Currently Prince William and Prince Harry are referred to as HRH Prince William/Harry of Wales. The reason for this (IIUC) is because their father is the Prince of Wales.
However, what will happen when Charles ascends the throne.
William will automatically become the Duke of Cornwall/Rothesay and will probably become HRH Prince William of Cornwall until (if) he is made Prince of Wales.
But what will Prince Harry be referred to as (assuming he isn’t created a peer until marriage as the current custom seems to be)? Will he simply be HRH Prince Harry? Or will he remain “… of Wales” until his brother is created Prince of Wales? Or even after?
The best precedent seems to be King George VI, who was the second son of a Prince of Wales during 1901-1910, when he was known as Prince Albert of Wales. When his older brother, Prince Edward (later Edward VII, and later again the Duke of Windsor) became Prince of Wales, he became Prince Albert, according to List of titles and honours of George VI - Wikipedia, so it would seem that Prince Henry (or Harry) of Wales would become Prince Henry (or Prince Harry).
Oh, and the two most recent second sons of Princes of Wales have both gone to become King. The previous case was Prince George of Wales, whose older brother died young, and who went on to become Prince of Wales and later King George V.
A couple of years ago I saw a photo of the young prince in combat gear. The name tag on his helmet said simply “WALES” (as in “Prince Of”, I suppose) as if it were his surname.
If/when the actual King of England wore a combat uniform with last-name tags, would it simply read “ENGLAND”?
No. Unless you think there will be a President of Delaware.
As for “Wales” – we discussed this in GQ about three weeks ago. A title is used in lieu of surname by bishops, royalty, and nobility:
Marmaduke (Howard), Duke of Norfolk --> Marmaduke Norfolk
Charles (Windsor), Prince of Wales --> Charles Wales
Rowan (Williams), Archbishop of Canterbury --> Rowan Cantabrigensis --> Rowan Cant.
Prince Harry is “Prince Harry of Wales” – i.e., Son of the Prince of Wales – and therefore “Harry Wales”
Although amusingly, it’s told in Majesty, the semi-auithorized biography of Queen Elizabeth II from about 1980, that when little, she was taught to politely call her grandfather, King George V, “Grandpapa England.”
Alright. I get it. King of England, finished. Ignorance fought.
Right, and that much I gathered. When Charles accedes to the throne, what will his equivalent “surname” be? United Kingdom? You can give it to me straight, without any cracks about Delaware.
And the R would stand for “Rex”, as the current monarch’s E.R. stands for “Elizabeth Regina”.
As for the old-style usage of realm-as-name, were it used any more at the monarch level it would likely be addressed as Britain, I guess, if they went for the historic styling, rather than being all persnickety about mandatorily using the full UKoGBaNI megillah.
Then again, Harry gets a nametag because cornets/2nd. lieutenants have to have nametags. The Big Cheese does not need a nametag, it’ll be made bloody obvious who he is when he shows up.
Assuming he doesn’t change his name on ascending to the throne, he will be Charles of Windsor. The monarch doesn’t have any occasion to use a surname, and I suppose you could debate whether he even has one. (If nobody calls you X or refers to you as X, on what basis can it be said that X is you r “name”?)
By tradition, the younger sons of the monarch are given peerages either on attaining adulthood or, more recently, on marrying – usually a dukedom, but Prince Edward was created Earl of Wessex on his marriage, with an understanding that he will become Duke of Edinburgh when the current holder dies.
If this tradition is maintained, and if Harry marries before his father succeeds, then he will be HRH the Duke of Wherever, probably known to his intimates simply as “Wherever”, and this will not change when his father succeeds. If he is in the armed services and has a name flash, it will read “Wherever”.
If, on the other hand, he has not been given a peerage when his father succeeds, then he will simply be HRH the Prince Harry. God alone knows what his friends will call him. How would a military name flash read? Well, before his marriage, the Duke of York served in the Royal Navy as Lt HRH the Prince Andrew. As to how he was referred to or addressed for practical purposes, I have no idea. My guess would be as Lt Windsor.
Seeing that the UK now has gay marriage (aka Civil Unions), if Prince Harry were gay*, and got civil unionized with with another man (presumably a son of one of the other peers of the realm), would Harry’s partner then be given a title?
This may call for speculation – I don’t think there are any recent precedents to go by.
Historically, the gay lovers of English Kings tended to get named Dukes or Earls:[ul]
[li]William II (William Rufus) doesn’t seem to have given titles to his favorites, just cash. [/li][li]for Richard I (the LionHeart), his most documented bed partner was already King Philip II of France. [/li][li]Edward II created Piers Gaveston as Earl of Cornwall.[/li][li]James I made Esme Stuart Duke of Lennox (among other titles).[/li][li]then James I made another favorite, Thomas Carr Viscount Rochester.[/li][li]another James I favorite, George Villiers, became Duke of Buckingham. [/li][li]Even Queen Anne had her mistress Sarah Churchill made Duchess or Marlborough.[/ul][/li]
So probably an Earlship or Dukedom?
*“If” – Harry appears to be straight, from all reports.
