Will Kate Middleton Become Queen When Prince William Is Crowned King?
Sometime in the hopefully-not-too-near-future because long live the Queen, Prince Charles will be crowned King of England. And then even further into the future, the crown will pass on to Prince William, aka this literal daddy:
So, what will Kate Middleton's title be once her husband owns the throne? She'll become Queen-with a catch.
Kate Will Become Queen Consort, Which Is Its Own ~Thing~
Okay, so basically there are two types of Queens in England: Queen regnant and Queen consort. And Kate will be a Queen consort for one simple reason: the title of Queen regnant is reserved for women who become monarchs by birthright (like Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth), while Queen consort is used for women married to male monarchs. See? Easy!
So, Will Kate Have a Coronation?
Yup! The royal family's website states as much, saying "unless decided otherwise, a Queen consort is crowned with the King, in a similar but simpler ceremony."
Wait, So Why Isn't Philip *King* Consort?
Because royal rules are weird and that simply isn't a thing! As Reader's Digest notes, a "husband is not eligible to take the male form of his wife's title," possibly because the title "King" always out-ranks "Queen" (thanks, sexism!), and the royals can't have Prince Philip out-ranking Elizabeth. However, to elevate his title slightly above Duke, Elizabeth did her husband a solid and bestowed the title of Prince upon him in 1957.
Double Wait, Will Camilla Be Queen Consort Too?
Errrr, maybe. As we've discussed, the King's wife is typically named Queen consort-but things are complicated with Charles and Camilla given the fact that she's his second wife and not the most well-loved person in England due to Diana drama. In fact, Clarence House put out a statement after Charles and Camilla's wedding in 2005, confirming that Camilla would go by "Princess Consort" after he became King. Behold:
It is intended that Mrs Parker Bowles should use the title HRH The Princess Consort when The Prince of Wales accedes to The Throne.
The thing is, Clarence House deleted this statement from its official website in 2018, causing everyone to fly into hysterics about Camilla becoming Queen. Either way, Kate is almost 100 percent destined for an upgrade, so get used to calling her Queen Catherine.
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