Posted by Prince William and Catherine will also see their titles change to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Cornwall
King Charles III: The history behind the regnal name
Britain’s new King has officially chosen the regnal name of Charles III. It means he takes on a name that carries with it difficult historical baggage.
Indeed, the King is believed to have strongly considered choosing the name George VII, after his grandfather, in part because of the contentious legacies of Charles I and II.
Charles I, who reigned from 1625 to 1649, is one of Britain’s most notorious monarchs. Recent revisionist histories have sought to soften his image as an authoritarian leader intent on undermining Parliament. Yet there is little escaping the fact that his reign triggered the English Civil War and ended in his trial for treason and his beheading.
During his rule, the three kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were riven with religious strife, while Charles himself insisted on his divine right to rule regardless of Parliament. That, combined with Charles’s marriage to a French Catholic and his suspected Catholic leanings, upset his parliamentarians who would eventually rebel and sign his death warrant.
Charles II was invited to restore the monarchy in 1660 after 11 years of the Commonwealth and pursued political and religious tolerance. Nevertheless, like his father before him, he had Catholic leanings which sat ill with his deeply Protestant subjects. He fell out with Parliament, dissolving it in 1681 and ruled without it until his death four years later.
His son, James II, would be overthrown in 1688 due in large part to his Catholicism. It was then that the ultimate sovereignty of Parliament was assured once and for all.
Prince William and Catherine title change
Upon the Queen’s death, the Duke of Cambridge – also known as Prince William – became the Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge. As Charles’s eldest son, he has inherited the dukedom, and will now oversee the estate of the Duchy of Cornwall.
His wife Catherine will be known as the Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge.
They will at some stage be known as the Prince and Princess of Wales, but this is not automatic.
Prince William needs to be created so by his father, in a formality expected to happen in the near future. As the 25th Duke of Cornwall, William is entitled to the multimillion-pound annual net surplus from the Duchy of Cornwall landed estate. The income will cover the cost of both his public and private life, and that of his family.
He has also inherited the Scottish titles the Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.
The new Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge will one day be known as the Princess of Wales, the first person to use the title since her late mother-in-law Diana, Princess of Wales.
While Camilla, who is now Queen Consort, officially held the title, she did not use it out of respect for public sentiment.
Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis are now the Princes and Princess of Cornwall and Cambridge. They will eventually become “of Wales”.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor is now technically a prince due to rules set out by King George V in 1917.
When Archie was born he was too far down the line of succession for such a title according to George V’s restrictions, but now, as the son of a son of a sovereign, he can be an HRH and a prince.
Archie was allowed to become Earl of Dumbarton – one of the duke’s subsidiary titles – when he was born, or could have been known as Lord Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, but Buckingham Palace said his parents had decided he should be known as Master Archie instead.
Similarly, Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor is now a princess, and would be HRH Princess Lilibet of Sussex if she chose to use a title.
A question remains over the future title of Prince Edward, the current Earl of Wessex. On his wedding day, it was announced that he would one day be made the Duke of Edinburgh after the death of his father.
The decision now rests with the new King. Recent news reports have suggested he does not intend to confer it on his younger brother, keeping it instead for a grandchild higher in the line of succession.