Why Kate Is Not "Princess Catherine"

An explanation of the rules concerning royal titles in the United Kingdom.

     

     An issue that has had some people scratching their heads is the fact that while William is listed as Prince William, Kate is not listed as Princess Catherine on the birth certificate of their son, Prince George.

"What? She's not a princess? She's just a duchess?
Eh, we'll just call her Kate Middleton, then."
-The Mainstream/Popular Press

     It is often assumed that by marrying a prince, the wife becomes a princess, and as such, is titled and styled as a princess. This is true

On the day of her wedding,
Catherine Middleton became
Princess William, Duchess of Cambridge.

in the sense that the wife bears the feminine form of her husband’s titles, but does not bear these titles in her own right. For example, in a marriage in which a woman named Miss Jane Doe marries Mr. John Smith, she becomes known as Mrs. John Smith. In Kate’s case, as Catherine Middleton, she married Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, so she officially became Princess William, Duchess of Cambridge (and if William had not been created Duke of Cambridge and remained Prince William of Wales, she would have become Princess William of Wales). So Kate is a princess, but only because William is a 

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
The Prince bears an uncanny resemblance
to his late grandfather, King George V.

prince of the blood royal, and as such, her title of “princess” is derived from his own. Another example is that of Marie Christine von Reibnitz, who married Prince Michael of Kent – a cousin of the Queen – and became Princess Michael of Kent. The same rationale goes for any aristocratic titles a prince may possess. For example, Prince Michael's older brother Prince Edward succeeded to their father's title – Duke of Kent. Therefore, when Edward married Katherine Worsley in 1961, she became Princess Edward, Duchess of Kent. 

King George V established much of the
current rules regarding royal titles.

     To be titled and styled as a British prince or princess in one’s own right is reserved only to the children of a monarch, male-line grandchildren of a monarch, and the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. These rules were established through Letters Patent by King George V – the present Queen’s grandfather – during World War I to limit the dignity and style of prince or princess to a monarch’s immediate family (and especially to deprive British princely titles from his German relatives of the House of Hanover, who were descendants of King George III). The rules were modified in 2012 by the Queen to ensure that any child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge would be styled as prince or princess (because hitherto, this had only applied to the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales). 

     For this reason, William’s mother Diana was never officially known as Princess Diana, because as Lady Diana Spencer, she 

Diana was never a princess in her own
right, so references to her as
Princess Diana are incorrect.

married Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, and as a result, became Princess Charles, Princess of Wales. When Diana and Charles divorced in 1996, like a divorced Mrs. John Smith who becomes Mrs. Jane Smith, Diana became officially known as Diana, Princess of Wales.  The rules also explain why the daughters of Prince Andrew, Duke of York – the Queen’s third child – are styled as Princess Beatrice of York and Princess Eugenie of York, since they are male-line grandchildren of the monarch, while the children of Princess Anne – the Queen’s second child and only daughter – have no titles and are known as Peter Phillips and Zara Phillips (who is formally Mrs. Michael Tindall since her marriage in 2011 to rugby player Mike Tindall), as they are grandchildren of the female-line. 

Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice of York

Peter and Zara Phillips.
Photo: BBC Video

     Speaking of Princess Anne, it should go without saying that like any woman who does not pass her name to her husband, a princess does not pass the masculine form of her birthright titles to her husband upon marriage. A man who marries into the royal family may be granted aristocratic titles (if he does not already have titles of his own). This occurred when the Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, who in 1960 married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones, who became Earl of Snowdon prior to the birth of their first child David, because it was unheard of for the children of British princes and princesses not to have a title, or be in line for a title. The result was that Margaret’s husband became Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon (thereafter becoming professionally known as Snowdon) and she became Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, taking the feminine form of his title as an earl, but he did not take the masculine form of her birthright title of princess. Later, when Princess Anne married her first husband Captain Mark Phillips in 1973, the couple reportedly turned down aristocratic titles from the Queen. The result was that before she was granted the title of Princess Royal (which is customary, though not automatic, for the eldest daughter of a monarch) in 1987, Anne was officially styled as Princess Anne, Mrs. Mark Phillips. It also 

Princess Anne

meant that their eldest child Peter became the first legitimate grandchild of a British monarch not to have either an aristocratic or royal title in around 500 years. Anne is currently 11^th in the line of succession, and turning down titles was reportedly done to help Peter (12^th in line) and Zara (15^th in line) to have a relatively low-profile life and to encourage them to find their own career pursuits independent of being grandchildren of Elizabeth II (with Peter being an event manager/promoter and Zara being an accomplished equestrian rider). 

     But what about Prince Philip? He married into the royal family, didn’t he? Philip’s story of royal titles requires a bit more explanation. He was born as Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, but prior to his and Elizabeth’s engagement being announced in July 1947, he renounced his Greek and Danish titles to become a naturalized British citizen and adopted the surname of his mother’s family in the United Kingdom, Mountbatten.

The marriage register of Elizabeth and Philip.

Subsequently, he became known as Philip Mountbatten, and was later given a knighthood, titles, and the status of Royal Highness by his future father-in-law George VI in time for the wedding in November. But the king did not give Philip the dignity and style of a prince, so in full, he was styled as His Royal Highness Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh. George VI did issue Letters Patent allowing Philip and Elizabeth’s children to be styled as prince or princess with the status of Royal Highness. Otherwise, the Queen’s first two children, born before her accession in 1952, would have been styled as children of a duke – Charles Mountbatten, Earl of Merioneth and The Lady Anne Mountbatten (as opposed to HRH Prince Charles of Edinburgh and HRH Princess Anne of Edinburgh) – since they were female-line grandchildren of George VI. In 1957, the Queen made Philip a Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and since then, he has been known as His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, which resulted in the Mountbatten surname being dropped from official usage in exchange for the princely title. Basically, Philip was born a prince in his native country (Greece, where he had lived for less than a year-and-a-half as a baby), gave up his birthright titles to marry Elizabeth, and was restored to the dignity and style of a prince in his adopted country. 

     Another major exception is that of the children of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex – the Queen’s fourth and youngest child. At the time of his marriage to Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999, it was announced via press release that per the wishes of the couple, their children would be styled as the children of an earl, rather than that of a prince. This was done for much the same reason as Princess Anne and Mark Phillips did for their own children – to allow them to have an existence largely independent of Palace life (especially considering their position in the line of succession – 9^th and 10^th – and the unlikelihood that either of them stand a chance of attaining 

Earl and Countess of Wessex

the throne). The result is that their daughter is known as The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, whilst their son is known as James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn. Some constitutional and historical experts believe that the personal wishes of Edward and Sophie as well as the 1999 Palace press release are not enough to override the Letters Patent issued in 1917 by George V which stipulates that male-line grandchildren of a monarch are afforded the dignity and style of a prince or princess. As such, they contend that the Earl and Countess of Wessex’s children ought to be styled as Princess Louise of Wessex and Prince James of Wessex. 

     The example of Edward’s children shows that these rules can appear to be academic, archaic, and wonkish. Nevertheless, these are the rules (or at least the bulk of them) regarding royal titles and how they are obtained in the United Kingdom, and they explain why we will never see Kate’s name spelled out in official terms as Princess Catherine.

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