Talk:Mary Archer

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Mary Archer is not a "Baroness", you are only a Baroness if you are created a life peer. Mary Archer is married to a Peer, and thus takes the title "Lady" as a courtesy title. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by LukeLockwood (talk • contribs) 14:21, 2006 April 11 (UTC).

This article has just been moved to fix the title. -- PFHLai 16:44, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Rubbish. Proteus (Talk) 18:35, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Really ? According to Peerage#Styles and titles, "the wife of a Baron is officially titled Lady, while a woman holding that rank in her own right (usually a life peeress) is officially titled Baroness but is also commonly referred to in speech as Lady." Which one applies to Mary Archer ? Or, is the Peerage page wrong ? And, do we really need the peerage title in the article title ? -- PFHLai 19:15, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

If the article says that, it's wrong. There's a huge difference between conventional usage and the legal form of a title — Barons are always referred to as "Lord So-and-So" as well, but we put their articles at John Smith, Baron So-and-So, because that's the correct full form. Legally, there's no difference between the titles of a Baroness in her own right and the wife of a Baron: they're both "The Right Honourable Mary Jane, Baroness Something-or-Other". Proteus (Talk) 14:22, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

Debretts Correct Form or Burke's Peerage are the one's you want to look this up. The wife of a baron is titled Lady but NOT Baroness. A female life peer can only be a baroness. As Mary Archer is not a peer, she is only a Lady out of her marriage to her husband. If she were to become divorced she would lose that title, theoretically. It is worth noting that the children and wife of a peer are still commoners, it is only when the male dies that the eldest son then ceases to become a commoner and then a peer. Also wives of Knights are able to call themselves "lady". LukeLockwood

You obviously haven't actually read the Debrett's work you cite, because it says no such thing. Proteus (Talk) 14:22, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

You can only be Rt. Hon. if you are a member of the privy council, the wife of a peer would not be made one. You have to have sat in either house of parliament to be one.

I'm sorry, but that's rubbish. Proteus (Talk) 16:40, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Common Usage

I notice that this article is the only one which does not distinguish between the wife of a peer and a Baroness in her own right. Isn't this rather confusing? When I saw the article, I thought Mary Archer had been given a peerage, which she hasn't. Surely it could be corrected.

Other similar persons' entries (e.g. Audrey Callaghan) are clearer.

I also notice that the poster repeatedly correcting it has supplied no source, yet others have supplied a source for suggesting that the article should be renamed. Yet it is the unsupported, confusing version that remains. How odd. --Stevouk 11:25, 20 February 2007 (UTC)