A royal consort is the spouse of a reigning king or queen. Consorts of British monarchs have no constitutional status or power but many have had significant influence, and support the sovereign in his or her duties.[1] There have been 11 royal consorts since Britain's union of the crowns in 1707, eight women and three men.
Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, is the longest-serving and oldest-ever consort, and served for nearly 70 years until his death in 2021. Since the accession of Charles III on 8 September 2022, his wife Camilla has held the position of queen consort.[2]
Since 1937, the sovereign's consort and the first four individuals in the line of succession who are over 21 may be appointed counsellors of state. Counsellors of state perform some of the sovereign's duties in the United Kingdom while the sovereign is out of the country or temporarily incapacitated.[9]
Styleedit
The wife of the reigning king is styled as "Her Majesty The Queen" during her husband's reign and "Her Majesty Queen [first name]" upon her husband's death. She is referred to as "Her Majesty" and addressed as "Your Majesty". Since her coronation in 2023, the current royal consort, Camilla, has also been styled as "Her Majesty The Queen" per tradition. She was initially styled as "Her Majesty The Queen Consort" to distinguish her from her then recently deceased mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II, who as a queen regnant was also styled as "Her Majesty The Queen".[10][11]
Male consortsedit
The husband of a reigning queen does not share the regal title and style of his wife, and the three husbands who have served as consort have held various titles.
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, husband of Queen Victoria, did not take a British peerage title but was granted the title of Prince Consort as a distinct title in 1857, the only male consort of the United Kingdom or its predecessor realms to have held the title. Victoria wished to style him as King Consort, but the government would not allow it.
Queens consort participate in the coronation ceremony, undertaking many of the same ceremonies as the monarch. Queens traditionally wear elaborate robes and walk in the procession under a canopy. They have also been anointed with holy oil and been crowned. Traditionally, male consorts are not crowned or anointed during the coronation ceremony.[12]
An unusual case was Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who had separated from her husband, George IV, before his accession, became queen consort by law but had no position at court and was forcibly barred from attending his coronation and being crowned.[13]
^Tudor and Stuart consorts : power, influence, and dynasty. Aidan Norrie. Cham, Switzerland. 2022. ISBN 978-3-030-95197-9. OCLC 1336986822.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link); Bogdanor, Vernon (1995). The monarchy and the constitution. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-152089-1. OCLC 344061919.; Queens & power in medieval and early modern England. Carole Levin, R. O. Bucholz. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. 2009. ISBN 978-0-8032-2278-6. OCLC 316765760.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^"Camilla, the new Queen Consort". BBC News. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
^"Monarch award, Consort category". Merry Christmas. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
^Kirsty.Oram (30 December 2015). "The Hanoverians". The Royal Family. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
^"Marie, Queen of Hanover. She was the wife of King George V of..." Getty Images. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
^Emma.Goodey (17 March 2016). "Succession". The Royal Family. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
^"Kingdom of Hannover". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
^"Why was Edward VIII still unmarried at 42 years old? At that time wasn't it customary for royal parents to arrange an engagement or urge ..." Quora. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
^"Counsellors of State". The Royal Family. Retrieved 13 June 2023.
^"The Queen". The Royal Family. 6 May 2023. Retrieved 13 May 2023.