Questions about Future Queens, Dowagers and Surviving Spouses


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Warren said:
A Queen Mother is a former consort who is the mother of the monarch, King or Queen. If Princess Elizabeth had a brother who succeeded to the Throne, there would be no confusion (unless the King married an Elizabeth!). It is generally accepted that the (Dowager) Queen Elizabeth used the style 'Queen Mother' to avoid reference to two Queen Elizabeths. Maybe it also appealed to her matriarchal view of her role within the inner Royal family?

After the death of their husbands the two previous Queens, Alexandra and Mary were styled 'Dowager Queen' and also 'Queen Mother'. However, both preferred to retain their consort styles and be known simply as Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary.
.

So if Wills marries Kate we will eventually have

Queen Katharine

&

Queen Camilla

??????? :confused: :eek: :p :p :p
 
Last edited:
wymanda said:
So if Wills marries Kate we will eventually have Queen Katharine & Queen Camilla ?
If William V ascends the throne when his stepmother is still alive, she will be styled, most likely, as 'Her Majesty Queen Camilla'. The correct style for Kate is going to be simply 'Her Majesty The Queen'.
.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
popsicle said:
i have a quick question

let's say William becomes king after Charles and marries a woman who then becomes queen (consort), but Will dies without having any children. So then the throne passes to Harry, who is also married, and who then becomes king. Does William's wife continue to be called 'queen'? Does she give this title up to Harry's wife??sorry that might be a silly question but i was just wondering! :)
I think for your question above, has similarity with what has happened in Belgium royal family....When King Bouduin passed away without any child then his brother become king and his wife, Paola, become a new Belgian queen...As we know Bodouin's widow, Fabiola, still keeps her title as Queen Fabiola.
 
Mapple said:
If William V ascends the throne when his stepmother is still alive, she will be styled, most likely, as 'Her Majesty Queen Camilla'. The correct style for Kate is going to be simply 'Her Majesty The Queen'.
.

The correct style for her as a queen consort would still be Her Majesty Queen Katherine, I think. "Her Majesty The Queen" is the title of a queen regnant.
 
Elspeth said:
The correct style for her as a queen consort would still be Her Majesty Queen Katherine, I think. "Her Majesty The Queen" is the title of a queen regnant.
Mmm... Wikipedia disagrees with you, although it is prone to error. Diplomatic Ceremonial and Protocol by Wood and Serres is unclear. I'll look into it.
 
gaggleofcrazypeople said:
Shouldn't she still have had royal status though?

Diana remained royal because the Queen declared she would remain a member of the royal family after the divorce as the mother of Prince William. As Sovereign, the Queen also declared Diana's precedence would remain the same at state and national occasions.

Given these announcements, there was no question that Diana remained a senior royal despite the divorce.
 
Mapple said:
If William V ascends the throne when his stepmother is still alive, she will be styled, most likely, as 'Her Majesty Queen Camilla'. The correct style for Kate is going to be simply 'Her Majesty The Queen'.
.

Kate would not be styled "Her Majesty the Queen" as this refers to the reigning Sovereign, not a Consort. She would simply be "Queen Katherine" and Camilla would remain "Queen Camilla".
 
branchg said:
Kate would not be styled "Her Majesty the Queen" as this refers to the reigning Sovereign, not a Consort. She would simply be "Queen Katherine" and Camilla would remain "Queen Camilla".
Are you sure? I'm trying to find a text of one of the orders-in-council issued between 1937 and 1952 appointing the counsellors of state. I have a vague feeling that the Queen Consort was referred to simply as 'Her Majesty the Queen' there.
 
I think I have seen other Queens refered to that way in England (ex HM the Queen of Sweden)

Durning William reign it would be HM Queen Camilla and HM Queen Katherine. HM the Queen would refer to Kate only.

Queen (or King) Regents are the only ones that get numbers (HM Queen Elizabeth II)
 
A King's wife is referred to as "Queen Christian Name" and addressed as Her Majesty. A reigning Queen is referred to as "The Queen" and also addressed as Her Majesty. A dowager queen is referred to and addressed the same as a current Queen Consort.
 
http://www.heraldica.org/topics/royalty/ukregency.htm

The exact style of the Queen Consort seems to vary.

Caroline of Ansbach was called 'His Royal Consort the Queen' in 1728. Mary of Teck is styled 'Her Majesty Queen Mary' in the text of the act from 1910. In the lists of the counsellors of state (unfortunately there is none cited on the webpage that includes the Queen Consort as such) the Queen of George VI is referred simply as 'the Queen'. It can be a webmaster's omission, of course.
 
From the context, it appears that Queen Regnant is what was meant.
 
Yup sorry that is what I meant (Elizabeth II Mary II .... )
 
What Happens to "surviving" spouse of Royal?

I read in one of my books, I have no idea if it is accurate or not, that when Diana's father passed away, Diana and her brother, the "new" Earl the day after his funeral threw their stepmother out of the house and put her belongings in black garbage bags on the front steps.

My question is this, should the Duchess of Cornwall outlive Prince Charles before or after he becomes King, what happens to her? Would she still be a Royal? Would she inherit anything from Prince Charles? Would she get any kind of financial support?

Thank You!
 
She'd still be Royal and depending on the will, would get a sum of money and property etc. If Charles had been King then she'd be well taken care of as a former Queen Consort. If Charles hadn't then it'd be up to the reigning monarch to give her some kind of financial assistance from the civil list I imagine. But in this case, Camilla has her own fortune which she can fall back on. It's not like the days of Princess Marina when she had to beg Winston Churchill to send her some money.
 
Really? Princess Marina had to beg for money? I had no idea. That's interesting, I shall have to do some research.
 
She'd still be Royal and depending on the will, would get a sum of money and property etc. If Charles had been King then she'd be well taken care of as a former Queen Consort. If Charles hadn't then it'd be up to the reigning monarch to give her some kind of financial assistance from the civil list I imagine. But in this case, Camilla has her own fortune which she can fall back on. It's not like the days of Princess Marina when she had to beg Winston Churchill to send her some money.

Thank you very much for the information. :)
 
Really? Princess Marina had to beg for money? I had no idea. That's interesting, I shall have to do some research.

Apparantly, she had no money and said she'd have to move out of Kensington Palace. She wrote to Churchill who wrote to the Palace to work out a deal. It came to light with the Freedom of Information Act and the BBC did a story on it I think. I'll see what I can find in my folders and post what I find here.
 
Why would she have to move out of KP? Do the royal have to pay rent? I really did not know that. I thought that the king/queen at the time would let them live there for free. How sad!! So who did Churchill work out a deal with?
 
Well, she stayed at KP. Churchill did get some money for her, I think there was a special provision made with the Civil List. I'm not sure, I'll have to dig out the info. Prince and Princess Michael apparantly payed rent at KP but it was only £60 a week for their apartment.
 
Where will William and Henry live when Charles becomes King. any ideas
 
It can't have been too hard for Churchill to work something out for Princess Marina, can it? She carried out a full load of engagements, right? In the case of Prince and Princess Michael, it's another matter because Prince Michael has a private sector job, right? And Princess Michael writes her history books, so.... given they don't do engagements anymore, I guess they're just taking up space at KP. #10 KP is a big L-shaped house and can be used for something else, like a residence for William or Harry when they marry.

In the case of Charles predeceasing Camilla if still Prince of Wales, I bet HM would let her continue using Clarence House for her office but she would likely be all the time at Ray Mill, her own private haven no doubt. Highgrove is the property of the Duchy of Cornwall, right? If HM made William Duke of Cornwall in the case of Charles predeceasing HM, I guess Highgrove would automatically be of use to William.
 
Well, I don't know how it's worked out but I assume that the Queen would create Camilla a Princess in her own right so she'd become HRH Princess Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall or HRH Princess Camilla, Princess of Wales. I think she'd continue using Clarence House as her office and London residence whilst using Highgrove and Ray Mill as her country pads. And financially, she'd have her own wealth, her money she gets for carrying out engagements and anything Charles has left her in his will.
 
I think it depends on how long they have been married. After all the Duke of E was only made a Prince of the United Kingdom when he had been 'married into the family' for 11 years.
 
Where will William and Henry live when Charles becomes King. any ideas

I believe they can live wherever they want as CasaraghiTrio stated apt #10 at Kensington Palace or even the Princess of Wales' old apartments.
 
Well, I don't know how it's worked out but I assume that the Queen would create Camilla a Princess in her own right so she'd become HRH Princess Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall or HRH Princess Camilla, Princess of Wales.

The Queen might also go the Alice route and just allow her to style herself Princess Camilla, even in the absence of Letters Patent.
 
William can only become Duke of Cornwall during the reign of his father as that title is restricted to the eldest son of the reigning monarch.

The Queen could create him Prince of Wales as that title can be held by the heir, even if not the eldest son and is a created title not an inherited one.

As Camilla is the wife of the heir to the throne she would be well taken care of e.g. Queens Alexandra, Mary, and the Queen Mother - all of whom outlived their husbands. Queen Alexandra is the best example of what would happen with Highgrove as Sandringham was purchased also by the Duchy for the then Duke of Cornwall (later Edward VII). On his death his will stated that Alexandra was to continue to have the full use of Sandringham House for the rest of her life so she lived their (and Marlborough House in London) until her death. I would expect that she would continue to live in Clarence House as that is now her home but if she became a widow after Charles became king then it would depend on who was then living in CH. If it was available e.g. Charles moved into BP, William into CH, then on Charles' death Camilla could return to CH while William move into BP. This would depend on Camilla's wishes of course.

As for financial support - the Civil List will provide for her once Charles becomes king and the precedent of the Queen Mother is that the Civil List will continue to support the Consort of the dead monarch, as well as the present monarch and spouse.
 
I read in one of my books, I have no idea if it is accurate or not, that when Diana's father passed away, Diana and her brother, the "new" Earl the day after his funeral threw their stepmother out of the house and put her belongings in black garbage bags on the front steps.

My question is this, should the Duchess of Cornwall outlive Prince Charles before or after he becomes King, what happens to her? Would she still be a Royal? Would she inherit anything from Prince Charles? Would she get any kind of financial support?

Thank You!

I assume that, despite what Earl Spencer might think to the contrary, the Windsors do actually know how to treat people well. He's been a great one for talking about how badly other people behave, but his own actions have somewhat undermined is self-righteous rhetoric.

The statements about the plastic bags and the rapid eviction from Althorp have been made in enough biographies of Diana and confirmed by associates of Lady Spencer that I think they're probably true.
 
Back
Top Bottom