If the Queen abdicated...

Factual Questions
1

…let’s say in 1977, at the time of her Silver Jubilee, her son Charles, the Prince of Wales, would have become King as Charles III - or, as Wiki suggests, George VII.* What would her title then be? The Queen Mother - her mother, also named Elizabeth - was still alive. Would Elizabeth II become a second Queen Mother? How would people differentiate between the two? Would it be up to the new King to award her some title, or would she automatically become Duchess of Edinburgh, sponging off her husband? Or something else?

Would her title be different if she abdicated tomorrow, since the Queen Mother is no longer alive?

*Let’s pretend she just decided to hang up the whole “reigning” gig once she hit 25 years on the job. I know that would be unlikely, given the impact of Edward VIII’s abdication on the Royal Family.

2

Using Edward VIII as a precedent she’d become Her Royal Higness the Princess Elizabeth. However because Phillip is the Duke of Edinburgh she’d become HRH the Duchess of Edinburgh as she was before becoming Queen. The title Queen Mother is used only for a woman who’s the widow of a king and the mother of his successor.

3

If she had abdicated before her mother had died, the situation would be unprecedented. As others have said, she’d remain the Princess Elizabeth and the Duchess of Edinburgh (which she’s not referred to as now, because she’s a duke in her own right – the Duke of Lancaster). I suspect that she would have been given the courtesy title of Queen Mother, as the mother of the sovereign, while her mother would have become Queen Dowager. The last Quuen Dowager in the UK was Queen Mary, the grandmother of the present queen, for a little over a year in 1952-1953.

4

I’m not sure whether that’s before or after the former Edward VIII died, but assuming she abdicated after his death, there might be precedent for naming her the Dutchess of Windsor.

As to the Dukedom of Lancaster, doesn’t that pass with the Crown (i.e. did that title pass from Edward VIII when he abdicated, not when he died)?

5

“Duchy”, I think.

6

Ahem.

Cite

What?

7

After. David croaked in 1972.

8

Yes, and it should be passed on the lefthand side accompanied by music which make you jump and prance.

9

As things stand, the Duchy of Lancaster is tied to the throne, and the Duchy of Cornwall to the heir apparent. (Both are, obviously, in the gift of the crown, but considering they make up a major share of the royal income, that doesn’t seem likely.)

The abdication of Edward VIII/Duke of Windsor does not really set a precedent, in that the decisions made at that time were very much tied to the particular circumstances at work. And aside from that, there have been no voluntary abdications of the British crown (several forced ones, but I don’t look at Edward II, Richard II, or Henry VI as setting precedents either).

When the reigning monarch’s mother is still alive, his/her mother is formally Queen Name, and informally "the Queen Mother.’ AFAIK there have only been a couple of occasions when the monarch’s grandmother survived, but again formally Queen Name and informally Queen Dowager is the custom. Note that reigning monarch, the queen consort of a reigning king, and any surviving queen consorts of previous queens are all “Her[/His] Majesty,” with limits imposed only by how many monarchs can die off and length of survival of the former consorts. For about a year in 1952-53 the U.K. had three: the Queen (sc. Elizabeth II); the Queen Mother, AKA Queen Elizabeth (nee Bowes-Lyon, widow of George VI); and Queen Mary (grandmother to the Queen, nee Teck, widow of George V).

I suspect the present Queen and Charles would work out ahead of time what might be the proper usage – but also there’s a work ethic drilled into E2R from her childhood that abdication is just not done – the only way she ditches that job is to die. (A disabling stroke or something similar might be justification, but just barely.)

As I’ve noted in the past, though, the death of the present Queen with no other changes preceding it would result in an unprecedented situation with regard to style: For the first time in British history, the reigning monarch’s father will be alive. I suspect the designation will be “H.R.H. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Father of the King.” But that remains to be seen.

10

Wouldn’t something like a stroke or other serious illness just result in a period of Regency until QE2 actually died?

11

That is provided she was a queen consort. The mother of Queen Victoria was never a queen, and so she was not known as the Queen Mother. (Victoria’s father died before her uncle and predecessor King William IV died, so she inherited through her father, though he was never king).

Oddly, there never was a Queen Mother for any of the Hanoverians. There was no Queen Mother between 1669 (when Henrietta Maria of France, mother of Charles II died) and 1910 (when Edward VII died, and his consort Queen Alexandra became Quuen Mother). And the next Queen Mother is possibly going to be the wife of Prince William (so she should bear this in mind, whoever she is, before she accepts his proposal).

12

I would imagine this would be the most likely scenario, given the Queen’s express wishes NOT to abdicate.

13

As Prince Philip currently doesn’t carry a title showing his relationship to the Queen (such as Prince Consort), then I don’t see why his title would be amended to add ‘Father of the King’.

My feeling is that The Queen, if she abdicated (unlikely, whatever Charles would like), would retain ‘Queen’ in her title. I think, given her 55 years unwavering service to the Country, public opinion would be fiercely against any hint at demotion. Perhaps "Queen Dowager’ back in 1977, "Queen Mother’ if it happened today.

14

Arguably it happened one time before, during the short reign of Lady Jane Grey in 1553. Her father Henry Grey, Duke of Suffolk, was still alive. Lady Jane Grey’s claim to the throne came through her mother.

15

And in 1689 after James II was deemed to abdicate his daughter, Mary II, was placed on the throne with her husband, William III, as co-soveriegn. James II lived several years afterward.

16

Also, Edward III, who was crowned in January 1327, and who’s father was killed in September 1327.

17

All of these were *English * monarchs, not *British * monarchs as **Polycarp ** specified, and so don’t count. The first monarch of Great Britain was Anne, who became so upon the Act of Union in 1707. Previous monarchs from 1603 onwards had been kings/queens of England and Scotland separately.

18

Polycarp did say “British history”, not “British monarchs”. England is part of British history – and Mary II, at least, was Queen of England, Queen of Scots, and Queen of Ireland. She was definitely part of British history.

19

Bullshit. The term “Britain” is far older than “England”.

20

Stop it! Can’t you see this analysis of Anglo history is tearing us apart?!