The Regal Rules for Girls (24 page)

Q: How come Princess Anne’s children don’t have titles?

A: Although rules to the royal succession recently changed, every other title requires a separate Act of Parliament to change in a similar way. And as things currently stand, royal titles only pass through the male line. Because of this, Princess Anne’s son, Peter, and daughter, Zara, do not have titles. Princess Anne declined to have further titles bestowed on her children by the Queen, hoping this would help them to lead normal lives. Moreover, Peter did not inherit a courtesy title from his father, because Captain Phillips also declined a title from the Queen upon his marriage to Princess Anne.
Hence, Princess Anne’s children remain Mr. Phillips and Mrs. Michael Tindall. (Though I’m not entirely convinced this has allowed them to lead “normal” lives—after all, their grandmother is still the Queen of England!)

Q: Does the Queen pay taxes?

A: Yes, since 1992, the Queen has paid 42 percent income tax and capital gains tax just as any high-earning UK taxpayer is required to do.

Q: If Parliament runs the country, what does the Queen actually do?

A : The UK is a constitutional monarchy. This means that while the Queen is “Head of State” she does not directly rule the country; rather she symbolically appoints the government, which the people of the United Kingdom have democratically elected. Publically, the Queen must remain strictly neutral when it comes to political matters, and she is not able to vote. However, the Queen has hugely important ceremonial roles within the government and retains the right to meet with the prime minister on a regular basis. (In the course of her reign, the present Queen has privately counseled thirteen prime ministers in total.) While the Queen can privately advise, warn, or encourage the prime minister, she cannot make or pass legislation.

Like the American President, the Queen is Head of the Armed Forces. (She also happens to be the wife, mother, and grandmother of those who have served or are currently serving in the Armed Forces. Not all American presidents can say that!) The Queen is also the only person who can formally declare war and peace.

Ultimately, the Queen provides a focus for British national identity, unity, and pride and gives the country a sense of stability and continuity. There is actually a massive (albeit unconscious) comfort that comes with having one easily recognized family dynasty. Even Americans instinctively veer toward familiar dynasties when choosing their leaders. Think about it: the Adamses, the Roosevelts, the Kennedys—and even quite recently, with the Bushes and the Clintons, for a while it seemed that we couldn’t think beyond more than two families when it came to selecting our president! The Brits never have this problem. Their beloved Queen is always there in the background—which means they usually vote for politicians based on merit, rather than a familiar family name.

Q: Why are Roman Catholics excluded from the line of succession?

A: When he decided to divorce Catherine of Aragon in 1534, King Henry VIII broke all ties with Rome and pronounced himself Head of the Church of England.
⁷
As a result, every sovereign since Queen Elizabeth I has held the title “Defender of the Faith and Supreme Governor of the Church of England”—which means all those in the line of succession must be Protestants. However, Prince Charles has made it clear that when he becomes king he will take the title “Defender of Faith” instead of “Defender of
the
Faith” in order to formally promote tolerance and understanding of all other faiths and religions. (Go, Charles!) The Act of Settlement was amended in 2012 so that heirs to the throne could
marry
Catholics,
but the ban on Catholics becoming sovereign remains in place.

Q: Why did King Edward VIII have to give up the throne in order to marry American socialite Wallis Simpson?

A: The Royal Marriages Act of 1772 requires members of the Royal Family to obtain permission from the sovereign in order to marry. It was common knowledge that Prince Edward’s father, King George V, did not approve of Wallis as a match for Edward and repeatedly refused to meet her. This had nothing to do with the fact that Wallis was American; it had to do with the fact she was twice
divorced
—a concept that was considered incredibly scandalous at the time. Furthermore, if Edward married Wallis he would be her
third
husband—even more scandalous! Upon the death of King George V in 1936, the UK government strongly advised Edward not to marry Wallis, warning him that he would risk upsetting not only the country but the entire Commonwealth. Rather than cause a constitutional crisis, Edward chose to abdicate because, as he told the nation, “I have found it impossible…to discharge my duties as king…without the help and support of the woman I love.”

Nearly seventy years later, Queen Elizabeth II gave her permission for Prince Charles to marry divorcée Camilla Parker Bowles, which goes to show just how much times have changed. If Wallis had been around today, England could very well have had an American Queen…

R
ECOMMENDED
R
EADING:

Debrett’s Correct Form

Indispensable guidance on the notoriously complex system of British titles and forms of address.

Debrett’s Peerage and Baronetage

Contains the genealogical details of every British duke, marquess, viscount, earl, baron, and baronet, together with all the living members of their families in the male line. (A great place to search for possible titled husbands.)

The Court Circular

The authoritative record of official duties undertaken by senior members of the Royal Family. An account of the previous day’s royal engagements is printed daily in the
Times
, the
Telegraph
, and the
Scotsman
and is also available online. Details include places visited in the UK and overseas, duties undertaken, royal audiences, meetings held, ceremonies attended, and official royal appointments.
www.royal.gov.uk/LatestNewsandDiary/CourtCircular/Todaysevents.aspx

(With or Without a Title)

A
ll any girl needs to do is look at Hollywood to see how devastatingly attractive British boys can be. (Come on, don’t deny that visions of Robert Pattinson, Jim Sturgess, Henry Cavill, Orlando Bloom, Jude Law, Colin Firth, Matthew McFadyen, Eddie Redmayne, Damian Lewis, Nicholas Hoult, Andrew Garfield, Toby Hemmingway, Max Irons, Sam Claflin, Jamie Bell, Christian Bale, Paul Bettany, Joseph Fiennes, Ralph Fiennes, Cillian Murphy, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rufus Sewell, Jack Davenport, Jack
Huston, Daniel Craig, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Rupert Everett, Rupert Friend, and Hugh Dancy and/or Hugh Grant haven’t danced in your head at least once, if not a million times.)

Who cares if they’re all named Jack, Daniel, Rupert, or Hugh? Have you heard their accents? Have you seen their cheekbones? Enough said.

American girls lusting after British men is nothing new—Anglophile crushes like yours and mine have been going on for well over a century.

During the Gilded Age (1870–1890), America was blessed with a period of rapid economic growth—industries were thriving, new money was flooding in from all directions, and new American heiresses were popping up all over the place. Even so, the snobby old-money families of Manhattan were not happy with this sudden influx of nouveau riche girls flirting with their sons, and as a result, many ballroom doors were slammed in these girls’ faces. But these wealthy young women were not daunted. They’d heard that English society was much easier to crack than New York society, so they simply packed up their best ball gowns and sailed off to London—more than ready to continue their husband hunt on the other side of the pond.

These American girls took London by storm. Just like today, they were better dressed and better groomed than their English counterparts—and they loved to shop. (It was not uncommon for American girls to order at least ninety dresses per season!) Many members of the English aristocracy were shocked by this conspicuous display of American beauty; scandalized by the girls’ free-spirited natures, easygoing manners, and “modern” worldviews (not to mention a bit shaken up by the fact that American girls dared to wear diamonds in the daytime)—but luckily, their eligible British sons didn’t seem to mind. In fact, the Englishmen loved it.

For both parties, it was a match made in heaven. The American girls had good looks and big bucks; the British boys had debts, but they also had titles. Everyone was happy. The American girl got her castle—and with her dowry, the British boy could finally afford to keep it standing.

The phenomenon of American women pursuing upper-class English husbands was popularly immortalized in the novels of Henry James and Edith Wharton (both of whom you should read). And by 1936, Americans had managed to completely infiltrate the heart of London’s social elite—the young Prince of Wales was constantly found in their carefree, extravagant company— and eventually fell in love with one himself—ultimately forsaking the throne for her! (See “American Beauty,”
page 79
.)

The Prince of Wales’s infamous paramour was the American Wallis Simpson. Personally, I love how the immaculately dressed Wallis used to host lavish London luncheons where she proudly served American club sandwiches and beer—and how the aristocratic Brits found this unassuming quirkiness to be utterly, utterly charming. Still, Wallis and her plucky American pals managed to alarm the stuffier members of the Court (which was most of them).

Aside from the indomitable Wallis, the most famous American
women married to British noblemen are Jennie Jerome, the mother of Sir Winston Churchill, and Consuelo Vanderbilt (second cousin to mother of reporter Anderson Cooper, Gloria Vanderbilt), who married the Duke of Marlborough.

Even our beloved Princess Diana had an American great-grandmother—one Frances Ellen Work. Frances married The Hon. James Roche, who later became the 3rd Baron Fermoy. Their son Edmund married Diana’s grandmother Ruth Gill, whose daughter Frances went on to marry the 8th Earl Spencer, Diana’s father. So basically if it wasn’t for a feisty American girl named Frances, who crossed the pond in search of an English husband, Prince William and Prince Harry wouldn’t be here. (Dear Kate, you’re welcome.)