There is a new Duke of Edinburgh – King Charles has created the title for his youngest brother, Prince Edward. It means that, as of March 10th 2023, three of the four members of Edward’s family now have brand new titles. However, one doesn’t. The new Duke’s eldest child, his daughter, remains The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and that won’t change at any point in the future.
At the time of her birth, in 2003, Louise was titled as the daughter of an Earl making her Lady Louise. The daughter of a duke takes the same title so, following her father’s elevation, she remains Lady Louise.
However, the rules around peerages mean that her younger sibling takes a new title. Despite the laws of succession to the throne changing so that men no longer overtake women, those around aristocratic titles remain the same as they were centuries ago. The new Duke of Edinburgh’s only son, born four years after his sister, now takes his father’s secondary title as a courtesy. James is no longer known as Viscount Severn – he is now the Earl of Wessex.
There is little that King Charles or the new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh can do about this. The rules around who noble titles aren’t theirs to alter at will. Although Lady Louise is the first born child of Prince Edward, none of his titles can pass to her. It is a reminder of a rather striking lack of equality in the 21st century. And neither of his children will succeed Edward as Duke of Edinburgh as the title has been created for his lifetime only. It reverts to the Crown on his death.
It comes at the end of a week where there has been much discussion around titles and who gets what. The much debated Letters Patent of 1917 stipulate that the grandchildren of a Monarch in the male line can be HRH and Prince or Princess, meaning that both Louise and James could be a little more royal. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex confirmed just days ago that they wanted their children to take royal titles, saying it was their birthright. The new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh announced, in 1999, that they would not exercise that for their family and it is a decision they have stuck with ever since.
Perhaps if their children did have royal titles, it would make the different dealings of this new dukedom between their daughter and son less obvious. They would now be HRH Princess Louise of Edinburgh and HRH The Earl of Wessex. However, the decision not to chimes with King Charles III’s desire for a slimmed down Monarchy, as does his decision to make the new Dukedom of Edinburgh a lifetime peerage.
That, in itself, is a hint of modernisation that may yet alter the fabric of the Royal Family in decades to come. However, as the wishes of the longest reigning Monarch in British history and her husband are finally fulfilled, with the creation of their youngest child as Duke of Edinburgh, it is notable that one of their female descendants still finds herself governed by rules that her medieval ancestors also had to contend with.
