May 4, 2011 -- 11:41AM, Ebon wrote:

May 3, 2011 -- 10:12PM, IDBC wrote:

What I am curious about is wether there will be a King William and Queen Catherine and why Prince Phillip the husband of Queen Elizabeth isn't King Phillip. 

Essentially, it's down to the archaic nature of the Acts of Succession. Because Phillip is a naturalised citizen (he's Greek by birth), he cannot ascend the throne so he can't have the title of "King".

Since Kate is a British citizen by birth and they married before he took the throne, she will become Queen Catherine in due course.

If Philip were a British citizen by birth, he would then be king?

Would he then outrank the queen?

May 4, 2011 -- 3:42PM, MMarcoe wrote:

If Philip were a British citizen by birth, he would then be king?

Would he then outrank the queen?

As I understand the (incredibly complicated) Acts of Succession, he'd still be Royal Consort. From what I can tell, a King does outrank a Queen. So the wife of a King gets to be a Queen but the husband of a Queen doesn't get to be a King unless they are also part of the Order of Succession (which is theoretically possible due to the very extended nature of the family).

Yes, it's sexist and very confusing, it's about seven hundred years old.