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Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-served royal consort in world history^[1]

A royal consort is the spouse of a ruling king or queen. Consorts of monarchs of the United Kingdom and its predecessors have no constitutional status or power but many have had significant influence.

Prince Philip, the longest-served and oldest-ever consort, died aged 99 after having served for nearly 70 years. His mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, who died aged 101, lived longer than any other royal consort, but at the time of her death she did not hold the position of consort, as her husband King George VI died 50 years before her.

Since the death of Prince Philip, the position of royal consort has been vacant. Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall is expected to become the next queen consort upon the accession of the Queen's eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales, as king.

History

Since the union of England and Scotland in 1707, there have been ten consorts of the British monarch. Queens between 1727 and 1814 were also Electress of Hanover, as their husbands all held the title of Elector of Hanover. Between 1814 and 1837, queens held the title as Queen of Hanover, as their husbands were Kings of Hanover. The personal union with the United Kingdom ended in 1837 on the accession of Queen Victoria because the succession laws (Salic Law) in Hanover prevented a female inheriting the title if there was any surviving male heir (in the United Kingdom, a male took precedence over only his own sisters, until the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 which removed male primogeniture). In the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, Hanover was annexed by Prussia and became the Province of Hanover.

Exceptions

Not all wives of monarchs have become consorts, as they may have died, been divorced, had their marriage declared invalid prior to their husbands' ascending the throne, or married after abdication. Such cases include:

• Divorced before spouse became monarch: Sophia Dorothea of Celle, wife of George, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (the future King George I), married 22 November 1682, divorced 28 December 1694, died 13 November 1726.
• Invalid marriage before spouse became monarch: Maria Fitzherbert, wife of George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), married 15 December 1785, marriage invalid, died 27 March 1837.
• Married after spouse abdicated: Wallis Warfield, wife of Edward, Duke of Windsor (the former King Edward VIII), married 3 June 1937, widowed 28 May 1972, died 24 April 1986.

An unusual case was Caroline of Brunswick, who had separated from her husband George IV prior to his accession, became queen consort by law but had no position at court and was forcibly barred from attending George IV's coronation and being crowned. This caused public outrage.

Only George I and Edward VIII were unmarried throughout their reigns.

Male consorts

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is the only male consort to be awarded the title of Prince Consort.

While all British female consorts were automatically styled as queen consort, the titles of the three male consorts were inconsistent.

• Prince George of Denmark, husband of Queen Anne, never received an official style as the consort, but was raised to the peerage of England as the Duke of Cumberland in 1689, several years before his wife's accession in 1702.
• Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, husband of Queen Victoria, did not take an English peerage title but was granted the title of Prince Consort as a distinct title in 1857, the only male consort in either the United Kingdom or its predecessor realms to have officially held the title. Victoria wished to style him as king consort, but the government would not allow it.
• Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, was raised to the peerage as Duke of Edinburgh in 1947, five years before his wife's accession, and was made a Prince of the United Kingdom in 1957.

Future consorts

If Charles, Prince of Wales ascends the throne, his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will automatically take on the title and style of queen consort unless legislation is passed to the contrary. However, following her marriage to Prince Charles in 2005 it was announced that she would not be styled as queen consort, but rather as "princess consort" when Charles ascended the throne.^[2] All references to "princess consort" were removed by the websites of Buckingham Palace and Clarence House in 2018.^[3] In 2020, Clarence House confirmed that plans for Camilla to adopt the style of princess consort remain unchanged.^[4] On the eve of her Platinum Jubilee in February 2022, the Queen expressed her "sincere wish" that Camilla would be known as queen consort.^[5]

List of consorts

Picture	Name	Arms	Birth	Marriage	Became consort	Coronation	Ceased to be consort	Death	Resting place	Tenure	Spouse
	Prince George of Denmark and Norway		2 April 1653 Son of Frederick III of Denmark and Norway and Duchess Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg	28 July 1683	1 May 1707 Creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain	Not crowned	28 October 1708 55 years, 209 days		Westminster Abbey	1 year, 180 days	Anne
	Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach		1 March 1683 Daughter of John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach	22 August 1705	11 June 1727 Spouse's accession	11 October 1727	20 November 1737 54 years, 172 days		Westminster Abbey	10 years, 162 days	George II
	Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz		19 May 1744 Daughter of Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg, Prince of Mirow and Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen	8 September 1761	8 September 1761 Marriage to the monarch	22 September 1761	17 November 1818 74 years, 126 days		St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle	57 years, 70 days	George III
	Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel		17 May 1768 Daughter of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Princess Augusta of Great Britain	8 April 1795	29 January 1820 Spouse's accession	Not crowned	7 August 1821 53 years, 72 days		Brunswick Cathedral	1 year, 190 days	George IV
	Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen		13 August 1792 Daughter of Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Princess Louise Eleanore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg	13 July 1818	26 June 1830 Spouse's accession	8 September 1831	20 June 1837 Spouse's death	2 December 1849 56 years, 311 days	St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle	6 years, 359 days	William IV
	Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha		26 August 1819 Son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg	10 February 1840	10 February 1840 Marriage to the monarch	Not crowned	14 December 1861 42 years, 110 days		St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle then Frogmore Mausoleum	21 years, 307 days	Victoria
	Princess Alexandra of Denmark		1 December 1844 Daughter of Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel	10 March 1863	22 January 1901 Spouse's accession	9 August 1902	6 May 1910 Spouse's death	20 November 1925 80 years, 354 days	St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle	9 years, 104 days	Edward VII
	Princess Mary of Teck		26 May 1867 Daughter of Prince Francis, Duke of Teck and Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge	6 July 1893	6 May 1910 Spouse's accession	22 June 1911	20 January 1936 Spouse's death	24 March 1953 85 years, 302 days		25 years, 259 days	George V
	Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon		4 August 1900 Daughter of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck	26 April 1923	11 December 1936 Spouse's accession	12 May 1937	6 February 1952 Spouse's death	30 March 2002 101 years, 238 days		15 years, 57 days	George VI
	Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark		10 June 1921 Son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg	20 November 1947	6 February 1952 Spouse's accession	Not crowned	9 April 2021 99 years, 303 days			69 years, 62 days	Elizabeth II

References

External links

• www.royalty.nu