British Royal Family

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Members of the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Trooping the Colour ceremony
Enlarge
Members of the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Trooping the Colour ceremony

Close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom are known by the appellation The Royal Family. Although there is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member of the Royal Family [1], and different lists will include different people, those carrying the style His or Her Majesty (HM) or His or Her Royal Highness (HRH) are generally considered members, which usually results in the application of the term to these persons:

  • the monarch (the king or queen);
  • the consort of the monarch (his or her spouse);
  • the widowed consorts of previous monarchs (Queen Mother or Queen Dowager);
  • the children of the monarch;
  • the grandchildren of the monarch;
  • the spouses and the widowed spouses of a monarch's son and male-line grandsons; and
  • before 1917, great-grandchildren in the male line.

Many millions of people are related to the British Royal Family more distantly than this by virtue of a Royal Descent.

The current British Royal Family are members of the House of Windsor.

Contents

[edit] List of members

This is a list of current members of the Royal Family

[edit] Relations or spouses of members of the British Royal Family

[edit] Collaterals of the British Royal Family

The following descendants (or widows) of the younger children of Queen Victoria, King Edward VII, and King George V

The Earl of Harewood is a female-line first cousin of the Queen. The Duke of Fife, the Marquess of Miford Haven, the Countess Mountbatten of Burma, and the Lady Saltoun, and their respective families, as well as Lord Harewood's descendants, are so distant from the reigning sovereign that they are relatives of, rather than members of, the Royal Family.

None of these persons receive any monies from the State or undertake official engagements on behalf of the Queen. However, the Queen does invite them to private family functions and to participate in official royal occasions, such as the Trooping the Colour, the Golden Jubilee celebrations, and ceremonial or state funerals.

There are three living former spouses of members of the British Royal Family:

Recently deceased members of the Royal Family include:

[edit] Civil List and Parliamentary Annuities

Monies to support the Queen in the exercise of her duties as head of state (the Head of State Expenditure) of the United Kingdom come from the Civil List; a return of a small portion of the revenue from the Crown Lands that are surrendered by the Monarch to Parliament at the beginning of each reign, all Crown Land being administered by The Crown Estates, an institution answerable to parliament. In the 2003-04 fiscal year the amount surrendered was £176.9 million, where the Head of State Expenditure was £36 million. The Head of State Expenditure does not include the cost of security.

Only the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh receive funding from the Civil List. The Duke receives £359,000 per year.

Only some members of the Royal Family carry out public duties; these individuals receive an annual payment known as a Parliamentary Annuity, the funds being supplied to cover office costs.

  • The Duke of York: £249,000 per annum
  • The Earl of Wessex: £141,000 per annum
  • The Princess Royal: £228,000 per annum
  • The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester: £175,000 per annum
  • The Duke and Duchess of Kent: £236,000 per annum
  • Princess Alexandra £225,000 per annum

These amounts are repaid by The Queen from her private funds.

Though always voluntarily subject to the Value Added Tax and other indirect taxes, the Queen agreed to pay taxes on income and capital gains from 1992, although the details of this arrangement are both voluntary and secret. At the same time it was announced that only the Queen and Prince Philip would receive civil list payments. Since 1993 the Queen's personal income has been taxed as any other Briton. The Queen's private estate (eg shareholdings, personal jewellery, Sandringham House and Balmoral Castle) will be subject to Inheritance Tax, however bequests from Sovereign to Sovereign are exempt. [1]

[edit] Commonwealth

Apart from the United Kingdom, the Queen and other members of the Royal Family regularly perform public duties in the other fifteen nations of the Commonwealth in which the Queen is Head of State (see, for example, List of Commonwealth visits made by Queen Elizabeth II). As the Crown within these countries is a legally separate entity from the UK Crown, it is funded in these countries individually, through the ordinary legislative budgeting process. Most of the allocated funds support the work of the Sovereign's representatives in those countries, called the Governor-General, Governors and Lieutenant-Governors, although some of the monies subsidise such official visits.

In Canada, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and the Office of the Governor General, make reference to the Royal Family in right of Canada as the Canadian Royal Family. In a speech in Nunavut in 2002, the Queen herself stated she was "proud to be the first member of the Canadian Royal Family to be greeted in Canada's newest territory."

[edit] Royal styles and titles

Members of the Royal Family in the Royal box at Westminster Abbey during the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
Enlarge
Members of the Royal Family in the Royal box at Westminster Abbey during the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

The style His Majesty or Her Majesty (HM) is enjoyed by a King, a Queen (regnant), a Queen consort, and a former Queen consort (a Queen Dowager or a Queen Mother).

Use of the style His Royal Highness or Her Royal Highness (HRH) and the titular dignity of Prince or Princess are governed by Letters Patent issued by King George V on 30 November 1917 (published in the London Gazette on 11 December 1917). These Letters Patent state that henceforth, only the children of the Sovereign, the children of the sons of the Sovereign, and the eldest son of the eldest son of The Prince of Wales would "have and at all times hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names or with their other titles of honour." They further state, "the grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line (save only the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales) shall have the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes."

Under these conventions, The Queen's children and the children of The Prince of Wales and The Duke of York are titled Princes or Princesses and styled Royal Highness. Likewise, The Duke of Gloucester, The Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy, and Prince Michael of Kent enjoy the titular dignity of Prince or Princess and the style Royal Highness as male-line grandchildren of King George V. However, none of their children has a royal title. For example, the children of Prince Michael of Kent are known as Lord Frederick Windsor and Lady Gabriella Windsor (the courtesy titles as children of dukes). They are not entitled to any royal title. The children of The Princess Royal, Princess Alexandra, and the late Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, are not entitled to any royal title since princesses do not transmit their titles to their children unless they are the heiress presumptive. Princess Margaret's son enjoys the courtesy title Viscount Linley as the son and heir of the Earl of Snowdon, while her daughter enjoys the courtesy title Lady. The children of the Princess Royal and Princess Alexandra have no titles, because Captain Mark Philips and Sir Angus Ogilvy do not hold hereditary peerages.

Women marrying sons and male-line grandsons of a Sovereign are normally styled Her Royal Highness followed by the feminised version of her husband's highest title. The wives of royal peers are known as "HRH The Duchess of ..." or " HRH The Countess of ..." Thus, the wives of the Duke of Kent, the Duke of Gloucester, and the Earl of Wessex are "HRH The Duchess of Kent," "HRH The Duchess of Gloucester," and "HRH The Countess of Wessex," respectively. Before her divorce, the late Diana, Princess of Wales enjoyed the title and style of "HRH The Princess of Wales." However, when a woman marries a prince who does not hold a peerage, she is known as HRH Princess [Her husband's Christian name], followed by whatever territorial or titular designation. For example, the former Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz enjoys the title and style of "HRH Princess Michael of Kent," and not "HRH Princess Marie-Christine of Kent." Similarly, the former Birgitte Eva van Deurs was titled "HRH Princess Richard of Gloucester" from her wedding until her husband succeeded to his father's Dukedom in 1974. The widows of princes remain HRH. However, under Queen Elizabeth II's 21 August 1996 Letters Patent, a divorced wife of a Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland "shall not be entitled to hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness."

There has been one exception to the convention that wives of princes take their husband's rank. In Letters Patent dated 28 May 1937, King George VI specifically denied the style HRH to the wife of the Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII. Therefore, the former Wallis Warfield Simpson was known as "Her Grace The Duchess of Windsor," not "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Windsor."

It should also be noted due a reluctance by the public to universally support the second wife of The Prince of Wales, it has been announced by Clarence House that should The Prince of Wales become King, that his wife HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will not be known as HM The Queen but will take the lesser title of HRH The Princess Consort. Out of respect for the late Diana, Princess of Wales, it was also announced that HRH The Duchess of Cornwall would not be known as HRH The Princess of Wales.

The daughters and male-line granddaughters of the Sovereign do not lose their royal titles upon marriage. Men who marry the daughters and the male-line granddaughters of the Sovereign, however, do not acquire their wives' royal rank and the style HRH. The only exception to this convention is Prince Philip. Born a Prince of Greece and Denmark, it was only after his wartime service that he renounced his title and became a naturalised British subject, as Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten RN. The day before his marriage he was created Duke of Edinburgh with the style HRH by King George VI's Letters Patent of 19 November 1949. The Duke of Edinburgh was not created a Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland until 22 February 1957.Since that date, his full title has been "HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh."

As grandchildren of the Sovereign through the female line, the children of the then Princess Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh would not have been entitled to use HRH or Prince or Princess until their mother became Queen, had those titles and styles not been granted in Letters Patent of 22 October 1948.

Finally, on the wedding day of HRH The Earl of Wessex to the then Miss Sophie Rhys-Jones, Buckingham Palace announced that, with agreement of HM The Queen and TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex, any children they have would not be given the style His or Her Royal Highness, but would have courtesy titles as sons or daughters of an earl. HRH The Countess of Wessex gave birth to a daughter on 8 November 2003. The press secretary to the Queen announced that the infant would be styled the Lady Louise Windsor.

[edit] Peerages

The British Royal Family in 1880.
Enlarge
The British Royal Family in 1880.

Female consorts of the Sovereign have generally not been created peers or peeresses. A notable exception occurred in 1532, when Henry VIII created Anne Boleyn Marchioness of Pembroke before marrying her. Male consorts, however, have sometimes been granted dukedoms. The husband of Mary I was already King of Spain, and that of Mary II was jointly Sovereign in England, so neither of them received peerage dignities. Prince George of Denmark, the husband of Anne (later Queen Anne), was created Duke of Cumberland in 1683. Victoria's husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, was given the style Royal Highness before his marriage. In 1857, Queen Victoria granted him title of Prince Consort; however, Prince Albert was not made a British peer. Prince Philip, husband of the present Queen, was created Duke of Edinburgh and granted the style Royal Highness the day before his wedding (which occurred prior to her accession).

Generally, the sons of the Sovereign are awarded peerage dignities to mark either adulthood or marriage. Originally, younger sons of the Sovereign were not styled Princes (except the Prince of Wales); thus, in order to indicate their exalted rank, peerage dignities were conferred upon them. From the time of Edward III, nearly every son of a Sovereign surviving into adulthood became a Duke. Certain dukedoms were granted more often than others, including the Dukedoms of York, Albany and Clarence. Normally, a peerage once awarded to a member of the Royal Family is not thereafter granted to any person outside the Royal Family (though some exceptions do exist).

The Dukedom of York is generally created for the second son of the Sovereign. The first creation was in 1384; the dukedom merged in the Crown in 1483. Every Duke thereafter has either died without heirs or succeeded to the Crown, and so has not been able to leave the Royal Family. The pattern of awarding the dukedom to the second-eldest son of the Sovereign was upset by George I, who gave the Dukedom of York and Albany to his younger brother. The Dukedom of York and Albany was next granted by George II to the second son of his son, who had predeceased him. York and Albany featured one last time as a dukedom in 1784, when George III granted it to his second son. Thereafter, the dukedom has always borne the designation York, rather than York and Albany. The current duke is The Prince Andrew, second son of Queen Elizabeth II.

The Dukedom of Albany served a function similar to the Dukedom of York in Scotland. The dukedom was created in 1398 for Robert Stewart, brother of King Robert III. It was at the time the only dukedom other than the Dukedom of Rothesay. It was created thrice more in Scotland: twice for the second son of a Sovereign, and once for a brother of a Sovereign. It was last created in 1881 for the fourth son of Victoria; the dukedom was then suspended under the Titles Deprivation Act after its holder fought on the side of Germany during World War I.

There are several other dukedoms that have been used for members of the Royal Family. Clarence was first used as a dukedom in 1362, most of the time being granted to the third son of the Sovereign. Among the dukedoms granted to still younger sons of the Sovereign are Aumale, Cambridge, Connaught, Cumberland, Edinburgh, Gloucester, Kent and Sussex. Some of those dukedoms were used for younger brothers, nephews and other kinsmen of Sovereigns. The dukedom of Windsor was also a Royal dukedom, being granted to Edward VIII after he abdicated so that he could marry against the tenets of the Church of England.

Often, sons of the Sovereign were granted titles associated with England and Scotland, later with Ireland, and most recently with Wales. Thus, the Dukedom of Strathearn (named after a place in Scotland) has been held with the Dukedoms of Connaught (named after an Irish province), Kent and Cumberland (both named after English places). This pattern continues in the present Royal Family. The current Duke of York, for example, is also Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh; the subsidiary titles are associated with Scotland and Northern Ireland, respectively.

The convention of granting dukedoms to senior members of the Royal Family was broken most recently in 1999, when The Prince Edward was created Earl of Wessex. The Earldom of Wessex had not been created earlier by an English or British Sovereign since 1066. It has been suggested that the Dukedom of Edinburgh will eventually be granted to the Earl of Wessex. The current dukedom will descend to Charles, Prince of Wales, however, and not to the Earl of Wessex. When The Prince of Wales becomes Sovereign, or if he is already Sovereign when the dukedom passes to him, the dukedom will merge in the Crown and then only become available for a regrant.

The highest peerage dignity belonging to a Prince may be used as a part of the title of that Prince's children. Thus, the sons of The Prince of Wales are Prince William of Wales and Prince Henry of Wales; the daughters of the Duke of York are Princess Beatrice of York and Princess Eugenie of York; the daughter of the Earl of Wessex is Princess Louise of Wessex. (In the last case, the Princess is normally referred to as Lady Louise Windsor at the wishes of her parents, but officially remains a Princess.)

Sovereigns, especially Charles II, have sometimes granted peerage dignities to illegitimate children. James Scott became Duke of Monmouth in 1663. Many more creations, mostly earldoms, followed in the 1670s: Charles FitzCharles became Earl of Plymouth, Charles FitzRoy Duke of Southampton, Henry FitzRoy Earl of Euston, George FitzRoy Earl of Northumberland, Charles Beauclerk Earl of Burford and Charles Lennox Duke of Richmond and Lennox. Many of the earls who were sons of Charles later became Dukes. Of the current Dukes, four are male-line descendants of Charles in the illegitimate line: the Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Gordon, the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, the Duke of Grafton and the Duke of St Albans.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Royal website Fact Files

[edit] Additional reading

  • Burke’s Guide to the Royal Family. Burke’s Peerage, 1973.
  • Cannon, John Ashton. The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy. Oxford University Press, 1988.
  • Churchill, Randolph S. They Serve the Queen: A New and Authoritative Account of the Royal Household. (“Prepared for Coronation Year”) Hutchinson, 1953.
  • Fraser, Antonia (ed). The Lives of the Kings & Queens of England. Revised & updated edition. University of California Press, 1998.
  • Hayden, Ilse. Symbol and Privilege: The Ritual Context of British Royalty. University of Arizona Press, 1987.
  • Longford, Elizabeth Harman (Countess of Longford). The Royal House of Windsor. Revised edition. Crown, 1984.
  • Weir, Alison. Britain’s Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. Pimlico/Random House, 2002.

[edit] Royal Family (1969 documentary)

  • Royal Family (1969) is a celebrated and reverential BBC documentray made by Richard Cawston to accompany the investiture of the current Prince of Wales. The documentary is frequently held responsible for the greater press intrusion into the Royal Family's private life since its first broadcast.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../b/r/i/British_Royal_Family_853c.html"