21 May 2017

Previously at the Palace: Titles of Royal Wives

In this series, we capture the biographical and major news posts from this date in previous years so that you can "catch up" on your favorites or reflect on some topics you might have missed. One paragraph is included here; click the title to see the full post.

Diana Princess of Wales
by Georges Biard via Wikimedia Commons
2010: The Royal Mrs.
"For royal women, they take the female version [of her husband's title] instead of "Mrs." with their husband's first name and title, which is why the statuesque Baroness Marie Christine von Reibnitz is called "Princess Michael." The only exception is if a royal bride outranks her husband. In that case, she may use her husband's name and title, but only after her own: HRH The Princess Royal, Mrs. Timothy Laurence and HRH Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy. Currently, there are six women with the British royal equivalent of “Mrs.” They are titled "Princess" and "Duchess" but only in association with their husband's name, with the exception of one [The Queen], who has always outranked her husband." Read More


2010: Princess Kate! The Duchess of What
"As the calendar inches closer and closer to the first week of June, that luminous date when, “experts” have predicted, Prince William and Kate Middleton will finally announce their engagement, wedding fever is likely to reach a frenzied pitch. Already newspapers, magazines and infotainment television are trying to fill their news holes with as much Kate-and-William trivia as they can dig up. For me, one of the most interesting is what Kate would be called. Technically, her late future mother-in-law never was “Princess Diana” although she was commonly referred to that way.As the wife of a prince who was not herself a princess, she always held the royal equivalent of “Mrs.” Instead of Mrs. Charles Mountbatten-Windsor, she was HRH The Princess Charles, The Princess of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, The Duchess of Rothesay, etc., etc. After her divorce, she lost her royal status (the HRH part) and was styled plain old Diana, Princess of Wales—using of the title as a surname rather than as the title used by the wife of The Prince of Wales. Nevertheless, Princess Di she was and ever will be to the world at large." Read More

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