There is No Princess Catherine

Even some British commentators got it wrong when describing the newlywed Catherine Middleton as Princess Catherine. She is not, as marriage to a Prince does not automatically make you a Princess. In keeping with tradition, though, the Queen conferred titles upon Prince William. 

TRH THe Duchess and Duke of Cambridge

Titles are conferred at the pleasure of the monarch, and the Queen followed the rule book to the letter when conferring titles to Prince William before his wedding to Kate Middleton. She wasn’t impelled to do so because she is old fashioned; she was governed by good sense and to keep peace in the family. Rules, though seemingly dusty and outdated, sometimes serve a good cause.

If the Queen hadn’t conferred any titles on Prince William, Catherine would have become Princess William of Wales; my favorite example in that direction is Princess Pushy who really is Princess Michael of Kent. But it has been a tradition for quite some time to confer titles upon members of the Royal Family when they marry and are not already holding titles of their own; and in case of senior members, the titles conferred reflect the United Kingdom with its composite nations.

Now William has been made Duke of Cambridge (in England), Earl of Strathearn (in Scotland), and Baron Carrickfergus (in Northern Ireland). That makes Catherine a Duchess, a Countess, and a Baroness, but it doesn’t make her a Princess. But Catherine was not left out by the Queen; she conferred a HRH (Her Royal Highness) on her, and no, that doesn’t come to her by marriage and may be withdrawn by the Queen as well, as demonstrated with Lady Diana, Princess of Wales (who never carried the title of Princess, either) or the Duchess of York.

And funnily enough, nobody ever proposed the title of Princess for Camilla who likes to style herself as Duchess of Cornwall though she is Princess of Wales as well no matter how you look at it. This also means that she will be Queen Consort should Charles ever ascend the throne, no matter what title she chooses to be addressed by. And yes, I am a bit tired of all these discussions about whether she will become Queen or not, that decision was taken when she married Prince Charles and can’t be changed anymore.

I suppose we’ll all get used to the Duchess of Cambridge, on the other hand. It will also help anyone in ferreting out the articles written by people in the know (using the correct titles) and the mere gossip mongers (who will probably refer to Princess Catherine as it sounds so much more snazzy).

But even the Royals are apt to cheat if it suits them; King George V’s consort Queen Mary, by the way, is an example for that. Leading up to Mary’s marriage to the heir of the throne, she was introduced as Princess Mary (and her brothers as Princes); correctly she should have been titled as Duchess of Teck (and her brothers as Dukes). A Prince or Princess descends from a reigning monarch while the Teck title was only a titular duchy and German to boot. The children of the Duke of Teck therefore would have assumed (under German succession rules) the title of their father.

All in all, the Queen managed save us from the cumbersome Princess William of Wales address while at the same time not upstaging either Prince Charles or Camilla. Conferring the title Princess on Catherine would have done exactly that. 

Further reading
William and Kate: Title History
How Royal Succession Works in the United Kingdom
Princes: Not All That Glitters