# Is this headline about Prince Charles and The Commonwealth as absurd as it sounds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 26, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133 "2018-04-26T00:24:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [May 2, 2018, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/101 "2018-05-02T12:25:09Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Queen consorts don’t get regnal numbers, so she wouldn’t be Victoria II, just like she wasn’t Mary III. Which was my point - it would have been awkward to differentiate between her and her husband’s grandmother. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2018, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/102 "2018-05-02T12:59:00Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Which was my point - it would have been awkward to differentiate between her and her husband’s grandmother. Elizabeth II’s mother was also a Queen Elizabeth. People managed. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/103 "2018-05-03T01:05:00Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Which was my point - it would have been awkward to differentiate between her and her husband’s grandmother. I don’t think that it would have been awkward to differentiate. It was that it might have been seen as a bit presumptuous and/or inviting an unflattering comparison for someone who started out as penniless German princess to use the same name as her late Majesty of glorious memory who, remember, was only about 10 years dead at the time. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2018, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/104 "2018-05-03T21:56:34Z")
Is someone who was born in England, and whose mother was born in England, and who was a great-grandaughter of the British King, and who lived in Britain all her life, really a German princess? ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/105 "2018-05-04T01:06:45Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Is someone who was born in England, and whose mother was born in England, and who was a great-grandaughter of the British King, and who lived in Britain all her life, really a German princess? Nitpick: her mother was born in Hannover (and her father in what is now Croatia). she was a German princess because her princessy style and title - the thing which at the time was considered to qualify her to be married to someone in line for the UK throne - came from Germany. As far as English titles were concerned, she was a granddaughter of a Royal Duke, through the female line. That gets her exactly zero in terms of styles and titles. Marina Ogilvy (who?) would have the same status today. ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/106 "2018-05-04T02:11:25Z")
re the OP…I distinctly recall during the aftermath of the divorce between Charles and Di, the death of Di, the entrance of Camilla… …that the Crown should “skip” going to Prince Charles and instead go straight to Prince William. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/107 "2018-05-04T02:18:30Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > re the OP…I distinctly recall during the aftermath of the divorce between Charles and Di, the death of Di, the entrance of Camilla… > > …that the Crown should “skip” going to Prince Charles and instead go straight to Prince William. Often discussed; never likely to happen. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/108 "2018-05-04T07:16:08Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > re the OP…I distinctly recall during the aftermath of the divorce between Charles and Di, the death of Di, the entrance of Camilla… > > …that the Crown should “skip” going to Prince Charles and instead go straight to Prince William. Wishful thinking on the part of people who don’t like Charles. That’s not how it works. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/109 "2018-05-05T14:14:59Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Nitpick: her mother was born in Hannover (and her father in what is now Croatia). Whoops ! quite right! I misread her UK place of death in the wiki article as her birthplace. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/110 "2018-05-05T14:18:26Z")
> [@Enola\_Straight](#): > > re the OP…I distinctly recall during the aftermath of the divorce between Charles and Di, the death of Di, the entrance of Camilla… > > …that the Crown should “skip” going to Prince Charles and instead go straight to Prince William. Would need the consent of all 16 Commonwealth realms. Not going to happen, as **SanVito** says. The Queen can’t just decide who will succeed her; statutes have to be passed, agreements made. The fact that Charles was personally unpopular compared to Saint Diana of the Media doesn’t mean there will be a constitutional change of that sort. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/111 "2018-05-05T15:02:12Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Wishful thinking on the part of people who don’t like Charles. That’s not how it works. But what can happen is Charles abdicating his crowns. He could continue as the Head of the Commonwealth. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2018, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/112 "2018-05-05T15:08:40Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > But what can happen is Charles abdicating his crowns. He could continue as the Head of the Commonwealth. Abdication would require a statute being passed, as happened when his great-uncle abdicated. The succession is governed by law. When Her Majesty moves on, the law will say that Charles is king, as the eldest successor of the issue of Electress Sophia. He has no power to change that law unilaterally. Only Parliament can do it, and only with the consent of the Commonwealth realms. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/113 "2018-05-07T00:02:35Z")
What Northern Piper said. Plus, the statute required to give effect to the abdication would require the assent of all the Commonwealth realms. They would not be please to have to faff about with this nonsense. And it is _wildly_ unlikely, in that scenario, that Charles would retain his “head of the Commonwealth” title. ---
**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:** [May 7, 2018, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133/114 "2018-05-07T05:38:59Z")
I find it hard to imagine abdication meaning anything other than abdicating from the lot, and I certainly can’t imagine other Commonwealth countries accepting the idea that they can be the subject of a pick’n’mix. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-headline-about-prince-charles-and-the-commonwealth-as-absurd-as-it-sounds/813133.md?page=5)