His dad was never the king. He was a prince who was exiled from Greece at near-gunpoint in one of its many perturbations and never returned. Philip’s mother did return to live in Athens for a while, though, and she wanted Philip to come back in case they ever exiled/murdered some more kings and needed a new [del]patsy[/del] king. He wisely declined this offer and remained in Britain, which was pretty much his home country by then.
You left out Mary I of Scotland (aka Mary, Queen of Scots). Both of her first 2 husbands (Francis II of France & Henry, Lord Darnley) were made King of Scots, though the latter’s title was purely honorary & he had no right to succeed his wife. That didn’t stop him from acting like it and he was assassinated. Victoria did want to make Albert king-consort, but her ministers advised against it.
Not exactly, Charles & Anne were born before their mother became Queen and both took their father’s (recently made-up) surname, Mountbatten, like other legitimate children. For that matter Princess Elizabeth’s surname would’ve been Mountbatten too. Then after she became Queen Phillip’s uncle, Lord Mountbatten, started bragging about the “House of Mountbatten” being on the throne*. This got back to the Queen Mother and pissed her off royally. She went to the Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, and got him to advise the Queen to issue a decree affirming the royal house name as Windsor and changing her children’s surname. She did (leading to Prince Phillip’s comment about being “a bloody amoeba”. A few years later she issued a decree giving their descendants the surname Mountbatten-Windsor (it was only supposed to apply to the ones without titles, but in practice all their children & male-line grandchildren use it).
*He was incorrect too. Queens-regnant remain part of their birth house, but their children are considered part of their father’s house. Sometimes a new house name is created by hyphenating the existing names. Other countries simply ignore the male-line (the Orange-Nassaus of the Netherlands, the Romanovs of Russia, or the Windsors of the UK for example).
But she wasn’t a queen regnant of England, Queen of Great Britain, or Queen of the United Kingdom.
I think the significance in the names (for purposes of the OP’s question) is the fact that Philip is referred to as “prince consort” rather than “king consort.”
Can anyone tell us how the heck you pronounce the name Xan?
Nope - Philip isn’t Prince Consort. Only Albert, the husband of Victoria, had that title.
Well he’s a prince, and he’s a consort; he just doesn’t hold the formal title of Prince Consort.
Might I add there have been Queen Dowager’s, where the Queen consort then takes on Regal status, (and Empress Dowager, in China !)
So why never a King Dowager ? (in concept if not name … Does Dowager refer to females only ? )
Precisely. That’s why I worded that sentence in the way that I did.
Oops… I said Dowager, but unaware that just means Widow of the King.
I meant like the Dowager Empress, on the throne due to their husband the King/ Emperor dying.
The wikipedia entry doesn’t help explain about people who take over the throne by being dowager . The wikipedia entry is about wives of monarchs who are widowed and yet don’t have their own child as the new monarch.
If you’re going to give full details (which I do appreciate), “of Aragon, Castille and Navarre”.
This is the most awesome missing comma ever. My brain was really trying to figure out how some woman could become the uncle of Queen Phillip, and why she would take the title Lord Mountbatten if she did. Then, like an magic eye picture, it all snapped into place.
Zan. I think it ultimately derives from Alexander.
So it’s pretty much been shown that the fairytale practice of finding a girl who’s first in line for a throne and marrying her doesn’t get you a kingship. How does the reverse story fare, historically. How many queen consorts came from a Cinderella background?
Catherine I, the second wife of Peter the Great, was probably the daughter of a peasant. Even more extraordinarily, she didn’t just marry the Tsar, she ended up ruling Russia in her own name.
Now that the monarchy is symbolic in most places, it’s not that uncommon. Off the top of my head, Silvia of Sweden and Sonja of Norway are commoners. It would be a bit inaccurate to call them “Cinderellas” though; Sonja attended finishing school in Switzerland and Silvia is a wrong-side-of-the-blanket descendant of Portuguese royalty.
Then there’s Kate Middleton, who you may have heard about recently, who’ll be queen ere long Elizabeth II and Charles have kicked the royal bucket. Also a silver spoon kid. People with no money at all tend not to have access to royals, title or no.
The only real “Cinderella” I can think of is Rania of Jordan. She was born in Kuwait to Palestinian refugee parents, though I gather they were pretty well-to-do (her dad was a doctor). Then they had to flee Kuwait because of the Iraqi invasion and moved to Jordan.
Oops, my mistake. I thought that his title as Prince was conferred in connection with his marriage to Elizabeth (i.e., his status as consort), but I see now that that was incorrect, that he was named Prince separately, after her ascendancy. So, from the time of her ascendancy to his being named Prince of the UK, was his highest title still Duke of Edinburgh? In other words, he did not assume any new title upon Elizabeth becoming Queen?
A further question: Assuming that the current Duke of Cambridge becomes King in due course, will his wife be referred to as Queen upon his ascendancy? And will she be a queen consort? Finally, if she is to be referred to as Queen, is that pursuant to existing law (i.e., whatever rule that called for George VI’s wife to be referred to as Queen), or must there be a special act either by Parliament or William to make her Queen? Absent which she would continue to be called the Duchess of Cambridge, similar to Philip continuing to be called the Duke of Edinburgh?
The current Norwegian crown princess comes from a perfectly average Norwegian background and met the crown prince at a music festival.
But Catherine the Great does fit the bill.
Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark was a commoner, and an Australian one at that. She’ll be Queen of Denmark one day, barring any unpleasantness.
He was a Prince by birth, of Greece and Denmark. He have up those titles to marry (as Lt Philip Moutbatten RN) HRH Prince Elizabeth. He was created on his wedding day as Duke of Edinburgh by King George VI. Upon his Duchess’s accession, he remained a Duke. He would be created by letters patent a Prince of the United Kingdom in the late 50’s. The Queen has commanded that in protocol he be placed before all other royals except her.
Queen Consort: Is a courtesy title traditionally given to the wife of the King.
Queen Regnant: Is what the title is when a Monarch happens to be female.
Both are in ordinary usage called “Queen”. The Duchess of Cambridge cannot be the later obviously. Under law she can be given whatever title the King desires. He can give her the title"love", “the old ball and chain” “bed warmer”, its his discretion. While it will be most likely be “Queen Consort”, it does not have to be.