British Princes - History

History

Prior to 1714, the title of prince and the style of HRH was not customary in usage. Sons and daughters of the sovereign were not automatically or traditionally called a prince or princess. An exception was the Prince of Wales, a title conferred on the eldest son of the sovereign since the reign of Edward I of England. While in the Kingdom of Scotland, even though an honorific principality was created by James I, the heir-apparent was only referred to as Duke of Rothesay. Some others include John, brother of Richard the Lionheart and later King John, who is sometimes called Prince John.

After the accession of George I, it became customary for the sons of the sovereign and grandsons of the sovereign in the male line to be titled Prince and styled His Royal Highness (abbreviated HRH). Great-grandsons of the sovereign were princes styled His Highness (abbreviated HH).

• The first male line great grandchild of a British sovereign was not born until 1776. In keeping with tradition he was given the style of His Highness Prince William of Gloucester (later Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh). On 22 July 1816 when he married his cousin and daughter of King George III, he was granted the style His Royal Highness. His only surviving elder sister, Princess Sophia of Gloucester, was also elevated to Her Royal Highness style the following day. Prince William died in 1834 before the accession of Queen Victoria.
• The first of the second set of male line great grandchildren of a British sovereign was born on 21 September 1845 as Prince Ernest Augustus. He was granted the style of His Royal Highness because he was a male line grandson of the King of Hanover, and heir to the heir of that kingdom. He was also born a Prince of the United Kingdom but the question of using HH for his British title and HRH for his Hanoverian title was not an issue.

Just three weeks after the birth of her 4th grandchild but first male line grandson, Queen Victoria issued letters patent in 1864 which confirmed in law the practice of calling children and male-line grandchildren His Royal Highness with their titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names. The letters patent did not address the styling of great grandchildren or further descendants as His/Her Highness or Prince or Princess. However, the only living male person of this type was Prince Ernest Augustus (age 19). Prince Ernest's Kingdom of Hanover was abolished in 1866, but he was made a Duke of the United Kingdom and a Knight of the Garter in 1878, a major general in the British army in 1886, a lieutenant general in 1892 and general in 1898. At no point until WWI was his status as a British prince, based on being a great grandson of the sovereign, questioned.

Subsequent to 1864 some amendments regarding princes were made, with the issuance of specific letters patent changing the title and style of the following groups:

• In 1898, the children of Prince George, Duke of York, the eldest living son of The Prince of Wales, were customarily titled princes, with the style of Highness, as great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria in the male line. With letters patent dated 28 May 1898, the Crown granted the children of the eldest son of any Prince of Wales the style of Royal Highness.

• In 1914, the children of Prince Ernst August III of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick, a great-great-grandchild of George III, were granted the title of prince and the style Highness by George V, in letters patent dated 17 June 1914.

• In 1917, George V issued a royal proclamation, altering the name of the Royal House from the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to the House of Windsor. Later that year, new letters patent altered the rights to the title prince and the style Royal Highness. These second letters patent, dated 30 November 1917, stated that "the children of any Sovereign of these Realms and the children of the sons of any such Sovereign (as per the above Letters Patent of 1864) and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (a modification of the Letters Patent of 1898) shall 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". It was also decreed in these letters that "grandchildren of the sons of any such Sovereign in the direct male line ... shall have and enjoy in all occasions the style and title enjoyed by the children of Dukes of these Our Realms" (i.e., Lord or Lady before their Christian name). In addition the letters stated save as aforesaid the style title or attribute of Royal Highness, Highness or Serene Highness and the titular dignity of Prince or Princess shall not henceforth be assumed or borne by any descendent of any Sovereign of these Realms. With this clause, King George V attempted to remove the ambiguity from the earlier letters patent of 1864, and all British princes or princesses who were further than grandchild of a monarch lost their right to be called prince or princess. The total royals affected were 7 princes and 7 blood line princesses, and 3 spouses who had assumed the style of princess through their marriage.

• Both the proclamation and the letters patent of 1917 remain in force today, excepting a few amendments and creations noted.

• However, the former reigning Duke of Brunswick, head of the House of Hanover, refused to recognize the letters depriving his children of the British and Irish princely titles, and in 1931, he issued a decree, in the capacity of the head of the House of Hanover and senior male-line descendant of George III of the United Kingdom, stating that the members of the former Hanoverian royal family would continue to bear the title of Prince (or Princess) of Great Britain and Ireland with the style of Royal Highness. This title and style remains in use to this day by his descendants, including the current head of the House of Hanover, Ernst August, Prince of Hanover. The decree by the head of the House of Hanover is not legally recognized in the United Kingdom or Ireland, and the titles are used as titles of pretense. Since, however, the Hanovers are born in the male-line of George II of Great Britain they are bound by the Royal Marriages Act 1772. Thus, before his marriage to Princess Caroline of Monaco Ernst August requested, and Queen Elizabeth II issued, on 11 January 1999, an Order in Council: "My Lords, I do hereby declare My Consent to a Contract of Matrimony between His Royal Highness Prince Ernst August Albert of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg and Her Serene Highness Princess Caroline Louise Marguerite of Monaco..." Without the Royal Assent, the marriage would have been void in the United Kingdom. The British court has, unsuccessfully, tried to convince the former Hanoverian royal family to stop using the British princely title.

• After the abdication crisis of 1936, George VI issued letters patent (dated 27 May 1937) regranting Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor his style as son of a Sovereign, whilst expressly denying the style of Royal Highness to his wife and descendants. The marriage, however, had no issue.

• On 22 October 1948, George VI issued letters patent allowing the children of his son-in-law and daughter, Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, to assume princely titles and the style Royal Highness; they would not have been entitled to them ordinarily, as grandchildren in the female line, until their mother ascended the throne as Elizabeth II. Thus the current Prince of Wales was styled HRH Prince Charles of Edinburgh until his mother's accession. Otherwise the children would have been styled Charles Mountbatten, Earl of Merioneth, and The Lady Anne Mountbatten, respectively.

• Elizabeth II issued letters patent, dated 22 February 1957, creating Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Prince Philip had been born a Prince of Greece and Denmark, titles he renounced upon becoming a British subject.

• On the wedding day of The Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones, it was announced by Buckingham Palace that it was the will of the Queen (and the wish of the Earl and Countess of Wessex) that their children would be styled as children of an earl, and not as Princes of the United Kingdom with the style Royal Highness. The children of the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Lady Louise Windsor and Viscount Severn, may, theoretically, be prince and princess, and it is oft asserted that they may be styled as such when they reach majority.

• On 31 December 2012, Elizabeth II declared that all the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, at that time Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, would have the title Prince or Princess and the style Royal Highness (a modification of the Letters Patent of 1917).