Prince Charles to opt for 'slimmed down' coronation says Myers

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Prince Charles was born on November 14, 1948, the first child of then-Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. Due to his father’s dukedom, Charles was born Prince Charles of Edinburgh. But despite his status as a future King, Charles’ grandfather, King George VI, had to intervene to ensure Charles would actually be known as a Prince.

Why was Charles almost not a Prince?

As a future monarch, many might assume Charles was eligible for a Prince title from birth.

When he was born, Charles was second in line to the throne behind his mother, but he technically wasn’t eligible for a Prince title under rules set out by his great-grandfather, King George V.

The Letters Patent issued by the King in 1917 still stands today, and it outlines exactly who in the Royal Family is eligible for a Prince or Princess title and HRH status.

The Letters Patent stipulated that the only royals eligible for such titles are “the children of any Sovereign of these Realms and the children of the sons of any such Sovereign and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales”.

At the time of his birth, Charles’ mother was still a Princess and not yet Queen, as King George VI was on the throne.

This meant that, at the time of his birth, Charles was a grandson of the monarch through the female line rather than the male line, and was therefore not eligible to be known as Prince Charles.

However, the King intervened to make sure that Charles, as the son of a future Queen and a future King himself, was made a Prince.

King George VI issued a Letters Patent in 1948 which ensured all of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh’s children were given Prince or Princess titles.

The Letters Patent decreed Elizabeth and Philip’s children should “have and at all times hold and enjoy the style, title or attribute of Royal Highness and the titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective Christian names in addition to any other appellations and titles and honour which may belong to them hereafter”.

Because of this change, Princess Anne was also automatically born with a Princess title in 1950.

The Queen succeeded the throne following the death of her father in 1952, and she welcomed two more children with Prince Philip.

But Prince Andrew and Prince Edward would have been born with Prince and HRH titles anyway without King George VI’s Letters Patent, as both were born to the reigning sovereign of the time.

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What other royal titles does Prince Charles hold?

The Prince of Wales title is traditionally given to the heir apparent to the throne, and Prince Charles was given the title by the Queen in 1958.

Charles became the Duke of Cornwall automatically upon his mother’s accession to the throne, and he inherited the Duchy of Cornwall with it.

Charles also became the Duke of Rothesay and the Earl of Carrick when his mother became Queen.

Following his father’s death in 2021 aged 99, Charles also holds the title of Duke of Edinburgh as he inherited it as Prince Philip’s eldest son.

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