cambridge

On May 7, 1818 in Cassel, and then, again, on June 1, 1818 at Buckingham Palace, Princess Augusta married her second cousin, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, when she was 20 and he 44. Their marriage was a result of the “rush to the alter” for the unmarried sons of George III after the death in childbirth of their niece Princess Charlotte of Wales the previous year. The death of Princess Charlotte meant there was no legitimate heir to the throne of the United Kingdom in the third generation.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had three children: George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge (1819-1904); Augusta of Cambridge (1822-1916)(who married Friedrich Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenberg-Strelitz); Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (1833-1897) (who married Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, the parents of Princess Mary of Teck wife of George V of the United Kingdom).

At this time in the history of the British Monarchy the King of the United Kingdom was also the King of Hanover, a state within the German Confederation of the Rhine. The union of these two crowns was a personal union and not a political union. Shortly after their marriage in 1818 the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge moved to Hanover where her husband served as viceroy on behalf of his brothers, George IV (1820-1830) and William IV (1830-1837). The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned to Great Britain, in 1837 when Prince Ernest-Augustus, Duke of Cumberland became King of Hanover (1837-1851).

Since Hanover was ruled by the Salic Law which barred women from inheriting the throne, Victoria (1837-1901) inherited the British throne and her uncle Prince Ernest-Augustus, Duke of Cumberland inherited the Hanoverian crown. With the King of Hanover now living in Hanover there was no longer a need for a Viceroy and therefore the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned to Britain where they lived at Cambridge Cottage, Kew, and later at St. James’s Palace.

Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover

The Duke of Cambridge died on July 8, 1850 at Cambridge House, Piccadilly, London, at the age of 76 and was buried at St Anne’s Church, Kew. His remains were later removed to St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. His only son, Prince George, succeeded to his peerages. The 2nd Duke of Cambridge married privately and in contravention of the 1772 Royal Marriages Act at St. John’s Church, Clerkenwell, London, on January 8, 1847 to Sarah Fairbrother (1816 – January 12, 1890), the daughter of John Fairbrother, a servant in Westminster. As the marriage was contrary to the Royal Marriages Act, the Duke’s wife was not titled Duchess of Cambridge or accorded the style Her Royal Highness, nor was their son born after the marriage eligible to succeed to the Duke’s titles. This was why Augusta was the last Duchess of Cambridge until Kate Middleton married the current Duke of Cambridge, Prince William of Wales in 2011.

Death

The Duchess of Cambridge survived her husband by thirty-nine years, dying on April 6, 1889, at the age of ninety-one. Queen Victoria wrote of her aunt’s death: “Very sad, though not for her. But she is the last of her generation, & I have no longer anyone above me.”

The Prince of Wales at 70: Happy Birthday!

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Happy Birthday, Kings and Queens of Great Britain, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince William of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

In honor of the 70th birthday of the Prince of Wales I will give some limited biographical information along with sharing some of my own thoughts.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales was born Prince Charles Philip Arthur George; born on this day November 14, 1948. At the time of his birth he was the eldest son and eldest child to HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh (Princess Elizabeth) and her husband HRH The Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark). Prince Charles was born second in line to the throne and was the first grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. He was baptised in the palace’s Music Room by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Geoffrey Fisher, on 15 December 1948.

The death of his grandfather and the accession of his mother as Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 made Charles her heir apparent. As the monarch’s eldest son, he automatically took the titles Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. Charles attended his mother’s coronation at Westminster Abbey on 2 June 1953. He is the oldest and longest-serving heir apparent in British history. He is also the longest-serving Prince of Wales, having held that title since 1958.

Charles was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 26 July 1958, though his investiture was not held until 1 July 1969, when he was crowned by his mother in a televised ceremony held at Caernarfon Castle. He took his seat in the House of Lords in 1970, and he made his maiden speech at a debate in June 1974, becoming the first royal to speak in the Lords since his great-great-grandfather, later Edward VII, also speaking as Prince of Wales, in 1884. Charles began to take on more public duties, founding The Prince’s Trust in 1976, and travelling to the United States in 1981.

In 1981, he married Lady Diana Spencer and they had two sons: Prince William (b. 1982)—later to become Duke of Cambridge—and Prince Henry (b. 1984)—later to become Duke of Sussex. In 1996, the couple divorced following well-publicised extramarital affairs by both parties. Diana was killed in a car crash in Paris the following year. In 2005, Charles married long-time friend Camilla Parker Bowles. Instead of assuming her rightful title of HRH Princess of Wales, Camilla has assumed the title Duchess of Cornwall.

My thoughts.

Yesterday I watched the BBC special on the Prince of Wales 70th Birthday. It is an excellent program that highlights his life without being biographical. One of the issues he put to rest was if he’ll continue with his charities and other issues he is passionate about. He said he would not and that he understands the differences between the role he is in now and the role he will someday take on. This puts to rest the question, the rumor, that the Prince would reign differently than his mother when he becomes king. The fear has been that if the Prince of Wales continues with his charities and causes he may overstep his constitutional bounds as king and meddle in affairs of State. I for one am glad to hear he will not for it will maintain the tradition of the Crown being above Party Politics.

I have a great admiration for the Prince of Wales. He is an intelligent, articulate man with warmth and charm and a sense of humor and very personable. He has a passionate care and concern for the environment and the wellbeing of people in general. Though he has been in training for his ultimate role of king for years he has carved out his own meaningful life and identity and developed qualities that will serve him well as king. Though I hope it will be many more years before the Prince of Wales assumes the august role for which he was born, in his own time I believe the personal qualities he possesses will enable the Prince to become an excellent king and a noble servant to his nation. God bless the Prince of Wales.

First pictures of Prince Louis of Cambridge.

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Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Priince Louis of Cambridge, Prince William, Prince William of Wales, Princess Charlotte, The Duchess of Cambridge, The Duke of Cambridge

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are very pleased to share two photographs of Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis. Both photographs were taken by The Duchess.

The Duchess took the photograph of Prince Louis on 26 April.

The image of Princess Charlotte with Prince Louis was captured by The Duchess on 2 May, Princess Charlotte’s third birthday.

Their Royal Highnesses would like to thank members of the public for all of the kind messages they have received following the birth of Prince Louis, and for Princess Charlotte’s third birthday.

Why the Queen cannot give the throne to the Duke of Cambridge

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Act of Settlement 1701, Edward VI, Elizabeth II, Henry IV, Kingdom of England, Louis XIV of France, Parliament, Prince Charles, Prince William of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge

St. Edward’s Crown

Elizabeth II, Queen of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Frequently on social media I will see posts by people that think the Queen should give the throne to the Duke of Cambridge, bypassing the Prince of Wales. These people generally are not fans of the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. The truth is the Queen has absolutely no power to give the crown to anyone.

She cannot legally bypass the Prince of Wales and give the crown to the Duke of Cambridge. The succession to the throne is regulated by Parliament through its laws and statutes and this authority to control the succession has been in the hands of Parliament for centuries. Therefore, it would take an Act of Parliament to remove the Prince of Wales from his rightful place in the order of the succession. There are no plans to do so, nor is there any reason or need to alter the succession.

Here is a brief history of the power to control the succession.

Even during the reigns of the Anglo-Saxon kings the power to regulate or name your successor was not in the hands of the monarch. That power was in the hands of the Witenagemot (Witan) a council of elders. At the time the English kingship was elective and semi-hereditary. The Witenagemot had the power to name and elect the king and they limited their choices to princes within the House of Wessex. The Witenagemot didn’t follow succession based on male primogeniture, they would often select a brother of the pervious King especially if the king left children too young to reign.

In 1066 when William I “the Conqueror” became king he abolished the Witenagemot and  became the first English king to hold the power and right to name his successor. Although at this time the king did hold this power, the will of the king was not always followed. Case in point was Henry I of England (1100-1134) who named his only surviving child, his daughter, the Empress Matilda, as his successor. Empress Matilda was the widow of Holy Roman Emperor Heinrich V. However, despite the Barons swearing an oath to uphold the succession of the Empress Matilda, this oath was ignored upon King Henry’s death allowing the King’s nephew, Count Stephen of Blois, to usurp the throne, plunging England into many years of civil war.

Eventually the crown evolved into the male preferred primogeniture that remained the law of the Kingdom up until recently. Also, concurrent with the settling into the tradition of male preferred primogeniture, came the rise of Parliament which also tried to influence the crown in matters of succession. When Henry IV (1399-1412) usurped the crown from Richard II (1377-1399) he had his kingship sanctioned by Parliament to give his reign legal status.

Even when monarchs such as Henry VIII (1509-1547) and his son Edward VI (1547-1553) tried to alter the succession they were unable to assert their will without Parliamentary approval. Henry VIII did succeed in making his daughters Mary and Elizabeth illegitimate and removing them from their place in the succession. However, Henry VIII’s last queen, Catherine Parr helped reconcile Henry with his daughters. In 1543, an Act of Parliament put them back in the line of succession after Edward. The same act allowed Henry to determine further succession to the throne in his will.

One of Henry’s desires was to exclude the descendants of the union of his sister Margaret and King James IV of Scotland. Henry VIII’s successor, Edward VI, tried to bypass his sisters Mary and Elizabeth and give the throne to his cousin, Lady Jane Grey, desiring to maintain the Protestant faith which Mary would certainly (and did) return the English Church to the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.

Elizabeth I, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Parliament did not sanction altering the succession that Edward VI attempted. This was another reason Lady Jane is considered a usurper. However, had the attempted usurpation by Lady Jane Grey, lead by her Father-in-Law John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, been successful and thereby solidifying Lady Jane’s position as the first Queen Regnant of England, it is very plausible Parliament would have sanctioned her reign by passing it’s own statute or legalizing the Will of King Edward VI.

James I-VI, King of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603) was the last monarch who had power to name her successor given the fact that she left no issue. This was a power she refused to use as she did not name her successor, although historians debate whether or not she did name her distant cousin, King James VI of Scotland, as her successor. However, during the reign of Elizabeth I concerns were once again raised about who would succeed the childless queen. Although Margaret’s (Henry VIII’s sister) line had been excluded from the English succession, in the last decade of her reign it was clear to all that James VI of Scotland, great-grandson of James IV and Margaret, was the only generally acceptable heir. In the end Henry VIII’s will was bipassed.

Another succession crisis, called the Exclusion Crisis, which ran from 1679 through 1681 in the reign of King Charles II when three Exclusion Bills sought to exclude the King’s brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland because he was Roman Catholic. None became law. Two new parties, Tories and Whigs, formed as a result. The Tories were opposed to this exclusion while the “Country Party”, who were soon to be called the Whigs, supported it. The matter of James’s exclusion was not decided in Parliament during Charles’s reign, representing the last time a monarch asserted his power of controlling the succession.

After two failed attempts to pass the Bill, Charles succeeded in labelling the Whigs as subversives. Louis XIV of France offered financial support to Charles, allowing him to dissolve the 1681 Oxford Parliament. It was not called again during his reign, depriving the Whigs of their main goal. This crisis between Crown and Parliament almost caused another English Civil War.

James II-VII, King of England, Scotland and Ireland

The Duke of York became King James II-VII of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1685 and the tension between Crown and Parliament reached a head when he was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. It was the abandonment of the throne by James II-VII in 1688 which lead to the Convention Parliament calling William III of Orange and Princess Mary, daughter of the deposed king, to rule jointly as king and queen.

This act was legalized when William III called for the election of a new Parliament which passed the Crown and Parliament Recognition Act of 1689. Also, With the Passing of the Act of Settlement in 1701, which regulated the throne to the Protestant descendants of the Electress Sophia of Hanover. With this Act Parliament then held held the complete power to regulate the succession to the crown and it’s a power they’veThe most held ever since.

William II-III, King of England, Scotland, Ireland and Stadholder of the Netherlands.

Although France isn’t England, even the great powerful Louis XIV of France and Navarre (1643-1715), an absolute monarch, was unable to alter the succession to the French throne when he wanted to give succession rights to his legitimized children after the Princes of the Blood. This demonstrates how difficult it is for a monarch to alter the succession to the crown.

The most recent example of Parliament altering the succession was when Male preferred primogeniture ended when Parliament (and all members of the Commonwealth) passed the Crown Act of 2013 which left the succession to the Crown to the eldest child of the Sovereign regardless of gender.

I hope this short history lesson demonstrates why the Queen cannot alter the succession to the crown by giving the throne to the Duke of Cambridge bypassing the Prince of Wales.

Royal Nicknames

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Alexander III of Russia, Czar of Russia, David Duke of Windsor, Duke of Cambridge, George VI, King Edward VII, King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, Lilibet, Nicholas II, Prince of Wales, Prince William of Wales, Princess Margaret of Connaught, Royal Nicknames, Victoria-Patricia of Connaught

“Lilibet”

Last week I discussed double names. This week I will discuss nicknames. Nicknames are common and they seem to be common in every family. In my family I remember my mother not caring for nicknames and in my family I seem to have been the only member to have received a nickname. Well, that is not entirely true. I have an elder sister whom all her friends call her Cathy but family members call her Catherine. It is the opposite for me. All my friends call me Bill but all my family members call me Billy. I am pushing 50 and they still call me Billy!! Grr.

Royalty is no exception. I will mainly be referring to Queen Victoria’s family and extended family and their descendants in this entry. I can conceive that even those royals with a double name had nicknames. I do know that is true. Edward VII, called Albert-Edward, when he was Prince of Wales, was called Bertie in the family. His son, Albert-Victor, was known as Eddy in the family. King George VI was actually named Albert and took the name George after the abdication crisis in order to sooth the crisis by giving the monarchy a sense of continuity when Edward VIII abdicated the throne in 1936. George VI was also called Bertie in the family. And speaking of Edward VIII he was called David in the family. According to the biography on Edward VIII by Philip Ziegler the name David was an after thought and many reasons were given for the name David ranging from trying to gratify the Marchionese of Waterford and even some vague prophecy about a great king over the water named David. The book mentions that even from birth he was called David within the family. However, no reasons were given why his last name, out of a long string of names, was chosen.

Like the name Bertie in the above paragraph some nicknames get handed down. Princess Margaret of Connaught, daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (himself a son of Queen Victoria) was nicknamed Daisy as was her granddaughter, the current Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II. I think also specific nicknames developed to distinguish family members with the same first name. The above mentioned cases of Albert-Edward and Albert-Victor are a good examples. Sometimes nicknames came from their personalities. Princess Alix of Hess and by Rhine was called Sunny when she was younger. However after the early death of her mother, Princess Alice, second daughter of Queen Victoria, Alix became more sullen and shy and withdraw. As an adult married to Czar Nicholas II of Russia (and known as Alexandra he name upon conversion to Russian orthodoxy) she was called Alicky by her husband.

I could go on and on with all the nicknames and I will leave a list of nicknames at the end of this blog post but I want to finish this post with a bit of a rant. To my knowledge all of these nicknames were private and not used publicly. To have done so would have expressed a degree on familiarity with the royals that I don’t think would have been acceptable during the Victorian and later eras. So I have a little beef with Prince Harry of Wales. I think this is one of the first occasions that a royal nickname has been used both within the family and by the general public. Personally much prefer Henry to Harry. I have nothing against the name Harry I just like Henry better. It is a name with a long royal tradition in Britain. I had once remember reading that the queens uncle, the late Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester also held the nickname Harry, but that is was used privately. I cannot find that information to confirm it, so I may be wrong. Oh well, that is my little rant.

So nicknames are as common within royal families as they are in other families. I will leave you now with a list of nicknames for many royals of the Victorian era. This list is not exhaustive.

Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain ~ Lilibet
Victoria, Princes Royal ~ Vicky (she was called Pussy when very young)
Wilhelm II, German Emperor ~ Willy
Augusta-Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein ~ Dona
William, Duke of Clarence ~ Wills
Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh ~ Affie
Friedrich III, German Emperor ~ Fritz
Alexander III, Czar of Russia ~ Sasha
Helena of Great Britain ~ Lenchen
Victoria-Mary of Teck (Queen Mary) ~ May
Victoria-Melita of Edinburgh ~ Ducky
Beatrice of Edinburgh ~ Baby Bee
Victoria-Patricia of Connaught ~ Patsy
Charles-Edward, Duke of Albany (Carl-Eduard, Duke of Coburg) ~ Charlie
Caroline-Matilda of Albany-Coburg ~ Calma
Victoria-Eugenie of Battenberg ~ Ena
Elisabeth of Hess and by Rhine ~ Ella
Friedrich-Wilhelm of Hess and by Rhine ~ Frittie
Marie of Hess and by Rhine ~ May & Maly
Ernst-Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hess and by Rhine ~ Ernie
Nicholas II, Czar of Russia ~ Nicky
George V, King of Great Britain ~ Georgie.

I am sure there are others out there. Readers feel free to comment on the ones I have missed.

 

 

Back From Vacation with thoughts on the recent scandal.

Tags

Buckingham Palace, Elizabeth II, HRH The Prince of Wales, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince William, Prince William of Wales, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

Back from my little vacation. Before I return to my regular topics I wanted to comment on the recent scandal involving the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. While the Duke and Duchess are on a successful tour of Malaysia on behalf of her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee a French tabloid released topless pictures of the Duchess taken while on Holiday on private property.

I have read the reactions from various message boards and the overwhelming majority of the people feel that the privacy of the couple was violated. I agree with that 100%. There are those who mentioned that the Duchess hold some responsibility by sun bathing topless given the behavior of the paparazzi in the past. I have to wonder if they have a point? On the one hand it is a complete violation of her privacy and on a large private estate she should have the freedom to do whatever she likes. On the other hand, she is a royal and the paparazzi have a notorious reputation and a history of such unjust invasions of privacy that I would wonder if the Duchess took that into consideration when she chose to sunbathe topless?

The sad reality of the situation is that the paparazzi have no scruples and will violate a person’s right to privacy in order to get a salacious photo and make a buck. I am of the belief that just because a person is famous it doesn’t mean they they give up the right to privacy and that all details of their personal lives need to be made public.

I do understand that there is a fine line with royalty and the public’s need for information. Being in the spotlight and increasing public interest is how monarchy thrives. If no one is interested in them then a monarchy can become pointless and useless. However, that doesn’t mean the interest in royals needs to be without boundaries. There needs to be a strong line between their professional and private lives. I also think that people who support the royal family should not support publications which violate this boundary.

I also hope that the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sue the proverbial pants off the tabloids and photographers that took and publish these photos. I heard today that even criminal charges toward the photographer are going to be pursued!