Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Prince Philip: third man at court

April 22, 1948

Buckingham Palace announced today that the Duke of Edinburgh, will become third in precedence at the British court, after the Dukes of Gloucester and Windsor. He will precede the Duke of Gloucester, only when he accompanies his wife, Princess Elizabeth.  (The Duke of Windsor does not attend court events.)

The new list of precedence has Philip in two places.  The first is called "joint precedence," with the Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke of Edinburgh, following directly after the King and Queen.  The other section features "single precedence," where the Duke is below the King's two brothers, the Duke of Gloucester and the Duke of Windsor.

Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mother Mary and Princess Elizabeth are at the top of the women's precedence list, followed by Princess Margaret and the Princess Royal (the King's only sister, Princess Mary), followed by the Duchesses of Gloucester and Kent.

The new list has allowed King George to reconsider the precedence for his older brother, the former Edward VIII.  After his abdication in 1936,  Edward was "relegated to the bottom of the list."

The king's decision to give his brother "individual preference" over Philip was the "result of blood being thicker than water," reports the Chicago Daily Tribune.

The Duke of Edinburgh, a former Greek prince, is a British royal highness, but "he is not by blood a British prince."



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