Diana was never 2nd after the Queen.
Diana depending on the year and in public vs private she may have been the lowest person on the totem pole. She might not even have rank high enough to get a curtesy from other members of the family.
The order of precedence was not created because of Camilla. It has always existed. Camilla is 4th and if Diana was still alive and married to POW she would be 4th.
Order of precedence 1981 IMO
- Queen Elizabeth II
- Queen Elizabeth
- Duchess of Windsor
- Princess Alice
- Princess Margaret
- Princess Alexandra
- Princess Anne
- Diana
Order of precedence 1987
- Queen Elizabeth II
- Queen Elizabeth
- Princess Anne
- Princess Alice
- Princess Margaret
- Princess Alexandra
- Diana
Current order of Precedence
- Queen Elizabeth II
- Princess Anne
- Princess Alexandra
- Camilla Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall
- Sophie
- Zara Phillips
- Princess Beatrice
- Princess Eugenie
- Catherine Duchess of Cambridge
1. Queen Elizabeth II became Queen in 1952 upon the death of her father.
She was crowned Queen in 1953.
She is the reigning monarch.
Born 1926
2. Queen Elizabeth began Queen in 1936 when her husband became King.
She was crowned Queen in 1937.
She was the Queen Consort.
When her daughter ascended to the throne, it was suggested that she
be called the Queen Mother as both mother and daughter were named
Elizabeth to avoid confusion. She disliked being called Queen Mum or
Queen Mother. Upon the death of her husband in 1952, she was still
queen but she was now Dowager Queen rather than Queen Consort.
A queen outranks all princess no matter who.
Born 1900
Died 2002
3. Duchess of Windsor married an ex-King. Although she married King
Edward VIII after he abdicated and she was blamed for the
constitutional crisis and given the title of Duchess. She outranked
Diana.
Charles BOWED to the Duchess of Windor in PUBLIC on 2 occasions.
If Charles bows, Diana curtesys.
The big story when Charles married Diana was whether the Duchess of
Windsor would be invited to the wedding and when she was not. The
media went after the British Royal Family.
Born 1896
Died 1986
4. Princess Alice was the Duchess of Glouchester. When her husband
died in 1974 she asked the Queen for permission to be called Princess
Alice although she was not born into the BRF family. The Queen
granted her request. Diana was never Princess Diana as she was not
born into the family and the Queen never gave her permission to
use this title. Title before the name implies born into the family, unless
the Queen give permission. The Duchess married Prince Henry in 1935.
She was the sister-in-law of the Queen Mother and Duchess of Windsor.
She was the Aunt through marriage of the Queen. She worked for the
BRF from 1935 until 1999. She was 98 years old when she stopped
performing royal duties.
Born 1901
Died 2004
5. Princess Margaret is the younger sister of Queen and the daugther of
King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth.
Born 1930
Died 2002
6. Princess Alexandra is Queen Elizabeth's only female 1st cousin born into
the royal family. Her father was Prince George. She began performing
royal duties at age 15 when her cousin became queen. The Queen has
several male 1st cousin but most did not wish to perform royal duties,
so she depended heavily on Princess Alexandra to represent her. I
believe she was only 15 when she went on her 1st solo foreign tour.
Born 1936
7. Princess Anne is the Queen's daughter. In 1987 she was given the title
of Princess Royal. With this titie she became
THE most important
Princess in the BRF.
I believe the
order of precedence has never changed it has alway been is based on generation. First blood relatives then through marriage.
Charles especially relates to the older members of his family and he would have
NEVER ALLOWED 80 year women to curtsey to a 20 year old. And least of all his grandmother who he loved more than his mother.
All the Diana fanatics and the Camilla bashers can post all the lies but they are still lies.
The order of precedence never changes, just the people within.
The private order of precedence IMO is connected with the Royal Family Order.
The public might think that just because someone marries into the BRF they instantly become a member of the royal family. This is not true.
I think this is where the private vs public comes into pay.
In public Kate is a member of the BRF but in private she is not. Camilla, Sophie and Diana all went through it.
I think until the Queen gives the person the Royal Family Order portrait of herself, she does not consider that person a members of her family and thus they must bow to everyone who has the portrait.
The Queen is know to be cheap/neglectful in bestowing gifts and titles to her family.
Her daughter Anne was not given the portrait until 1969. However the Queen received George V FO portrait when she was a little girl. George V died when she was 10 years old and he had already presented it to her.
Princess Anne had to wait until she was an adult.
The Queen waits until after they have performed royal duties for several years before presenting them with any titles/honors.
Louise, Edwards and Sophie's daughter should rank higher than Kate as she is of the same generation as Zara, Peter, William, Harry, Beatrice, Eugenie but as she is a minor no one is expect to bow to her.
When Louise is given the family order she will outrank Catherine.
To the Diana fanantics and the Camilla bashers, Camilla already received the family order. Kate has not.
To the fanantics and bashers, who couldn't figure out why Diana was 8th when she married into the family and why Camilla is 4th. It is because 4 of the people who were ahead of Diana died before Charles married Camilla.
I also think Sophie's and Camilla's relationship is sour because Sophie had the FO before Camilla married into the family but once Camilla received it. Sophie had to curtesy to Camilla. Before receiving the FO but after marrying into the BRF Camilla had to curtesy to Sophie. But Charles might have pulled rank when the Queen wasn't around and wouldn't allow it.