by Alex David
40 Lady Helen Taylor (b. 1964), daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
41 Columbus Taylor (b. 1994), elder son of Lady Helen Taylor
42 Cassius Taylor (b. 1996), younger son of Lady Helen Taylor
43 Eloise Taylor (b. 2003), elder daughter of Lady Helen Taylor
44 Estella Taylor (b. 2004), younger daughter of Lady Helen Taylor
The family of Prince Michael of Kent, grandson of King George V
45 Prince Michael of Kent (b. 1942), grandson of King George V
46 Lord Frederick Windsor (b. 1979), son of Prince Michael of Kent
47 Maud Windsor (b. 2013), elder daughter of Lord Frederick Windsor
48 Isabella Windsor (b. 2016), younger daughter of Lord Frederick Windsor
418
49 Lady Gabriella Windsor (b. 1981), daughter of Prince Michael of Kent
From the family of Princess Alexandra of Kent, granddaughter of King George V
50 Princess Alexandra, Lady Ogilvy (b. 1936), granddaughter of King George V
419
The Current Royal Family
There is no formal definition in the United Kingdom of what constitutes membership of the Royal Family,
however two general distinctions usually apply:
Official Members of the Royal Family, related to the Monarch either by blood or by marriage, bear HRH
(His/Her Royal Highness) titles, and carry official engagements on behalf of the Monarch (except
minors).
Unofficial Members of the Royal Family are closely related to the Monarch either by blood or by
marriage, but bear no HRH titles and usually carry no official engagements on behalf of the monarch,
leading instead private lives.
(see Royal Family Titles in the ‘Ceremony and Constitution’ section for more information on how HRH
titles are passed down the Royal Family).
As of May 2019, the current Royal Family of the United Kingdom includes the following members:
420
The Monarch
HM Elizabeth II, The Queen
(b.1926)
Official Members
(bearing HRH titles and carrying official
engagements on behalf of the Queen, except
minors)
HRH Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh
the Queen’s husband (b.1921)
HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales
the Queen’s firstborn son and heir to the throne (b.1948)
HRH Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall
the Prince of Wales’ wife (b.1947)
HRH Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge
the Prince of Wales’ firstborn son (b.1982)
HRH Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge
the Duke of Cambridge’s wife (b.1982)
HRH Prince George of Cambridge
the Duke of Cambridge’s first son (b.2013)
421
HRH Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
the Duke of Cambridge’s daughter (b.2015)
HRH Prince Louis of Cambridge
the Duke of Cambridge’s second son (b.2018)
HRH Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex
the Prince of Wales’ second son (b.1984)
HRH Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex
the Duke of Sussex’s wife (b.1981)
Archie Mountbatten-Windsor
the Duke of Sussex’s son (b.2019)
HRH Princess Anne, the Princess Royal
the Queen’s daughter (b.1950)
HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York
the Queen’s second son (b.1960)
HRH Princess Beatrice of York
the Duke of York’s firstborn daughter (b.1988)
HRH Princess Eugenie of York
the Duke of York’s second daughter (b.1990)
HRH Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex
the Queen’s third son (b.1964)
422
HRH Sophie the Countess of Wessex
the Earl of Wessex’s wife (b.1965)
Lady Louise Windsor
the Earl of Wessex’s daughter (b.2003)
James, Viscount Severn
the Earl’s Wessex’s son (b.2007)
HRH Prince Richard, the Duke Gloucester
the Queen’s first cousin, grandson of King George V
(b.1944)
HRH Birgitte, the Duchess of Gloucester
the Duke of Gloucester’s wife (b.1946)
HRH Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent
the Queen’s first cousin, grandson of King George V
(b.1935)
HRH Katharine, the Duchess of Kent
the Duke of Kent’s wife (b.1933)
HRH Princess Alexandra of Kent
The Queen’s first cousin, granddaughter of King George V
(b.1936)
423
HRH Prince Michael of Kent
the Queen’s first cousin, grandson of King George V
(b.1942)
HRH Marie Christine, Princess Michael of Kent
Prince Michael of Kent’s wife (b.1945)
Unofficial Members:
(often present at major public royal occasions, but
not carrying official engagements on behalf of the
Queen, and leading instead private lives)
Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence (b.1955), Princess Anne's second and current husband
The family of Mr Peter Phillips (b.1977), son of Princess Anne by her former husband Captain Mark Phillips
The family of Mrs Zara Tindall (b.1981), daughter of Princess Anne by her former husband Captain Mark
Phillips
Mr Jack Brooksbank (b.1986), Princess Eugenie’s husband.
424
The family of David Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon (b.1961), the Queen’s nephew, son of the late Princess Margaret
The family of Lady Sarah Chatto (b.1964), the Queen’s niece, daughter of the late Princess Margaret
The children and grandchildren of HRH Prince Richard, the Duke of Gloucester
The children and grandchildren of HRH Prince Edward, the Duke of Kent
The children and grandchildren of HRH Princess
Alexandra of Kent
The children and grandchildren of HRH Prince Michael of Kent
Additional Unofficial Members:
(not attending public royal occasions but
sometimes present at private family events)
Sarah, Duchess of York (b.1959), former wife of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and mother of HRH Princess Beatrice and HRH Princess Eugenie
Captain Mark Phillips (b.1948), former husband of Princess Anne and father of Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall 425
Ceremony
and Constitution
426
Royal Family Titles
Royal titles in the United Kingdom are both regulated by law and governed by tradition. In the case of the
monarch, official titles are bestowed by Parliament according to tradition, and by other bodies national and local (see examples below). Royal titles for other
members of the Royal Family are either bestowed by the monarch in the form of Letters Patent, or automatically granted in specific situations according to law or
tradition. Listed below is a list and brief explanations of these titles.
The Monarch’s Titles
The monarch’s principal title as used in the United Kingdom is as follows (adjusted for the gender of the monarch):
His/Her Majesty, ( name), by the Grace of God King/Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of His/Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth,
Defender of the Faith.
427
A modified form of this title is used in each of the other Commonwealth Realms of which the British monarch is Head of State, often excluding Defender of the Faith. The title Head of the Commonwealth was first used by George VI in 1949. The
title Defender of the Faith was first used by Henry VIII in 1521.
Other Titles held automatically by the monarch include the following:
Supreme Governor of the Church of England
Title held since 1563 (see The Monarchy and the Church).
Duke of Normandy
Title held since 1066 when William the Conqueror
acceded to the English throne. Although English
monarchs lost possession of Normandy in 1204, the
British monarch is still known informally as Duke of Normandy in the Channel Islands as the territory
represents the last remnant of that dukedom still under the British crown. The title is used in the masculine form (in French, ‘Duc’) regardless of the gender of the
monarch.
Duke of Lancaster
Title held since 1399 when Henry IV acceded to the
throne, as he had been previously Duke of Lancaster. The title and dukedom were merged into the crown in 1413
428
at the accession of his son Henry V and have been held by every monarch since. It is used today for the Duchy of Lancaster, and is used in the masculine form regardless of the gender of the monarch.
Lord of Mann
Title held since 1765 after the Isle of Man came under the possession of the British Crown in George III’s reign. The title is still used in the Isle of Man and is used in the masculine form regardless of the gender of the monarch.
In addition to the titles above, Queen Elizabeth II also holds the titles of Duchess of Edinburgh, Countess of Marioneth, and Baroness Greenwich, in virtue of the titles held by her husband Prince Philip.
HM and HRH
Kings, Queens Regnant and Queen Consorts (including Queen Dowagers and Queen Mothers) carry the titles of His/Her Majesty, shortened to HM. All other persons who are official members of the Royal Family carry, at the pleasure of the monarch, the title of His/Her Royal Highness, shortened to HRH.
429
Prince and Princess
Formal titles of Prince and Princess for members of the Royal Family only became customary in Great Britain after the accession of the German Hanoverian dynasty in 1714. The titles are currently regulated by Letters Patent issued by King George V in 1917. According to those Letters Patent, the titles of Prince and Princess of the United Kingdom—styled Prince/Princess ( Name)—can only be borne by children of a monarch, by the
grandchildren of a monarch in the male line, and by the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales.
Shortly before the birth of Prince William’s first child in 2013, Queen Elizabeth II issued an additional Letter Patent establishing that all the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales can bear the title of Prince or Princess, regardless of number or gender. The title of Prince or Princess is however not compulsory: for
example the children of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, though entitled, are not, in accordance to their parents’
wishes, called Prince and Princess.
When a Prince marries, the legal status of Princess is, according to English law, transferred to his wife, but she does not become Princess in her own right—i.e. ‘Princess ( Name)’—as that particular style is meant to be borne only by those of blood royal as mentioned above. The spouse of a Prince of the United Kingdom must style 430
herself after the husband’s own title and be known, for example, as ‘Princess Michael of Kent’ (wife of Prince Michael of Kent), as opposed to Princess Marie Christine of Kent (i.e. using her own name). Alternatively, spouses of a Prince can be known by any other title the Prince holds, for example as ‘Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge’
(wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge). No spouse of a Prince of the United Kingdom can style herself as
‘Princess ( Name)’, unless she already bore that title before marriage, as for example was the case for Princess Marina, wife of Prince George, Duke of Kent, who was a Princess of Greece from birth. The monarch can however alter these rules and grant in certain cases the use of the title and style of ‘Princess ( Name)’ to certain spouses in special circumstances. One such case happened in 1974
when Alice, Dowager Duchess of Gloucester, widow of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, became known, by the Queen’s permission, as ‘Princess Alice, Duchess of
Gloucester’.
Prince of Wales
The title of Prince of Wales was created by Edward I in 1301. The title is given to the heir apparent to the Crown—that is, the person who cannot be displaced in the line of succession by any future births. The title is not automatic and must be bestowed by the monarch, which means that some time may elapse between an heir
431
apparent’s birth and the time he becomes Prince of
Wales. For example, the current heir to the throne, Prince Charles, only became Prince of Wales at the age of 9 in 1958. If the Prince of Wales dies before the monarch, the title merges back into the Crown and can be
bestowed again to the next heir apparent. Similarly, the title merges back into the Crown when a Prince of Wales becomes King, to be bestowed later on the subsequent heir apparent. Traditionally, female heirs apparent have never been officially created Princesses of Wales in their own right, though this may happen in the future
following the adoption of equal primogeniture through the Succession to the Crown Act of 2013. The title of Earl of Chester has been automatically granted together with the title of Prince of Wales since 1343.
The title of Duke of Cornwall is often borne together with the title of Prince of Wales but it is a separate title in the Peerage of England. The title was created in 1337 by Edward III for his eldest son, Edward the Black Prince.
Differently from the title of Prince of Wales, the title of Duke of Cornwall is automatically inherited by the
monarch’s eldest living son, either on his father’s accession or at birth. Only the eldest son of a monarch however, and no one else, can bear the title. That means for example that if the Prince of Wales or heir apparent to the throne is the grandson, brother, or nephew of the monarch, he cannot be Duke of Cornwall also, and the title is withheld. Female heirs apparent have so far also 432
been excluded from bearing the title though this may change following the adoption of equal primogeniture through the Succession to the Crown Act of 2013. The title comes with its own estate of the Duchy of Cornwall, whose revenues usually fund the Prince of Wales’
expenses and activities.
In Scotland, the Prince of Wales is known by the title of Duke of Rothesay, as well as Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Stewart of Scotland. These are the titles traditionally borne by the heir to the throne of Scotland, and were joined to the title of Prince of Wales after the crowns of England and Scotland were united in 1603. Like the title of Duke of Cornwall in England, these Scottish titles are
automatically borne by the eldest living son of the monarch, and cannot be borne by anyone else.
Royal Duke
Royal Dukedoms are titles in the English and British Peerage that are generally reserved for male members of the Royal Family. They are given to the sons and male-line grandsons of a monarch, usually on reaching
adulthood or upon marriage, and occasionally also to Prince Consorts. They are not automatic and must be bestowed by the monarch by Letters Patent like any
other Peerage title. Titles can be inherited by subsequent 433
male heirs, but they cease to be Royal Dukedoms once they are borne by persons who are no longer official members of the Royal Family (i.e. non-HRH). Once a title becomes extinct in the male line, it merges back into the Crown and can be recreated at a later time. Royal
Dukedoms normally include the following titles:
* Currently in use as of May 2018
*Duke of York (usually reserved for the second son of the monarch)
+ Duke of Albany
*Duke of Cambridge
Duke of Cl
arence
+ Duke of Cumberland
*Duke of Edinburgh
*Duke of Gloucester
*Duke of Kent
*Duke of Sussex
+ The titles of Duke of Albany and Duke of Cumberland have been suspended since 1917 when their German
owners, descendants of children of King George III and Queen Victoria, were stripped of their titles for
supporting German forces during the First World War. As of 2018 the titles remain suspended.
434
Princess Royal
The title of Princess Royal is a French royal title that was introduced to England by Queen Henrietta Maria,
daughter of King Henri IV of France, after her marriage to King Charles I in 1625. The title is reserved for the firstborn daughter of the monarch and is borne
