Is it something about royal blood marrying royal blood (ie., if a German princess married an English prince, she would become Queen of England when he became King, but if she were simply a Lady/Duchess/etc., she would simply be Princess when he became King?)
2007-08-15 18:27:31 · 7 answers · asked by KINCMT 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Royalty
Because when Elizabeth became Queen back in 1952, nobody trusted Phil the Greek so he was held at the 'Prince' level. Nobody trusts him today.
2007-08-17 07:42:43 · answer #1 · answered by Namlevram 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Oh dear, more rubbish from answerers who know nothing about it and just make things up, except for jeremy_hancock (answerer 4).
It has nothing to do with blood, and everything to do with Parliament.
In 1689 Parliament declared Mary the rightful heir to the throne, but she refused to become Queen unless her husband William was made King. Parliament decided to agree, and maybe William's already high rank in the Netherlands made it easier for them to decide, but it was their decision.
Elizabeth was equally the rightful heir in 1952, and she waited for 5 years before asking Parliament to give her husband any higher title than he had when they were first married. So she and Philip must have agreed what to ask for, and been pretty sure that Parliament would okay it. He became The Prince Philip, instead of just the Duke of Edinburgh.
There has never been any problem about Parliament granting a King's wife the title of Queen, and her previous rank would have nothing to do with their decision anyway. Charles and Camilla have decided to ask them only to approve of the title "Princess Consort" when the time comes, but it's not because they think "Queen" might cause Parliament any problem.
2007-08-16 17:34:55 · answer #2 · answered by bh8153 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The present Queen, Elizabeth the Second, is Queen in her own right. Her husband is the Queen's consort and is not entitled to be styled King. But when a King succeeds to the throne his wife takes the title of Queen because this is the title bestowed on the King's consort. The same thing happens lower down in the British Peerage. If a man is created Lord XXX, his wife becomes Lady XXX. But if a woman is created Lady XXX in her own right, her husband remains Mr XXX.
Among monarchy titles, King is the highest and has the most authority therefore Prince Philip is not a king because if he was he would technically rank higher than the Queen in precedence.
2007-08-16 01:35:37 · answer #3 · answered by Rasta 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋
I have the answer for you. First, William and Mary were the King and Queen consort of the Netherlands in the late 17th century. When Oliver Crowell who was the mastermind behind the English Civil war was executed, Parliament wanted to reestablish the monarchy, but not have be like it was with an all powerful monarch looked to the Netherlands. At the time, the Netherlands was one of a few counries that had a constitutional monarchy. William and Mary of Orange, ( The royal house of the Netherlands is known as the House of Orange-Nassau. Not to be confused with the House of Nassau which is the name of the Monarchy in Luxembourg) were popular in their home nation. The English saw how successful the constitutional Monarchy system was working in Holland, they felt it would be good for them. Also the time of All powerful kings was about to come to and end , by the end of 18th, the last vestiage of the old gaurd, the French royal system was exterminated. Anywhoo, By 1688, the English were flourishing under a system where the palace and Parliament worked in conjunction with each other and the people had much more of a voice.
The reason why Queen Elizabeth's husband, Prince Philip isn't a king consort is because there isn't such a title. And say for argument's sake there was, since he wasn't born in England and part of the Brit aristocracy, he would have the title he has now. He had to give up his Greek citizenship and title of Prince of Greece before he married the then Princess Elizabeth in 1947. The only spouse of a ruling European queen that has the title Prince consort is Queen Margarethe of Denmark's husband Prince Henrik, {The Prince is actually French aristocracy, his first name in French is Henri). It is not necessarily true that if Queen Elizabeth had been a Lady or Duchess and Prince Philip was heir to the Brit throne that she would be known as Princess if he ascended the throne. Take Diana for example, obviously if her and Charles's marriage had worked out and he ascended the throne, she would be Queen of England.
And that would be regardless if she was or wasn't born into English Aristocracy. Queens Sofia of Spain, Sonja of Norway, Paola of Belgium and Silvia of Sweden all weren't born in the nations where they are queen consorts. In fact, only queen Sonja of Norway is the only native born queen who married a king of a European country. Queen Sofia's father, King Paul of Greece was the oldest brother of Prince Philip's father, Prince Andrew, {The Duke of York was named after his paternal grandfather).
The then Princess Sofia of Greece married the crown prince Juan Carlos of Spain in 1963. Queen Silvia of Sweden was born in Germany and met the then Crown Prince Carl Gustaf at the 1972 Munich olympics where she was a translator. And King Albert of Belgium's wife Queen Paola was born into a aristocratic family in Italy.
Technically, when Charles ascends the throne, Camilia will be Queen Camilia, but it was decided by both Charles and Camilia that when he ascends the throne, she will be known as her present title, the Duchess of Cornwall.
Hope this helps
2007-08-16 03:18:48 · answer #4 · answered by Danielle P 2 · 0⤊ 3⤋
The simple answer is that Queen Elizabeth was the eldest child of the late King and and because she did not have any brothers, that made her the legal heir to the British Throne. Had she had a brother younger than her he would have become the next King because of the rules of inheritance. She became Queen on the death of her father and her husband remained a Prince because to have made him a King would have meant that he outranked her.
Useful info here...
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page5655.asp
2007-08-16 14:48:10 · answer #5 · answered by sarch_uk 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
William & Mary were a special case - their claim to the throne of England came through Mary, who was the daughter of James II, the king they overthrew. William's claim to the British throne was weak, but he had the troops and Mary insisted that he be given equal status as co-monarch with her.
2007-08-16 11:01:25 · answer #6 · answered by JerH1 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Because she is a queen in her own right, so giving her husband the title of king would in fact place him above her in rank.
2007-08-16 01:56:57 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋