Cecil might have mentioned that Philip was a Prince in his own right, before he was is married to the Queen. He was a prince of Greece because he is the grandson of King George I of the Hellenes. (Greece is no longer a monarchy, of course.) He renounced his Greek title and became a British subject about 9 months before marrying Elizabeth. Presumably then he was a commoner until just before the wedding, when he was made Duke of Edinburgh (and Baron Greenwich and Earl of Merioneth).
Albert, on the other hand, was not a prince in his own right. He was the younger son of a German duke.
By the way, Philip got to have the title “Prince” again when Elizabeth issued a proclamation shortly after she ascended the throne. She proclaimed that Philip should be referred to as “His Royal Highness, Prince Philip.” I believe his exact title is “Prince of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” a title held by many other members of the royal family as well.
Albert married Victoria (who was already queen) in 1840, but he didn’t get the title “Prince Consort” until 1857. He died about 4 years after that. My statement above that Albert was not a prince in his own right could be wrong. It may be that he did hold that title by virtue of being the son of a duke. I don’t know much about Germany royalty/nobility and their titles.
Also, Di was never “Princess Diana”
she was the Right Honourable Lady Diana Spencer, the Princess of Wales. This title by virtue of having married Chilla, the Prince of Wales. ( a fairly poor compensation for her troubles) Di was a commoner of good breeding,
but unroyal until married.
One might mention that there are occasionally queens who go double duty, such as Isabella I (yes, that Isabella) of Spain, who was Queen of half of Spain in her own right; when she married Ferdinand, who was King of the other half, they united the country as co-monarchs.
Or Mary II of England and Scotland, who was made co-monarch with her husband William III as part of a complicated deal to bring in the Protestant couple to replace her unpopular Roman-Catholic father, James II. (A complete set of regalia, consisting of an extra crown, orb, and sceptre, had to be made for her.)
A couple of minor corrections - Albert was a prince by birth and never renounced that title. Similarly, there was no requirement that Philip renounce his Greek titles, but he did so prior to his engagement to Princess Elizabeth as part of the attempt to play down his rather tenuous links with Greece. He did not become a Prince of the United Kingdom until 1957, ten years after his marriage (it was a tenth anniversary present) and five years after his wife had become queen.
The basic rule for all British titles is that the husband’s style is unaffected if his wife holds a higher title in her own right. This applies to queen regnants and there is no special title or status automatically given to her husband. Every married queen regnant has solved the problem of her husband’s status in different ways. The title of ‘prince consort’ was always meaningless and Philip already had a royal dukedom.
Actually, Albert could technically have called himself a Duke of Coburg, but it would’ve been false.
The reason the Queen pushed so much for Prince Consort is that Albert was never given a peerage, which he was promised at his betrothal to Victoria.
Also, I would say that Albert was King in all but name. The man is vastly underappreciated.
Yes, that’d be the sound of Prince Philip’s pizzas whooshing over my head.
Is this, like, a regional (i.e. Midwest) thing? Here in Southern California, princes (Philip or otherwise) don’t deliver pizzas, though the name of Domino’s does derive from Latin “dominus” and, therefore, could refer to a lord or master – not far off from a prince.
I think that’s the point: That there is only one Prince Phillip, so he doesn’t need to be Prince Consort. If there were a lot of Princes Phillip, some of them might be your local pizza guy, so having the addition of Consort to the title might have some meaning.
I THINK I read somewhere that Phillip wanted to be Prince Consort, but Lilibet wouldn’t do it…
Perhaps because he’d be compared to Albert…and he’d definitely fall short.
Just a note: Philip also had to renounce his Greek titles and citizenship in order to become a naturalized British citizen. He wanted to obtain citizenship in order to join the Royal Navy and thus work his way into the good graces of the British people.
Philip was already serving in the British Navy when he took out British citizenship and had been for some time. Moreover, there was no legal requirement that he renounce his Greek titles or his claim to the Greek throne before seeking citizenship. A British citizen can hold foreign titles. Prince Albert had done so. There is not even a requirement that the husband of a queen regnant should be a British citizen, although it simplifies things if he is. The only real issue at stake in the case of Philip was the PR one - the decision to become a naturalised British citizen was intended to counter the perception that he was a foreigner. I don’t suppose he lost much sleep over it.
irishman/arnold
“Chilla” is like “Chuck”
a nickname for Charles.
I dont know anything about where it came from,
there are too many Australian expressions to know them all.
I also like “Blue” for a red headed man, dont ask me why!