Royal styles and titles
The style His Majesty or Her Majesty (HM) is enjoyed by a King, a Queen (regnant), a Queen consort, and a former Queen consort (a Queen Dowager or a Queen Mother).
Use of the style His Royal Highness or Her Royal Highness (HRH) and the titular dignity of Prince or Princess are governed by Letters Patent issued by George V on 30 November 1917 and published in the London Gazette on 11 December 1917. These Letters Patent state that henceforth only the children of the Sovereign, the children of the sons of the Sovereign, and the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales would "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." They further state, "the grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes."
Under these conventions, The Queen's children and the children of The Prince of Wales, The Duke of York and The Earl of Wessex are titled Princes or Princesses and styled Royal Highness. However, upon Prince Edward's marriage in 1999, it was announced that his children would be styled as earl's children, but no Letters Patent were issued to deny them their princely status or HRH. The Duke of Gloucester, The Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy and Prince Michael of Kent enjoy the titular dignity of Prince or Princess and the style Royal Highness as male-line grandchildren of George V. However, none of their children has a royal title. For example, the children of Prince Michael of Kent are known as Lord Frederick Windsor and Lady Gabriella Windsor, the courtesy titles as children of dukes. They are not entitled to any royal title. The children of The Princess Royal, Princess Alexandra and Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, are not entitled to any royal title since princesses do not transmit their titles to their children. An exception to this rule was when George VI issued Letters Patent such that his heiress presumptive, Princess Elizabeth, could transmit her title to her children. Princess Margaret's son enjoys the courtesy title Viscount Linley as the son and heir of the Earl of Snowdon, while her daughter enjoys the courtesy title Lady. The children of the Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra have no titles, because Mark Phillips and Sir Angus Ogilvy did not accept hereditary peerages upon marriage.
Members of the Royal Family in the Royal box at Westminster Abbey during the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Women marrying sons and male-line grandsons of a Sovereign are normally styled Her Royal Highness followed by the feminised version of her husband's highest title. The wives of royal peers are known as "HRH The Duchess of ..." or " HRH The Countess of ..." Thus, the wives of the Duke of Kent, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earl of Wessex are "HRH The Duchess of Kent," "HRH The Duchess of Gloucester," and "HRH The Countess of Wessex," respectively. Before her divorce, Diana, Princess of Wales enjoyed the title and style of "HRH The Princess of Wales." However, when a woman marries a prince who does not hold a peerage, she is known as HRH Princess [Her husband's Christian name], followed by whatever territorial or titular designation. For example, the former Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz enjoys the title and style of "HRH Princess Michael of Kent," and not "HRH Princess Marie-Christine of Kent." Similarly, the former Birgitte Eva van Deurs was titled "HRH Princess Richard of Gloucester" from her wedding until her husband succeeded to his father's dukedom in 1974. The widows of princes remain HRH. However, under Queen Elizabeth II's 21 August 1996 Letters Patent, a divorced wife of a Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland "shall not be entitled to hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness."
There has been one exception to the convention that wives of princes take their husband's rank. In Letters Patent dated 28 May 1937, King George VI specifically denied the style HRH to the wife of the Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII. Therefore, the former Wallis Warfield Simpson was known as "Her Grace The Duchess of Windsor," not "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Windsor."
It should also be noted due a reluctance by the public to universally support the second wife of The Prince of Wales, it has been announced by Clarence House that should The Prince of Wales become King, that his wife HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will not be known as HM The Queen but will take the lesser title of HRH The Princess Consort. Out of respect for Diana, Princess of Wales, it was also announced that HRH The Duchess of Cornwall would not be known as HRH The Princess of Wales.
The daughters and male-line granddaughters of the Sovereign do not lose their royal titles upon marriage. Men who marry the daughters and the male-line granddaughters of the Sovereign, however, do not acquire their wives' royal rank and the style HRH. The only exception to this convention is Prince Philip, who, as a then-future consort, was granted British titles in his own right (rather than in his wife's). Born a Prince of Greece and Denmark, it was only after his wartime service that he renounced the use of his title and became a naturalised British subject, as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten RN (although he was already a British citizen as a descendant of the Electress Sophia). The day before his marriage he was created Duke of Edinburgh with the style HRH by King George VI's Letters Patent of 19 November 1947. The Duke of Edinburgh was not created a Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland until 22 February 1957. Since that date, his full title has been "HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh."
As grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line, the children of the then Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh would not have been entitled to use HRH or Prince or Princess of the United Kingdom until their mother became Queen, had those titles and styles not been granted in Letters Patent of 22 October 1948. They could neither be styled HRH Prince or Princess of Greece and Denmark through their father, as the Duke of Edinburgh had renounced these use of these royal titles and styles. Their highest styles would therefore have been the Earl of Merioneth and Lady Anne Mountbatten.
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