What Will Kate Middleton Be Called When Prince William Ascends the Throne? Title Change Explained
Princess Kate Middleton will be getting a title change when her husband, Prince William, becomes the King of England.
Royal historian Marlene Koenig confirmed to Hello! Magazine that Kate will become Queen Catherine. While she will be the sixth Catherine in royal family history, because she’s a queen consort, Kate, 42, will not have a regnal number adjacent with her name.
Koenig, who is also the founder of the Royal Musings blog, explained that only the sovereign gets a number after their name. Once William, 41, takes the throne, his name will become King William V.
Earlier this month, editor and royal expert Tina Brown mused that William is “in frightening proximity to ascending the throne” amid King Charles III’s ongoing cancer battle.
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“The prospect of it, I am told, is causing them intense anxiety,” Brown stated in an opinion piece written for The New York Times. Charles, 75, went public with his cancer diagnosis on February 5. More than a month later, it was also revealed that Kate was undergoing treatment for cancer as well. (Further details about both of their illnesses have yet to be revealed.)
Brown, the author of The Diana Chronicles, also noted that William and Kate “hoped for a span of years to parent their children out of the public eye,” but if the Prince of Wales becomes king, things will change.
Brown subsequently shared that the future of the monarchy is in Kate’s hands.
“Catherine is the most popular member of the royal family after William,” the journalist wrote in the NYT. “The future of the monarchy hangs by a thread, and that thread is her.”
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Royal historian Gareth Russell further speculated to Us Weekly that the slimmed-down monarchy is “not what was intended” by Charles when it was originally proposed before he took the throne.
“If you are to use the metaphor, the monarchy is underweight at this stage, it was never intended to reach the levels that it did,” Russell explained to Us. “It was always anticipated that you would have [King] Charles III with three working siblings and two working children and their wives, and that that would be a sustainable footing for the monarchy going forward.”
Russell was, of course, referring to the deaths of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, along with the loss of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who stepped down from their royal family duties.
“So at the minute we’re looking at a monarchy that really was just holding it together in terms of the number of functions they had to attend and events, overseas visits and particularly their charitable and military obligations,” he added.
