Questions about future Queens, Dowagers and surviving spouses

[branchg]

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.

[Mapple]

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.

[florawindsor]

Originally Posted by Oppie

Queen (or King) Regents are the only ones that get numbers (HM Queen Elizabeth II)

do you mean Queen regnant or regent?

[Elspeth]

From the context, it appears that Queen Regnant is what was meant.

[Oppie]

Yup sorry that is what I meant (Elizabeth II Mary II .... )

[diamondBrg]

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!

[BeatrixFan]

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.

[jcbcode99]

Really? Princess Marina had to beg for money? I had no idea. That's interesting, I shall have to do some research.

[diamondBrg]

Originally Posted by BeatrixFan

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.

[BeatrixFan]

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.

[msleiman]

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?

[BeatrixFan]

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.

[Royal Fan]

Where will William and Henry live when Charles becomes King. any ideas

[CasiraghiTrio]

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.

[BeatrixFan]

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.

[scooter]

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.

[sirhon11234]

Originally Posted by Royal Fan

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.

[wbenson]

Originally Posted by BeatrixFan

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.

[Iluvbertie]

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.

[Elspeth]

Originally Posted by diamondBrg

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.