and if the Queen died tomorrow, who would be in charge?
2007-12-14 15:24:53 · 16 answers · asked by ChefMel 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Royalty
Philip is not a king because he is not the sovereign. If the Queen got run over by her carriage, Charles would become King.
2007-12-14 15:29:56 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
Queen Anne was not the daughter of William and Mary, she was the sister of Mary II. The Queen is Queen regnant not Queen regent.
There have been six ruling queens in England if you don't count Jane Grey (and few people do). The husbands of two of them were given the title King, Philip of Spain, the husband of Mary I was King consort and William of Orange, the husband of Mary II was King regnant as William III.
Anne, Mary's sister, did not ask for her husband to be made King and he kept his own titles. Victoria wanted Albert to have the title King but Parliament refused and gave him the title Prince Consort instead. Albert is the only person to have had the title Prince Consort, it has not been granted to Prince Philip.
The husband of a ruling Queen can be granted the title King by Parliament and in two cases out of five (Elizabeth I never married) they have done so. The current Queen could have asked for the title for Philip but didn't. Victoria asked that as her husband could not be called King, future Queens should not ask for the title for their husbands.
The wife of a King, however, is always a Queen. It has been the tradition for over a thousand years. I really can't see such a tradition being broken when Charles is crowned. Camilla will be Queen.
"The same way the Queen Mother became the "Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth, Duchess of Kent" MADE UP the title "Queen Mother." "
Normally, the widow of a King takes the title Queen Dowager but as Queen Mary, the widow of George V, was still alive when George VI died, she had that title and it was unavailable to Queen Elizabeth, the widow of George VI. She coined the title Queen Mother to be used instead.
2007-12-15 18:43:59 · answer #2 · answered by tentofield 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the UK has male-premogeniture (that is, females can inherit only in the absence of male heirs), King is a 'bigger' title then Queen. Just like in case of the title of the Princess of Wales (which belongs to the wife of the Prince of Wales, there can't be Princess of Wales in her own right, since it's the title of the Heir Apparent, and women are always Heir Presumpatives), King is the title that belongs to Sovereign-only.
There has been only 2 examples in history of England, when the husband of the Queen was King: first was King Philip of Spain, the husband of Queen Mary I. But Philip was King in his own right, and although he enjoyed the style of the 'King of England', he didn't actually exersice any powers (that was one of the conditions of the marriage). Second example is William of Orange, the husband of Queen Mary II. But in their case, they were joint Monarchs, that is, both were Sovereigns, not a Monarch and Consort. After Mary's death, William continued to Reign until his death.
Queen Anne's husband was never King, and Queen Victoria's husband wasn't one either (he was the first, and up to this moment, the last Prince Consort of Britain).
When Her Majesty dies, her eldest son, the Prince of Wales, will automatically become King.
Prince Philip will continue to be The Duke of Edinburgh, for it's a title, granted to him by the late King George.
I expect though, that Prince Charles will grant his father preference over all males in the Kingdom (after the Monarch, naturally).
Currently, Prince Philip enjoys preference over all males in the Kingdom, including The Prince of Wales.
2007-12-16 18:28:05 · answer #3 · answered by Diana T 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Prince Philip is not the King because he only married the Queen who was Heiress Presumptive to her father King George Vl. In aristocratic and royal circles the husband does not take on the style and status of the wife, it only works the other way round. So when the Queen married Philip, he remained a Prince, ditto when her sister Margaret married Anthony Armstrong Jones he didn't become a Prince - although he was ennobled and Princess Margaret was styled HRH The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon. However when Prince Charles married lady Diana Spencer, she automatically became HRH The Princess of Wales.
If the Queen were to die tomorrow, Prince Charles would become the King. And Camilla would be the Queen!
2007-12-15 09:05:25 · answer #4 · answered by brianst62 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Just to add to some of the other answers. Prince Philip is actually a prince in his own right..of Greece. He was in line for the British throne (albeit number 700+) and renounced his place when he married Elizabeth. At the time of their marriage, her father King George named Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Upon Elizabeth's coronation, Philip was made a royal prince of the British empire. He will never (and could never) be King as he has only married into the British line. If Elizabeth were to die (heaven help us) HRH Charles, Prince of Wales is next in line.
The line contiues to Prince William of Wales, Prince Harry of Wales, Prince Andrew (Duke of York), Princess Beatrice of York, Princess Eugenie of York, Prince Edward (Earl of Wessex), Lady Louise Wessex, Princess Anne (The Princess Royal), Peter Phillips, and then Zara Phillips.
2007-12-16 01:53:35 · answer #5 · answered by jjmlucky13 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually, Philip is as Royal as the Queen. They are both great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria and Philips grandfather was the King of Greece (even though he was German, they 'offered' him the job as King when they overthrew their own). Prince Philip was raised as "Philip of Greece," and it was not until he was engaged to Princess Elizabeth that they knew his last name. Reports say it took 2 weeks for them to figure it out as Battenberg (Mountbatten in english). So, that makes Philip raised as a regular Prince with no hope for a throne, the husband of a Crowned head. The fact is, although English law is weak in the protecting of female's titles, it does a great job keeping the Queen as head of England. Since the Queen MUST be head of state, then the only thing left for Philip was Prince, the same as Queen Victoria's husband. In fact, it was Queen Victoria who coined the phrase, "Prince Consort." The same way the Queen Mother became the "Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth, Duchess of Kent" MADE UP the title "Queen Mother." (That way she got Queen in her title TWICE, lol).
2007-12-15 18:29:37 · answer #6 · answered by AdamKadmon 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Queen Elizabeth II was heir to her father,King George VI. She was the direct hereditary descendant and heir presumptive to her father and ascended the throne upon his death. Prince Philip,of the Royal House of Schlessweig-Holstein-
Sonderburg-Glucksburg, renamed Mountbatten,a third cousin to Elizabeth,is Prince Consort,the proper title for the spouse of a Queen Regent.Since it is Elizabeth who reigns,the highest title in the land is Queen.No one can bear a title higher than the monarch's,so since king presumes the monarch,Philip is Prince Consort.
When Elizabeth dies,her son, Charles,Prince of Wales, her heir apparent, will reign. Second and third in line of succession are his sons, William and Harry.
The Queen cannot name her husband King if she wanted to.This requires an ACT of PARLIAMENT!And she has never had any intentions of doing so; she takes her royal duties seriously and is quite willing to do her job.
Prince Philip DIDNOT have to give up his throne
to marry Elizabeth;he did not have a throne,he was simply a prince of Greece. His uncle,Lord Louis Mountbatten,thought that by Philip's becoming an English citizen, he would be more readily accepted into the Royal Family.
2007-12-15 12:34:58 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
He just the Duke of Edinburgh, he is a prince in Greece. If the queen would happen to die tomorrow, the crown prince, aka Prince Charles would acsend to the throne, and No, Camilla isn't going to be queen, she is just the Dutchess of Cornwall. And she also doesn't want to be queen. And if Prince Charles didn't want the throne, it would then go to Prince William, and whoever he married would be queen, if she wanted.
2007-12-16 02:27:18 · answer #8 · answered by Freakgrl2004 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Succession is by blood line only. One can become a consort of royalty, but never inherit the title of their spouse(marry a royal personage).
Upon Queen Elizabeth II's death, if Charles were still alive, he would accede to the throne; if not, then his eldest son.
Among royalty and the nobility, primogeniture is the standard rule of succession: the oldest living male inherits the title.
Wotan
2007-12-15 23:04:44 · answer #9 · answered by Alberich 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He's an immigrant who is not on direct line of accession to the throne.
If the queen dies Charles gets the job, it is not put out to tender.
Nobody else gets a chance at the top job.
2007-12-15 01:11:31 · answer #10 · answered by brainstorm 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋