Prince consort


A prince consort is the husband of a monarch who is not a monarch in his own right. In recognition of his status, a prince consort may be given a formal title, such as prince. Most monarchies do not allow the husband of a queen regnant to be titled as a king because it is perceived as a higher title than queen. However, some monarchies use the title of king consort for the role.

Usage in Europe

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the title Prince Consort is unique to Prince 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 of Mary I of England, Queen Anne, and Mary, 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, and Mary II's husband William III having been explicitly made king in his own right.
File:Prince Albert 404387.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait of Prince Albert by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Prince Albert was awarded the title Prince Consort in 1857 by his wife, Queen Victoria.
The titles of the five pre-Victorian male consorts varied widely. Philip of Spain, the husband of Mary I of England, was declared king jure uxoris and given powers equal to his wife while she reigned, but Queen Anne's husband Prince George of Denmark received no British titles other than the Dukedom of Cumberland. Meanwhile, the titles of the three husbands of Mary, Queen of Scots, was never fully resolved. At least one, was declared king consort, and both he and his predecessor Francis II of France sought recognition as king jure uxoris, 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.
The only male consort since Prince Albert's death, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the consort of Elizabeth II, was made a peer 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 about her husband's proper title. Some leaders, including the prime minister of the day, Winston Churchill, suggested reviving Prince Albert's title of Prince Consort. Others put forward other styles, including "Prince of the Realm" and "Prince of the Commonwealth". In 1957, Elizabeth created Philip a prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the same title borne by sons of the sovereign.
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 as Queen 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. Unlike a queen consort, a prince consort is not crowned and anointed alongside his wife at her coronation.

Other countries

became the prince consort of Monaco in 1731 after his wife, Louise Hippolyte, became the sovereign princess.
In 2005, Prince Henrik, the husband of Margrethe II of Denmark, was awarded the title. He had requested the title of "king consort" and style of His Majesty but was denied. 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.

King consort

A king consort or emperor consort is a rarely used title to describe the husband of a queen regnant. Examples include:
  • Mary, Queen of Scots was first married to Francis, Dauphin of France, who became king consort of Scotland upon their marriage. She then married Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, the eldest son of the Earl and Countess of Lennox in July 1565. Darnley was a great-grandson of Henry VII of England and Mary's first cousin, and he was considered to have a strong claim to the Scottish throne. On the evening before their marriage, Mary proclaimed Darnley "King of Scots", a title that she could not legally grant him without the consent of Parliament, but which was never formally challenged. However, this title did not grant him any automatic right of rule or of succession to the throne should Mary die. For that to happen, it was necessary that Mary grant him the Crown Matrimonial of Scotland, which never happened.
  • When the reigning Isabella II married Francis, Duke of Cádiz, he became king consort of Spain. Like his wife, he retained the style and title of king even after her abdication in favour of their son, Alfonso XII.

    List of male consorts

Kingdom of Naples:
Netherlands:
Đại Việt:
Denmark:
Luxembourg:
Māori King Movement:
Majapahit:
Merina Kingdom:
Monaco:
  • Jacques I, Prince of Monaco – he was first a male consort of the sovereign princess Louise Hippolyte, but later became a male monarch
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