| Part ofa series on |
| Imperial, royal, noble, gentry and chivalric ranks in Europe |
|---|
.svg) |
Aprince consort is the husband of amonarch who is not a monarch in his own right. In recognition of his status, a prince consort may be given a formal title, such asprince. Most monarchies do not allow the husband of aqueen regnant to be titled as a king because it is perceived as a higher title than queen. However, some monarchies use the title ofking consort for the role.
In the United Kingdom, the titlePrince Consort is unique toPrince Albert, although the term applies as a description to other British princes consort. The title was awarded to him in 1857 by his wife,Queen Victoria. Before Prince Albert, there had only been five English, Scottish or British male consorts, being the husbands ofMary I of England,Queen Anne, andMary, Queen of Scots, the last of whom was married three times during her long reign. The remaining queens regnant before Victoria sidestepped the question of the proper title for a male consort,Elizabeth I having never married, andMary II's husbandWilliam III having been explicitly made king in his own right.[1]
The titles of the five pre-Victorian male consorts varied widely.Philip of Spain, the husband of Mary I of England, was declared kingjure uxoris and given powers equal to his wife while she reigned, but Queen Anne's husbandPrince George of Denmark received no British titles other than the Dukedom of Cumberland (his princely title being Danish). Meanwhile, the titles of the three husbands ofMary, Queen of Scots, was never fully resolved. At least one (Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley), was declared king consort, and both he and his predecessorFrancis II of France sought recognition as kingjure uxoris (under a proffered theory of the "Crown Matrimonial of Scotland"), but the title and powers of the consort were a constant issue during Mary's reign and remained unresolved when Mary was captured and executed.[2][3]
The only male consort since Prince Albert's death,Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort ofElizabeth II, was made apeer of the United Kingdom in advance of his marriage to then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947. After Elizabeth's accession in 1952, there was debate in royal circles and among senior politicians (both in Britain and in otherCommonwealth Realms, particularlyCanada) about her husband's proper title. Some leaders, including the prime minister of the day,Winston Churchill, suggested reviving Prince Albert's title ofPrince Consort. Others put forward other styles, including "Prince of the Realm" and "Prince of the Commonwealth" (the latter of which was suggested byJohn Diefenbaker, at the time a member of the Canadian Opposition front bench). In 1957, Elizabeth created Philip aprince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the same title borne by sons of the sovereign.[4][5]
The distinction between the positions of prince consort and king is important in the British patriarchal hierarchical system. Within this hierarchy, the king holds a higher position in the British social hierarchy than any other, and so more power is attributed to him. When the monarch is female, such asQueen Victoria, who ascended to the throne in 1837, power is attributed to the queen, for she holds the highest position in the absence of a king.[6] Unlike a queen consort, a prince consort is not crowned and anointed alongside his wife at her coronation.[7]
Jacques I became the prince consort ofMonaco in 1731 after his wife,Louise Hippolyte, became the sovereign princess.[8]
In 2005,Prince Henrik, the husband ofMargrethe II of Denmark, was awarded the title. He had requested the title of "king consort" and style ofHis Majesty but was denied.[9] In 2016, he announced that upon his retirement, he would revert to the title of prince that he had received upon their marriage in 1967.[10][11]
Aking consort oremperor consort is a rarely used title to describe the husband of aqueen regnant. Examples include:
Kingdom of Naples:
Netherlands:
Đại Việt:
Denmark:
Luxembourg:
Māori King Movement:
Majapahit:
Merina Kingdom:
Monaco:
Bhopal State:
Sweden:
Kingdom of Scotland:
Spain:
Silla:
Kingdom of Aragon:
Ecatepec:
Ethiopian Empire:
United Kingdom:
Kingdom of England:
Kingdom of Georgia:
Duchy of Parma:
Portugal:
Kingdom of Pontus:
Ptolemaic Kingdom:
Kingdom of Tahiti:
Tonga:
Hawaiian Kingdom:
Kingdom of Rarotonga:
Travancore
Kingdom of the Maldives
