Monday, March 21, 2005

Guardian Unlimited | Camilla to be queen - but not Queen Camilla

Just in case you need a little diversion, Stephen Bates, writing in the March 22, 2005, The Guardian online, says:

Just when they thought the legal tangles over Prince Charles's wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles on April 8 had been resolved, royal officials were last night confronted with the government's confirmation that she will indeed become queen when her husband succeeds to the throne.

A one word response in the decent obscurity of a Commons written answer gave ministers' official view that the marriage will not be morganatic - a union where the partner of the sovereign does not have royal status....
To change that, all the countries in the Commonwealth would have to pass legislation naming her not queen.

But, some say, now that they really, really take a hard look at the matter, to actually address someone as Queen So-and-so is not a matter of law but of tradition, so if she would prefer to be called princess consort, to spare feelings, well, then...

Charles has his staff busily assuring everyone that she doesn't intend to insist upon being called Queen Camilla.

Time will tell.

And for more British royal trivia:

Quick - which royal family member, born July 4, 1942, had Franklin D. Roosevelt as a godfather?

Answer: Prince Michael of Kent, christened Michael George Charles Franklin. And actually, FDR was only one of his godfathers.

Michael was eighth in line to the throne when he was born. He took himself out of contention when he married a Roman Catholic. His children, brought up in the Church of England, are still in the running, although far back.

Princess Michael (yes, she goes by Princess Michael) is an author, specializing in history books about royalty, with a special interest in mistresses. Hmmm....

Prince Michael maintains a website at http://www.princemichael.org.uk/index.html. He receives no taxpayer funding, so runs a consulting business, according to this site.

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