Small discussion over on the Celebrity Death Pool 2011 (shameless plug for thread over in the Game Room). I selected Joseph Ratzinger instead of Pope Benedict XVI as one of my named entries. When selected for Pope, is it an actual name change or is Pope XXXXXXX a title?
For instance; say there’s a lot of communion wine leftover from Mass and the Pope gets a snoot-full and takes the popemobile for a spin up on the autostrada. He gets pulled over - what does his license say? Joseph Ratzinger or Pope Benedict XVI?
“Officer, I’m the Pope, can’t you see that?”
Officer, “Yeah, Yeah, If I had a euro for every guy that said that I’d be retired; now get out of the car and hop on one foot until I tell you to stop.”
Related question - what about Monarchs? I see news about should Charles become King; he should become King Charles (not favored - bad ju-ju historically), King Henry XX, or King George XX. Is that a name change with legal papers and such or just a title? I understand the Queen actually has driven occasionally around various palace grounds - what does her license say?
While on a roll - Do Queens get to choose a new name upon acending to the throne or are they stuck with Queen Esmeralda or Queen Mitilda or some such?
I understand that the procedure to determine if the Pope has died involves calling his Christian name (not his regnal name) thrice and see if it elicits a response in him. So the Pope’s actual name probably still has some legal meaning.
What name is on Ben’s driving license (or German or Vatican passport), I couldn’t say.
This is a good question, as British royals don’t have a “name” in the sense that we’re used to. Charles, for example, has seen his style change many times during his life – his becoming Prince of Wales is just one example – so when he becomes monarch it will only be another style change.
I do know the current British monarch signs her name as Elizabeth R., for regina (queen in Latin).
For British monarchs at least, yes. Elizabeth II could have chosen to reign under a different name if she’d wanted.
Interesting that the queen would use such a popish tongue. There’s still laws against letting those papists take the crown again.
I surmise that the OP’s question is whether these individuals legally change their names.
I don’t have much to add, and am awaiting any answer, so I hope someone smarter can help. I will say that Charles and his sons don’t really have official surnames, but Charles seems to use “Windsor,” and William and Harry use “Wales,” at least for their military careers.
I kind of doubt that the Vatican has a legal procedure for changing names.
If your name is a matter of fact, then the question of whether you have changed your name, or adopted a second name, or whatever, is a question of fact. It may be that various states establish procedures whereby you can register the fact that a name change has occurred, or create evidence of the fact of a name change, but it would surprise me if the Vatican had done so.
Nothing. The Queen is the only person in the UK who is allowed to drive but is not required to have a license. Also, any car owned by her does not need number plates.
It’s not like the Catholic Church has a monopoly on the Latin language. It was taught and used for many years at English schools after the separation from Rome.
Yes, lame, and I apologize; I simply couldn’t resist. It early, it’s Monday, and so on.
To the OP, I would speculate that the title Benedict, John Paul, whatever, is essentially an honorific. They are used interchangeably with a legal name, but they’re just identifying bits.
If the UK’s driving laws are anything like those of the US and Canada, then it’s probably the case that nobody, queen or otherwise, needs a licence or number plates to drive a car on private property.
Apologies for being pedantic, but what her maj. is not required to have is a licence.
In the UK, we distinguish between the noun (with a C) and the verb (with an S). But this distinction is rapidly disappearing because nobody gives a monkey’s any more. I’ve been swearing all morning at some correspondence where the bloke – clearly British – consistently uses ‘license’ when he means ‘licence’. Grrrrr. If my primary school headmistress were alive today, she’d be exhausted from beating people for getting things like this wrong.
I’m sure that people from the turn of the century would be exhausted from beating your primary school headmistress for the way she speaks. Languages are dynamic and evolve over time, there is no right or wrong only what is understood and accepted at the time. It really isn’t that important, the meaning is clear.
For the record, I did originally type licence but changed it just to get rid of the red squiggly line underneath the word (spell checker must be set for US English).
I had thought that the royals were restricted to choosing one of their own names for their designation as monarch. So Charles, who was baptised “Charles Philip Arthur George” IIRC, could reign as Charles III, Philip I, Arthur I (or II? Either way it’s NOT going to happen) or George VII. I’m pretty sure he either could not or would not choose another name entirely (e.g. King Desmond I).
I remember seeing prince Andrew’s and Sarah Ferguson’s marriage licence. It was signed Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
I have seen a car parked in Park Lane where it was clearly marked “parking prohibited”, but it was not ticketed. Instead there was a policeman keeping watch over it. I wonder if its being a Bentley with some kind of a crest on the roof and the licence plate “WC 1” had anything to do with it.
