Princess Beatrice gave birth to her first child over the weekend, who will be a countess.

The Queen’s granddaughter, 33, and her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi welcomed a little girl to the world on Saturday, weighing 6lb and 2oz.

The so-far unnamed baby is now 11th in line to the throne, and children higher up the succession line than her do not have titles.

This includes Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s children Archie and Lilibet, which caused controversy following the couple’s bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March.

But despite this, Beatrice’s daughter will have a title – but it’s actually nothing to do with the Royal Family.

Her dad Edoardo, a multi-millionaire British property tycoon, is also an Italian count.

This means any of his children will also inherit a count or countess title.

Edoardo’s dad, Count Allessandro Mapelli Mozzi, previously told the Daily Mail: ‘Edoardo is the only male descendent taking the family into the next generation.

‘He is a count, his wife will be a countess automatically and any of their children will be counts or nobile donna.’

The issue of titles for young royals was brought up when Meghan told Oprah that the Royal Family changed conventions so Archie would not have a title.

She also implied this decision may have been made over concerns about how dark Archie’s skin would be.

She said: ‘In those months when I was pregnant, all around this same time… we have in tandem the conversation of “he [Archie] won’t be given security, he’s not going to be given a title”, and also concerns and conversations about how dark his skin might be when he’s born.’

Later, she added: ‘And so, I think even with that convention I’m talking about, while I was pregnant, they said they want to change the convention for Archie.’ 

Many royal experts said this was untrue because rules that mean Archie cannot be given a title date actually date back to 1917.

Meghan’s friend Omid Scobie later admitted Meghan ‘may have been wrong’ – but warned ‘we don’t know the full story’ behind the allegations.

The current rules over titles follow royal conventions set out by the Letters Patent of the monarchy.

Letters Patent are official orders or decrees that a monarch can issue to change the traditions or norms that came before.

Queen Victoria’s grandson – and our current queen’s grandad – King George V issued a new Letters Patent in 1917. It limited the titles of HRH to the children of the sovereign, grandchildren in the male line, and the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (which would now be Prince William, the eldest son of Prince Charles).

That is why Archie and Lilibet currently do not have royal titles.

Under that Letters Patent, the other great-grandchildren of the monarch in the male line would be styled as younger sons and daughters of a Duke.

This is why Archie could use the title of Earl of Dumbarton, a title reportedly turned down by Meghan and Harry.

Using this train of thought, it is possible that their new daughter Lilibet could receive the title of ‘Lady’ – the title given to the daughter of a Duke, Earl or Marquess – but there has been no news of this so far.

Archie and Lilibet will receive HRH titles once Charles, their paternal grandfather, becomes king. This means they may then become prince and princess if they choose to take the titles.

The most recent change to the custom of giving titles was made in 2012, when the Queen addressed what would happen if William and Kate Middleton’s first born child was a girl.

Queen Elizabeth II issued a new Letters Patent that gave the HRH title to all the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales, getting ahead of a potential outdated issue of the first-born son becoming the next in line, even if he was younger than any older sisters.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Source: Read Full Article