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Kate Middleton Ain’t Actually a Princess Yet! How to Explain This to Your Princess-Loving Little Girls
Is Kate Middleton a Princess Now?
Little girls (and even some big girls) were pretty excited to witness the fairy tale royal wedding between Kate Middleton and Prince William. Many thought they were witnessing not just the act of matrimony but the transformation of a commoner to the exalted level of princess. But Kate Middleton ain’t a princess yet! Why not and how do you explain this to your royal watching girls at home?
As part of the wedding day, Queen Elizabeth gave Prince William and Kate Middleton the brand spanking new titles of Duke of Cambridge, and Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge. Kate was also bestowed with the additional titles of Countess of Strathearn and Baroness Carrickfergus. So she’ll be a Duchess, a Baroness and a Countess. But a Princess? Not so much. She won’t become a real live Princess until Prince Charles – her father-in-law- becomes King. The Queen reportedly actually had the power to bestow the title of Princess onto Kate, but she stuck with tradition and didn’t give that big of a title gift.
But odds are, most, especially here in the states, we’ll just call her Princess. It’s way easier than calling Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn and Baroness Carrickfergus.
Were you under the impression Kate Middleton was becoming a Princess today?
How did Will and Kate not follow tradition at their Royal Wedding?
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2 Comments
Robyn commented on May 01 11 at 11:46 pmI assure you that Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge is very much a real-life princess. She wouldn’t get to be called Her Royal Highness if she wasn’t. Prince William received a royal peerage upon his marriage, which separates him from non-royal dukes like His Grace the Duke of Devonshire (note the change in style; other royal peerages include Their Royal Highnesses The Dukes of Edinburgh, York, and Cornwall and the Earl of Wessex). In fact, if your claim that Catherine isn’t a official princess yet is true, then that would mean that Prince William was actually demoted upon his marriage!
As the wife of a Prince of the United Kingdom, Catherine automatically became a Princess as well (HRH Princess William of Wales, to be exact), but “HRH Princess William of Wales, Duchess of Cambridge” is a mouthful, so she is simply styled HRH The Duchess of Cambridge.
Jacqueline commented on Nov 15 11 at 8:10 pmRobyn she meant that she wasn’t a princess at this point because they were not married at this point.
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