16 April 2011 Last updated at 09:33 GMT
Royal wedding: What do we call her?
By Nicholas Witchell Royal correspondent
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13099871
After the wedding to Prince William ’Kate Middleton becomes Her Royal Highness, Princess William of Wales and Princess Catherine. Some say: ‘with the wedding coming it is time to unfurl the banners and polish the escutcheons of the royals dukedoms’. This means Kate will become the Duchess of whatever. Only the Queen can give Kate the title of Princess of the United Kingdom. When in 1947 he Philip Mountbatten was married he kept his name only later he became Prince Philip because the Queen ‘accorded him the style and title of a Prince of the United Kingdom.
Opinion
This name business is a hot issue in the UK. The same discussion took place in the eighties when Lady Diana Spencer got married to Prince Charles. It makes me wonder what Kate would prefer. One can imagine she prefers to be called Princess over Duchess. ‘Ordinary girls becomes Princess’ sounds like a fairy tail, but when you read ‘Ordinary girl becomes Duchess, one is easily inclined to think: ‘poor girl’. There is nothing glamourous to it if you are called ‘Duchess of whatever’. Whereas you are called ‘Princes Kate’ of ‘Princess Catherine’ one will have associations with a youthful and sparkling life.
No comments:
Post a Comment