# Is "My Liege" still correct for addressing British Nobility & Royalty? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2010, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-liege-still-correct-for-addressing-british-nobility-royalty/532876 "2010-03-18T13:43:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-liege-still-correct-for-addressing-british-nobility-royalty/532876/81 "2016-09-10T13:24:07Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > And this “commoner” thing is only a technicality and mostly only in the UK. In other nations, any direct descendant would be a “royal” and those with noble blood but no title would be called a “Gentleman”. Yes, there’s nothing in the UK like the formal rules relating to status and marriage that apply on the continent (and where there isn’t actually a monarchy any more, some of them seem to cling on to all that rather more still, with some pretty arcane rows within former royal families). The one remaining restriction in the UK is the business about the monarch approving marriages for those within some level of relationship to the line of succession, but otherwise, it’s only a matter of who’s on the payroll (i.e. very few) and who isn’t (which is most of them). ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-liege-still-correct-for-addressing-british-nobility-royalty/532876/82 "2016-09-10T13:33:54Z")
> [@Canadian\_eh](#): > > Serious question: What makes someone your 'better". I am Canadian and would never use a term such as Lord or Lady to address someone. I would always use Mr. or Ms. I would never curtsy, either. I extend my hand. I fail to understand why someone with an inherited title is a “better” and why people of the UK are so eager to hold them in esteem regardless of their lifestyles and values. They could be your “better” because they work harder and give more back to society and the community than you do. They might be better educated and wittier than you. This idea that Lords and Ladies are intrinsically “better” is a nonsense these days. A retiring PM can ennoble his office cleaner if he likes but that would not make him or her any “better” than anyone else (unless they already were for some other reason). In American, and to a slightly lesser extent, British society, Pop ‘stars’ and winners of reality TV shows have taken over the place previously occupied by the nobility. Their opinions are sought on all kinds of subjects, even when they have little or no expertise. If they are really clever, they get a knight/dame hood as well, making them doubly “better”. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-liege-still-correct-for-addressing-british-nobility-royalty/532876/83 "2016-09-10T13:36:52Z")
> [@Canadian\_eh](#): > > Serious question: What makes someone your 'better". I am Canadian and would never use a term such as Lord or Lady to address someone. I would always use Mr. or Ms. I would never curtsy, either. I extend my hand. I fail to understand why someone with an inherited title is a “better” and why people of the UK are so eager to hold them in esteem regardless of their lifestyles and values. Arguably, this all started when the Roman Empire fell apart. There was lawlessness all across Europe. Groups of “bullies” banded together and rounded up the peoples and enslaved them. The Bullies could focus on fighting off other bullies while the Slaves grew food, built housing and sewed clothing. The Slaves then were protected and could focus on growing, building and sewing. At that time it was actually a pretty good system, seeing that the alternate was death, mayhem and buggery. A thousand years later, the Bullies came to be called Aristocracy and the slaves came to be called Commoners. I believe that for the most part this system worked well for both sides, mutualism as it were. Today we tend to only hear about the abuses; Count Dracula of Transylvania, Tsar Ivar the Terrible of Russia, King George III of England; truly heinous people but more of the exception rather than the rule. This continues today as a legacy in some parts of the world. For example [giggle], the Canadian Head-of-State is in fact Queen Elizabeth II of the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2016, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-liege-still-correct-for-addressing-british-nobility-royalty/532876/84 "2016-09-10T14:31:17Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > For example [giggle], the Canadian Head-of-State is in fact Queen Elizabeth II of the UK. In fact, the Canadian head of state is the Queen of Canada. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-liege-still-correct-for-addressing-british-nobility-royalty/532876/85 "2016-09-11T02:11:54Z")
> [@SamSDMB](#): > > …It’s unlikely that any of the other grandchildren of the Queen will be given titles. Of course, legal status and precedence are two different things and the royal grandchildren’s precedence ranking is higher than many peers. Prince Edward’s son will inherit the Earldom of Wessex once his father dies. Prince Andrew’s daughters can’t inherit the Dukedom of York because they’re female, but if tradition is followed once they marry their husbands will be offered earldoms. Princess Anne’s children have no titles because their father declined the earldom he was offered and Princess Anne declined her mother’s offer to give them royal titles at birth. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-liege-still-correct-for-addressing-british-nobility-royalty/532876/86 "2016-09-11T02:38:34Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > Today we tend to only hear about the abuses; Count Dracula of Transylvania, Tsar Ivar the Terrible of Russia, King George III of England; truly heinous people but more of the exception rather than the rule. I don’t think there’s any reason to believe that George III was a “truly heinous” person. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-my-liege-still-correct-for-addressing-british-nobility-royalty/532876.md?page=4)