Well, marrying Elizabeth didn’t make Philip a prince at the time; he was prince of Greece and Denmark already, but renounced those titles. It took a special order by Elizabeth II in 1957, five years after she took the throne, to make him a Prince of the United Kingdom (see here: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh - Wikipedia). Marrying Anne didn’t make either of her husbands princes, either. And the former Ms. Middleton isn’t herself one of “the children of the sons of any such Sovereign.”
I think that, if Kate is now “technically a princess,” it would be mentioned somewhere on the British monarchy’s own website.
Her name was still Diana. I imagine that those close to her would have called her that. After she and the Prince of Wales divorced, her official title was changed to Diana, Princess of Wales - no HRH as she was technically no longer royalty. Which does lead to the interesting observation that when married to Charles she was a princess due to the marriage, but after the divorce she was a princess in her own right.
As a term of the divorce settlement. The Queen or King gets to determine those things. Diana was so associated with the word Princess and the title Princess of Wales that it would have looked petty to have stripped it.
I saw the thread title and thought who cares?, thinking who’s Kate Middleton, and then I thought oh, that Kate Middleton, thinking third in line of succession, future King or Queen of England…
I assume that these days, they’ll do a quiet DNA test to make absolutely certain of paternity. To make sure the kid doesn’t, you know, belong to the gardener or something.
For a time they made English queens and princesses give birth virtually in public. That was a result of the belief that one of the King’s wives had tried to fake a pregnancy and bring an heir to her pregnancy bed via a chamber pot. If Cathy Cambridge is going to give birth I certainly hope she’s afforded more privacy.
I think all of the hype around is she or isn’t she is rather ridiculous. However, I will say that if I were her, and assuming that some day she will get pregnant, it must be such an amazing feeling to think “I’m going to give birth to a boy who will be the future king of England”. Talk about pressure.
Well “child who will be the future ruler (sort of) of England” - they just changed the rules so that first born (boy or girl) gets the throne (for anyone not yet born).
Nitpicks: She’s not in the line of succession; only her husband is (and her child or children would be). If any child of hers takes the throne, that person would be King or Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, not of England, as such.
There’s some concern (not proved officially) that eating peanuts during pg can give your baby a tendency to nut allergies. No proven link, of course, or there’d be more out there about it.
That and the fact that she was probably the most popular member of the royal family at the time, and there were fears of a public outcry if she wasn’t granted the title. I don’t think there’s a precedent for a major royal divorcing (Henry VIII was never divorced, contrary to popular belief), so in true British style we made it up as we went along.
It’s interesting to speculate on what would have happened if she have outlived Charles - would there have been two Princesses of Wales?
There wasn’t really anything innovative about what Diana was called after the divorce. It was basically the same as what happens to divorced peeresses. (Her Grace the Duchess of Wherever becomes Firstname, Duchess of Wherever on her divorce from the Duke of Wherever.)
Possibly not, as she held the title of Princess in her own right after the divorce, not due to being married to Charles. She would have been neither a widow nor a Dowager.
A non-royal Princess was, I believe, unprecedented. That’s enough of a change to be worthy of note.
Depends how serious it was - some Down’s syndrome people* can function pretty normally. It also depends on the likelihood of him outliving William, as life expectancy is shortened dramatically.
If they do come to the throne, there are a few options. First, allow them to reign if they are capable. Second, a Regency, presumably with Catherine (if she’s still alive) or a younger child of William as the regent. Thirdly, an Act of Parliament declaring the not to be in the line of succession. This, I suspect, is extremely unlikely, as it would require similar acts in all the Commonwealth countries, and would probably be extremely unpopular, leading to the end of the Monarchy in some if not all countries.
Well, this is the first I’ve heard of any pregnancy rumours. I think there must be some gentleman’s agreement in the British press not to wildly speculate.