When Charles succeeded to the throne, a vacancy opened with the Counsellors of State. The Regency Act (1937) requires the first four adults in the line of succession and the spouse of the sovereign to fulfill certain duties if the Sovereign is abroad or ill.
In the final years of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, the Counsellors of State were: the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Sussex, and the Duke of York. A Counsellor of State must be domiciled in the UK.
Charles' ascension to the throne means Queen Camilla and Princess Beatrice, the Duke of York's elder daughter, are now Counsellors of State, joining the Dukes of Sussex and York. Although the Duke of Sussex now lives in Montecito, California, he has extended his lease on Frogmore Cottage, which means he is domiciled in the United Kingdom, although noted constitutional historian Vernon Bognador has disagreed with this assessment/.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting that King Charles III wants Parliament to amend the law so only working royals can be Counsellors of State. If a new law is passed that requires Counsellors of State to be working royals, the Duke of Sussex, the Duke of York, and Princess Beatrice would be removed.
The most likely replacements are the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, and the Duke of Gloucester, all of whom have served as Counsellors of State. The Duke of Gloucester has had two separate appointments as a Counsellor of State.
I expect other changes as well, including a new Letters Patent that will go further than George V's 1917 Letters that limited the HRH and title of Prince or Princess to the children of the Sovereign, grandchildren of the sovereign in the male line and the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. In December 2012, Queen Elizabeth II issued a new Letters Patent that changed one clause in the 1917 Letters Patent. All children of the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales will have the HRH and title of Prince or Princess.
The Queen did not take it further to allow the children of all the sons of the Prince of Wales to be styled as HRH Prince or Princess.
In the 1990s, the then Way Ahead Group was founded by Lord Airlie, the Lord Chamberlain, and included senior royals and private secretaries. The purpose of the group, which came about due to the scandals in the early 1990s, looked to implement change at the time and in the future. One of the immediate changes was the announcement that the Queen would pay income tax.
The Way Ahead group also looked to slim down the royal family.
One idea that was discussed was to downgrade the Duke of York's daughters to the status of daughters of a duke: Lady Beatrice and Lady Eugenie Mountbatten-Windsor. It was already known that the York princesses were never going to be working royals.
This suggestion was vetoed, but the plan was implemented when Prince Edward married Sophie Rhys-Jones. It was announced on their wedding day that their children would be styled as children of an earl, as Edward was created Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn. The statement said that the Queen DECIDED and Edward and Sophie agreed to her decision to not have their children styled as royals.
Edward and Sophie's children are styled as Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and Viscount Severn (whose Christian name is James.)
One reason -- and it is a major reason - - for the new king to issue a new Letters Patent is the gender equal succession. The eldest child is the heir/heiress apparent. The 1917 Letters Patent is based on male primogeniture.
I do not like to make predictions, but I think that a new Letters Patent will give the HRH and title of Prince/Princess to the children of the Sovereign, children of the Heir apparent, and the children of the eldest child of the Heir apparent. This means Charlotte and Louis' children will not be royal.
It is unlikely that the King would downgrade his mother's first cousins, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Prince Michael of Kent, and Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy because of their long service and duty to the Crown.
It is possible that the Way Ahead group's recommendation to remove Beatrice and Eugenie's royal titles will be initiated, allowing the Duke of York's daughters to be styled as daughters of a duke. This will also apply to The Duke of Sussex's children, the Earl of Dumbarton and Lady Lilibet Mountbatten-Windsor, as children of a duke. [Let's be honest: Archie and Lili will grow up in the United States where titles, royal or courtesy are not used.]
This decision will allow uniformity for the style and title of the children of younger sons of a Sovereign. I also expect the King to issue another Letters Patent creating his youngest brother, Edward, as Duke of Edinburgh, which would give him the status and courtesy titles of children of a duke to Lady Louise and James, whose courtesy title would change.
There are precedents for this: the Queen's decision for Edward and Sophie's children and the 1917 Letters Patent, which removed the title of Prince and Princess and HH (not HRH) from male line great-grandchildren of the Sovereign.
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| all images not from Getty: Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection |
This brings us to HH Prince Alastair Arthur of Connaught, who was born on August 9, 1914, in London. He was the only child of HRH Prince Arthur of Connaught (1883-1938), only son of HRH Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, and Princess Luise Margarete of Prussia, and HH Princess Alexandra, 2ndDuchess of Fife (1891-1959).
Prince Arthur's older sister, Margaret, married in 1906 to then Crown Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden, and his younger sister, Princess Patricia (1886-1972) relinquished her royal titles by Royal Warrant when she married the Hon. Alexander Ramsay, youngest son of the 13th Earl of Dalhousie in 1919. She entered the Abbey as HRH Princess Patricia of Connaught and came out as Lady Patricia Ramsay with the precedence before the Marchionesses of England.
Princess Arthur of Connaught was the granddaughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. Her mother was Princess Louise, Princess Royal, who married Alexander Duff, Earl of Fife. He was created Duke of Fife at the wedding breakfast. In April 1900, Queen Victoria issued a Letters Patent giving Louise's husband the second dukedom of Fife (and Earldom of Macduff) that would pass to his daughters and their male heirs. Louise had given birth to a stillborn son, Alastair, in 1890.
In November 1905, Edward VII created Princess Louise as Princess Royal and raised her two daughters, Lady Alexandra and Lady Maud to HH Princess. It should be noted that Louise's brother, the Prince of Wales, did not agree with his father's decision to give royal status to Louise's daughters.
Alexandra, a duchess in her own right, having succeeded her father, in 1912, became HRH Princess Arthur of Connaught in 1913. Her younger sister, Princess Maud (1893-1945) was downgraded in 1923 when she married Lord Carnegie, heir to the Earl of Southesk. She was styled as Princess Maud when she walked into Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, but when she and her new husband came out, Maud was styled as Lady Maud Carnegie.
King George V did not issue a Royal Warrant as he did when Princess Patricia married, but he did tell Maud that she no longer could use the title of Princess. She reverted to the style of a daughter of an earl. Her husband succeeded his father in 1941. Maud's new style was Countess of Southesk.
Princess Arthur, Lady Southesk, and the 2nd Duke of Connaught served as Counsellors of State.
Prince Alastair of Connaught was a male-line great-grandson of a sovereign, but his father was the only son of a younger son of Queen Victoria. In the new Letters Patent, male line great-grandsons would bear a courtesy title if the father had a dukedom or was styled as a younger son of a duke. The three-year-old was the heir apparent to his mother's dukedom and second in line to the dukedom of Connaught and Strathearn. It was decided that he would be styled as Earl of Macduff, until 1942, when he succeeded his paternal grandfather as the 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn.
A year later, the 2nd Duke died as a result of hypothermia in Ottawa, Canada. He was 28 years old. Sir Alan "Tommy" Lascelles, private secretary to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II wrote: "the wretched young Duke of Connaught, whom his regiment (Greys) have had to get rid of, as he is wholly incompetent."
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The Connaught and Strathearn titles reverted to the Crown. Alastair's first cousin, James, then Lord Carnegie, succeeded to the Fife dukedom when Princess Arthur of Connaught died.
Prince Alastair ceased to be a prince when the 1917 Letters Patent was issued.
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A new Letters Patent could mean the loss of royal status for Beatrice and Eugenie. Which means they could be Alastair-ed.
I am not advocating a change or suggesting that King Charles III will do this. All I am doing is offering the historical precedents in case it does happen.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2021/11/who-are-counsellors-of-state.html
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| Evening Telegraph August 10, 1914 |
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| Times August 11, 1914 |
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| Times August 26, 1914 |
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| Aberdeen Journal July 17, 1917 |
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