Hah, you think there is any law that prevents the parliament doing whatever the hell the parliament wants ? The UK has no constitution. The parliament could take it off Phillip , or a surviving QE II, in a flash… The result may be that the QE walks into parliament and hari kari’s… Parliament prefers to keep a monarch as a tourist attraction and for the appearances in terms of trade ( credit rating, reputation ,etc) …
When QE II inherits it, she can give it away, and probably already has this all worked out with the PM and his public servants.
Phillip would be blocked from giving it away, eg if he wakes up grumpy with Liz and decides to spite her… It wouldn’t work.
If Phillip dies first, QE II would likely give it away rather than confusingly have it on hold. Why ? Currently the young princes ( Wiliam and Harry ,as did Charles… ) appear on behalf of Duke of Edinburgh… I am thinking they’ll ensure a fast transition to Charles… so as not to kill the tradition. (How can a prince represent a dodgy dukedom ? They need a real duke to ‘represent’ , its a bit ghastly to present the late Duke … )
Its just for show, it means nothing in physical or power terms… (Its better for the Duke not to get involved in actually trying to do anything tangible as a patron of any charity or philanthropic entity )
Oh ? While William has become Duke of Cambridge, they may decide that Harry will be Duke of Windsor… Doesn’t seem to be much else… They want to leave Endinburgh with the older set due to its role as patron of the Awards,etc.
It will all be in the gift of the sovereign of the day. Highly unlikely that Parliament or PM would want to depart from accepted practice and involve themselves: of course they could if they wanted to, and who knows what the odd republican backbencher might choose to say or do, but they usually have other things to do with their time.
There are thousands of placenames around the country they could use if and when it’s decided to make Harry a duke (by custom, if and when he marries). Some of the defunct ones previously used may be thought to have tainted historical overtones (so Windsor would be out, possibly also Sussex), Connaught is out because the historical territory is not part of the UK any more, and where Victoria and her advisers got “Albany” from, I don’t know. But they could find something if they wanted to.
If Philip dies first, the Queen won’t be involved in what happens with the title. She can’t give it away or put it on hold. It automatically goes to Charles, instantly. Charles would then be the Duke of Edinburgh until his mother’s death (or his own if she outlives him). That’s basically what the plan announced before Prince Edward’s marriage says, too.
The benefit there is not so much the title as the income from the estates (though the inherited confidence and sense of entitlement must have something to do with it). The interesting thing in that family is that his father was the old-fashioned noblesse oblige sort - and so is his son: sort of a reverse of the saying about nineteenth-century self-made men in industry - “clogs to clogs in three generations”.
All of which is completely irrelevant. **Lord Feldon **is correct - the title of Duke of Edinburgh will automatically pass to Prince Philip’s male heir when he dies, which in the normal course of events will be Prince Charles. But in any case, even if it’s not Prince Charles, it will almost certainly be someone who will become King, i.e. Prince William or Prince George. The only way for this not to happen will be if Charles, William and George predecease the Queen. So at some point in the foreseeable future, the dukedom of Edinburgh will almost certainly pass to someone who is already King or who subsequently succeeds as such.
At that point, it will ‘merge with the Crown’, which means that that King can then grant it whomever they like. This has happened before. The obvious modern example would be George V, who had been Duke of York before becoming King and who was therefore able to create that title again for his second son.
If Charles, William, and George all predecease Philip and the Queen, Edinburgh goes to Harry; if he’s dead too, then Andrew, then Edward or Edward’s son James. Every male in the male line would have to be dead before the title goes extinct.
However, the title would not merge with the Crown if Charles, William and George all die but Charlotte survives. She becomes queen, while Edinburgh goes to Harry, and Edward is right out of luck.
Correct, the recent rule change from male-preference to equal primogeniture only applies to the Crown, not peerage titles. And Prince William’s peerage were all created with the traditional limit to heirs-male of his body though I imagine it’ll be a different story with Harry and future royals. Prince Andrew’s daughters are adults now and by custom their husbands will be offered earldoms on the wedding day (they don’t have to accept).
