Why is Prince Philip not referred to as king? The Duke of Edinburgh's title explained

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Tom Herbert16 January 2020

When Philip Mountbatten married into the royal family way back in 1947, he became the Duke of Edinburgh along with a number of other titles.

Ten years later, Queen Elizabeth II officially gave her husband the title of a prince, and he became known as His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

But out of his many titles, one which is conspicuously missing is perhaps the most obvious of them all - king.

Why has Prince Philip never been named a king? The Standard takes a look.

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Why is Prince Philip not a king?

It's all down to parliamentary succession law, which only factors in gender when designating titles.

Wives of British kings tend to take the female form of their husband's name, and are known as queen consorts - which is why the Queen Mother became queen consort when George VI ascended to the throne.

But the opposite is not true - male spouses of ruling queens are given the title of prince consort and not king consort.

According to Town and Country, this is because the title of queen can mean one of two things - it can either be used to describe the ruling monarch, or used in the more ceremonial meaning of the "wife of a monarch".

However the title of king can only ever be used to describe the monarch and it does not have an alternative, symbolic meaning.

In short, it is a remnant of a patriarchal system of inheritance which ranks sons over daughters.

As Town and Country says: "Kings always reign, whereas Queen can be a symbolic title."

What titles does Prince Philip hold?

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Prince Philip now holds many titles, but when he married the Queen he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich.

He was made an Official Prince of the United Kingdom a decade after their wedding, in 1957, making him Prince Philip.

What is Prince Philip's full royal title?

To date, the Duke of Edinburgh is the longest-serving royal consort and up until his retirement from official duty as a 96-year-old in 2017 he had completed 22,219 solo events or public meetings since 1952.

And quite fittingly for such a long-standing public servant, Prince Philip has a suitably lengthy royal title consisting of 145 words.

The full list of titles is His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, Baron Greenwich, Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Extra Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Member of the Order of Merit, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, Grand Master and First and Principal Knight Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Additional Member of the Order of New Zealand, Extra Companion of the Queen's Service Order, Knight of the Order of Australia, Royal Chief of the Order of Logohu, Extraordinary Companion of the Order of Canada, Extraordinary Commander of the Order of Military Merit,Canadian Forces Decoration, Lord of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada, Personal Aide-de-Camp to His Majesty King George VI, Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom.

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