Kate Middleton is facing the prospect of never becoming Prince William’s Queen.
MP John Hemming is attempting to ensure all spouses of reigning monarchs are officially known as Prince or Princess Consorts, with an amendment to the repeal of ancient royal primogeniture laws.
The wives of ruling Kings currently become Queen Consorts but the husbands of female monarchs have no right to any title – which is why the current Duke of Edinburgh is not known as King Philip.
The Liberal Democrat’s Early Day Motion says the Duchess of Cambridge would lose out on being called Queen Catherine when her husband William is crowned King, reported the Sunday Express.
“It’s not right that a Queen Regnant is treated as less important than a King Regnant,” he told the Sunday Express.
“It seems sensible we resolve this issue when dealing with the primogeniture issue.”
The proposal also means Camilla would become Princess Consort when Prince Charles becomes King – which Clarence House has always insisted upon, following the couple’s previous divorces.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill was told by the Lord Chancellor in 1954 that Philip had no right to any title despite his wife Elizabeth II becoming Queen – but he was later given the title of Prince.
The current difference in title rights dates back to the custom of male primogeniture, which has meant that male heirs have traditionally leapfrogged their older sisters in the line of succession.
But a new law to ensure the first child of the Duke and pregnant Duchess of Cambridge will succeed to the throne regardless of gender is being fast-tracked through Parliament.
Ending gender discrimination in the line of succession will involve changing some of the oldest laws on the Statute Book, including the Treason Act 1351, which was originally written in Norman French.
