…yes.
(i’m literally having trouble breathing laughing at this thread now)
Diana was made Princess of Wales.
Catherine and Meghan do have the HRH title, but correct, they aren’t princesses.
Diana did become the Princess of Wales, and I believe that had to be conferred by the Queen. But she was never “Princess Diana”, so maybe that’s what @sanstitre_has_left_the_building meant.
Catherine and Meghan were given HRH titles but not made Princesses. Once William becomes the Prince of Wales, Catherine will then be conferred the title Princess of Wales in addition to her other titles.
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What I really had in mind at the beginning was the whole Princess X thing. You can’t be Princess X unless you are of the blood royal. You can be Princess of Y by marriage. Or Princess [Man’s Name] of Y.
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It’s a crucial difference, which is ignored the world over.
However, her title was not Princess Diana.
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that’s cause it doesn’t make sense (i know, shocking for you brits.) If you have a titled position, you are referred to as that title.
For example, say I’m Randall, President of the United States… then I am referred to as “President Randall” Bob Iger, CEO of Disney is referred to as “the CEO”.
or one more easily considered for you: Theresa May, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom… referred to as “Prime Minister”
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Americans deal with titles differently to the British. For a start, you people seem to hang on to job titles for life, well after you’ve quit the job. So all your ex-presidents are still called President. Hillary Clinton is still called Secretary Clinton.
We don’t append the title to the name in the case of political offices. So Americans often say “Prime Minister May”, but we never say that. We say “the Prime Minister”. And when she leaves office, she will be plain old Mrs May.
Recent UK prime ministers haven’t even taken titles after leaving office. Well, John Major took a knighthood, but neither Blair nor Brown have done so. Margaret Thatcher became a Baroness.
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Not in my house. In my house she is referred to as that ****** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Yes I don’t like her. Not saying I like anyone but her I can’t stand.
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We have to say Prime Minister May to avoid confusion. Again, because you think you’re the only country. Other countries have a PM. Pull your head out of your gray clouds once and — wait, was that this thread? I think I’m getting my Brit Bashing threads confused…
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I’m with @missoverexcited on Flynn Rider. And Gaston is super-fun to flirt with at his character meet, but he is too self-absorbed to be attractive.
And I hereby declare @sanstitre_has_left_the_building proven wrong because he wrote
The issue under debate was not whether the proper title was Princess Diana, or Diana, Princess of Wales. But whether a little girl has to be born a princess to be a princess. Little girl Diana was not born a princess, but she became Princess of Wales.
And the fact that neither Kate nor Meghan are princesses is completely immaterial to the question of whether the only way a little girl can be a princess is to be born one – it just proves that they – so far – have not become Princess of Wales. So far.
But more fundamentally, being Princess is a state of mind and being, and now we have princesses who are archers and adventurers who not only can take of themselves but also save others, and not merely damsels in distress in pretty dresses. So now “princess” can be an empowering thing for little girls so don’t you dare tell them they cannot be princesses!!!
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Actually in the UK, the term princess can be one of abuse. “Don’t be such a princess!” suggests nothing about the spirited independence of the subject of the comment!
But, OK, I won’t tell little girls they can’t become princesses. But I am telling them that Cinderella Castle isn’t a castle. And that there’s more than one Mickey Mouse. And that there’s just a person inside. And that Big Thunder Mountain isn’t a mountain. And that the whole place is a lie.
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You’re lucky I haven’t yet figured out how to report someone.
Hereditary titles are different though. You don’t have any, because you chose to jump ship … Most people over here haven’t a clue either, but some try to make sense of it all.
For hereditary titles, it requires a specific role to keep track of them all and keep everyone right. Otherwise known as the Lord Chamberlain.
Say you are a Duke. You will usually have at least one, often several subsidiary titles, like Earl of xxxxx, Viscount yyyy. Your eldest son will get to use the most senior of those as a courtesy title. Then when you die, he then takes over yours and his son then gets your previous subsidiary title.
If you are an Earl, you may also be Viscount zzzz. And again, your son is known as Viscount as a courtesy title.
This causes no end of confusion sometimes. So when I was a teenager, I was fascinated by the children of Princess Margaret for some reason. Their father was Earl of Snowdon (Anthony Armstrong-Jones). His son was known as Viscount Linley. I always thought that his name was Linley - nope! That was his courtesy title, his actual name is David. And when his father died, he became Earl of Snowdon, but to me he’s still Viscount Linley, even though now that’s his son.
On top of that is the way you are addressed. Say your name is John Smith, and your title is Earl of Exeter. You will be addressed as Lord, in person. You sign letters as simply Exeter. You very rarely use your actual surname.
No wonder no one understands.
Non-hereditary titles are a lot simpler. There are no courtesy titles to worry about. Although the problem is, once someone gets given a non-hereditary title, like a retired politician, it’s pretty much impossible to work out who he or she was, because they’re always referred to as Lord so-and-so.
And this ends today’s lesson on the British Peerage.
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When Andrew Lloyd Webber was given a peerage he was advised to hyphenate his last name to Lloyd-Webber.
This was to avoid ambiguity. Lord Lloyd Webber sounds like a courtesy title and not a peerage in its own right. Lord Lloyd-Webber is clearly a peer.
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Now explain Michael Jackson. He was the King OF Pop, so i assume that means the title was given to him by the queen. …
the Queen
The Queen cannot make anyone a King.
That was you guys conferring an honorary title on him.
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I actually was going to capitalize, but i left it that way just to irritate you.
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Ha! Deliberate provocation admitted. “Mods”! #BritBashing 
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it’s that little “heart-looking” button at the bottom of every one of my posts. clicky once and instantly reported!
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