Can you clarify the complicated naming of British royal family titles?

It says that Elizabeth II is also the Princess of York, but why is her son the Prince of Wales? Also, how do they select who will be the next in line to the throne, and how is that related to titles such as of Scotland or of England. Also, can there be a Prince of Canada and can a King come from Canada, since the members of the British Royal Family are also the members of the Canadian Royal Family. How the heck does this commonwealth work?

Can you clarify the complicated naming of British royal family titles?
Ok. First of all, the Queen, and Prince Charles have tons of titles, because they come to them from the billions of ancestors.





Charles is the Prince of Wales because some 700 years ago or so, Britain decided in some concession to the Welsh, that the next in line for the throne, at the age of 18, receives the title of Prince of Wales. (Spain has a similar arrangement with Asturias). It gave Wales some sort of honor that they were happy with.





Next in line is the oldest son of the current monarch. Pretty simple, that's how most Royalty has worked for the last 1700 years or so. IF there is no son, then the title goes to the eldest daughter. If there is no one at all, they (parliament and the ministers) go back to the previous generation and work back. That is how the Scottish family got into it all. When the Tudor line died out, they went to Elizabeth's uncle or aunt, and came up with Mary Queen of Scots, who had been executed, so they then went to HER son, James Stuart, James VI of Scotland, who then became ALSO James I of England (Note how there are two titles from different parts of his family):





Since Canada is technically under British rule (don't ask, I don't understand enough about that one), and the British Royal Family is the Royal Family of Canada, then no. A Canadian probably will never rule Britain, because the royal family are all born in Britain, they only have the TITLE of Canadian Royal Family. Likewise, they are the royal family of Australia, New Zealand, and until recently, were also the royal family of Hong Kong, and not long ago, of India. Come on, Britain had colonies all over the world! The Royal Family, however, have always been seated in London, and mostly born there.





As for a Prince or King of Canada who is NOT from the British family? no. They are, again, one and the same.





Clear as mud? Thought so. It isn't really that complicated. It only looks that way.
Reply:How do you figure James of England became Elizabeth of York? Different people...different names. The Title of York (as in Andrew, Duke of York) belongs to the Queen. Email me for more details. Report Abuse

Reply:Queen Elizabeth II was formerly Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York. She was titled and styled as such due to her father, who was actually Prince Albert, Duke of York at the time of her birth. He was the second son of King George V, and his older brother Prince Edward was heir to the throne. Her uncle abdicated the crown without any issue, so therefore, the next in line to the throne was his brother, Prince Albert, which made Princess Elizabeth of York the "Heiress Presumptive."





Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the Heir Apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. The current Prince of Wales is Prince Charles, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. The previous holder of this title was King Edward VIII (Queen Elizabeth II's uncle). The future holder of this title will be Prince William of Wales, Prince Charles eldest son and heir to the throne. The feminine version of this title is "Princess of Wales", however, this title is only a courtesy title bestowed upon the wife of The Prince of Wales. It is not granted to the Heiress Presumptive (princesses by birth who is first in line to the throne). This is also why The Queen Elizabeth II was never "Princess of Wales" when she was the eldest daughter of a King and heiress to the throne.





The line of succession to the British Throne is an ordered list of the people in line to succeed to the throne of the United Kingdom. The succession is regulated by the Act of Settlement 1701, which limits it to the heirs of the Electress Sophia of Hanover, as determined by male-preference primogeniture, religion, and legitimate birth:


- A person is always immediately followed in the succession by his or her own legitimate descendants (his or her "line"). Birth order and gender matter: older sons (and their lines) come before younger sons (and theirs); a person's sons (and their lines), irrespective of age, all come before his or her daughters (and their lines).


- The monarch must be a Protestant at time of accession, and enter into communion with the Church of England after accession.


- Anyone who is Roman Catholic, becomes Roman Catholic, or marries a Roman Catholic is permanently excluded from the succession.


- A person born to parents who are not married to each other at the time of birth is not included in the line of succession. The subsequent marriage of the parents does not alter this.





Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom, which makes her Queen to her other 16 Commonwealth realm as well. Therefore, she is also Queen of Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, in each of which she is represented by a Governor-General.





Therefore, Prince Charles is also heir apparent not only of England, but Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Jamaica etc. The place of birth of any royal member does not affect their place in line of the British throne. If Prince Charles was born in Canada and heir to the throne, he is still the future King of the United Kingdom. There are over 1,000 people in the current line of succession, and many of them are spread across the globe, from the Spanish King to the Danish Queen. As long as they are in the line of succession, and their claim to the throne is legitimate, they can come from any nation around the world.





A Commonwealth realm is any one of 16 sovereign states within the Commonwealth of Nations with Elizabeth II as their respective monarch. In realms other than the United Kingdom, the Queen normally exercises only those powers related to her appointment of a Governor-General, usually on the advice of the prime minister of the realm concerned. Though the Queen's constitutional position is virtually identical in each realm, she lives in the United Kingdom. Consequently, the constitutional duties she personally exercises as Queen of the UK are in other realms generally performed by a Governor-General, who serves as her representative.





The extent to which these duties are explicitly assigned to the Governor-General, rather than the Queen, varies from realm to realm, but the Queen does act personally in right of any of her other realms when required, for example when issuing Letters Patent, or on occasions of significant political importance. Similarly, the monarch usually performs ceremonial duties in the Commonwealth realms to mark historically significant events during visits at least once every five or six years, meaning she is present in a number of her realms outside the UK every other year, or on behalf of those realms abroad.





She is also represented at various ceremonial events throughout all the realms by other members of the Royal Family, such as the Queen's children, grandchildren or cousin, who also reside in the United Kingdom, but act on behalf of the government of the particular realm they're in; meaning the Royal Family also has both a unitary and divided nature. The other realms may receive two to three such visits each year.
Reply:Why should we care about all that crap? the only title that they are worthy of is Social Parasites.