British Monarchy: Why is Prince Phillip not a king?

Question

I am somewhat aware of how the British monarchy works, but why is it that Prince Phillip is not King when Elizabeth is the queen? Is it because he was not born a prince? If Prince William were to marry a born princess, would she then become queen when he becomes king?

Answer 1

Prince Philip is not the King because he is not the ruler of the country. He could have been named the King Consort, but for various reasons that was not done. When Prince William becomes King, his wife will be Queen, whether or not she's a born princess. Queen Elizabeth II's mother became Queen when her husband became King, and she was not royalty.

Answer 2

Elizabeth was HEIR to her father King George VI. Philip is simply a spouse of royal birth(the Danish prince is form the Royal House of Schlesweig-Holstein-

Sonderburg-Glucksburg) who was not in direct line of succession to the throne. In the United Kingdom, the spouse of the reigning queen is called "Prince Consort."He is not called "King Consort" because the United Kingdom does not use that title. The reasoning is that the title of king assumes the monarch and this won't do because the monarch is a queen.And as long as there is a Queen Regent,no one can bear a title that is as high as her's;the title king is considered a higher title.

William's wife will wear her husband's titles upon marriage.It doesn't matter if she was a born royal,a woman simply takes her husband's titles upon marriage. If William were to marry a princess,the chances are that she'd be foreign-born,like Philip,and would have to assume British titles. And yes,she becomes Queen when he becomes King.

Answer 3

Under the standards, a wife rises to her husband's position but a man does not rise to his wife's position.  Thus the wife of a King is a Queen.  The husband of a Queen is a Prince Consort.  Princess Ann's husbands were commoners.  Prince Philip was given a style of royal highness because he was about to marry the heir apparent to the throne.  Her majesty's late sister's ex-husband was only granted the title of earl as a courtesy.

As Prince William is a male, his wife will be a queen when he takes the throne.

Answer 4

It's because a King is seen as being of higher rank than a Queen, therefore because Elizabeth II is the Monarch she has a higher title than her husband.  Prince William's wife would be called Queen.

Answer 5

He was born a Greek prince, the Queen has more of the correct genealogy for a British monarch that is why

Answer 6

Everybody above me answered this question correctly.  

For a joke, maybe you want to choose me as "best answer".

Answer 7

he married into the family

Answer 8

Because there is no title of King consort in Britain.  there are two kinds of Queens, queen consorts who become Queen because they marry a King, and Queen Regnants, who become Queen becuase they inherit the throne in their own right.  There have not been many queen regnants in history, becuase generally the throne goes to a son, and only to a daughter if there is no son to inherit.

Queen Victoria, who was the last Queen Regnant in British history before our present Queen, wanted her husband Prince Albert to have the title of King consort, but parliament would not allow it.  So he became the Prince Consort.

Answer 9

Prince Philip WAS born a Prince. Men can only hold noble and regal titles in their own right. Prince Philip is a prince in his own right (he was formerly the crown prince of Greece but had to renouncehis greek titles and claim to the throne and after ten years was made a Prince of the United Kingdom). If Prince William marries his wife when he inherits the throne will be Queen consort. This does not mean however his wife will be Queen Regent like the present Queen - a Queen consort like a First Lady has no powers or offical role beyond that of escorting the Head of State to ceremonial functions. If Prince Philip had been a commoner in his own right he would not have any titles at all. In addition to Prince he also holds the Dukedom of Edinburgh.

Answer 10

He was born a prince of Greece. But as a queen regent's husband, he is titled prince consort. The title king consort hasn't  been in use since Mary I of England I believe, given to her husband, Phillip II of Spain. I'm not 100% sure but Queen Victoria might have wanted to title her husband King Consort but wasn't approved by parliament. Usually a king is ranked above queen, but since Britian currently doesn't have a reigning king but a queen, he is offered the title prince consort as to not outrank Queen Elizabeth II.

Prince William's wife will definitely be titled Queen of Great Britian.

Answer 11

Traditionally, a wife takes her rank from her husband and not vice-versa. While there have been king consorts in England, Scotland and Ireland (predecessor realms to the United Kingdom) and of other nations, the style has fallen out of fashion, especially as attitudes about women have changed. Any queen was usually expected to marry and she could have expected a king consort to take a hand in the government or to oversee it entirely.

Such is not the case anymore and although Queen Victoria suggested for Albert to be named King Consort, that's the last it was ever heard of in the United Kingdom.

Prince William could marry a princess or he could marry a commoner. Either way, she will become queen. On the continent, however, there was a concept of morganatic or unequal marriage where the wife and issue of a king or other ruler would not share his titles or be in succession. This is not observed in the United Kingdom with the sole issue of the one political instance involving the abdication of Edward VIII.

OldLady, Philip is descended from British monarchs. His great-great-grandmother was Queen Victoria. Furthermore, he is descended from the first Hanoverian (George I) king of Great Britain nine times. And George I is descended from kings of England, so...

Answer 12

In terms of precedence a King is higher than a Queen, which means that in every case where there is a King and a Queen, the King would outrank the Queen. When it is a Queen who holds the throne in her own right (a Queen regnant, like the present Queen Elizabeth II), her consort has been referred to as a Price to make the point that it is she that takes precedence. Therefore, the Queen Mother was Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth (Queen to King George VI), but Queen Victoria's husband was Prince Albert and Queen Elizabeth II's husband is Prince Philip.

The only example where both a King and a Queen have held the throne is with King William and Queen Mary at the end of the 17th century. This was because they held the throne jointly.

Answer 13

Prince Phillip is not the king because he is not descended from a king of England. He is the Queen's consort. That's all. Prince is an honorary title.

Queen is the name given to the King's wive, although it should actually be Queen Consort.

If Prince William were to marry anyone, commoner, royalty, martian or what have you, she would become Queen when he becomes King. But if he died, because she was an 'honorary' queen, she would not be entitled to rule in his place.

Answer 14

Prince Philip was born a Prince of Greece and Denmark not the UK. But as he and the Queen are third cousins (both descended from Queen Victoria) he is in the line of succesion but far down.

The Queen was the eldest daughter of the previous king and had no brothers so she was heiress-presumptive until she inherited (there is no such thing as an heiress-appearent in the UK). The husabnd of a Queen Regnant is a Prince unless he is King of another country (e.g. King Philip II of Spain was the consort of Mary I).

However, the consort of a King is always a Queen Consort. If Prince William was to marry anyone she would become Queen Consort when he ascended to the throne whether or not she was titled before they married.