Can England ever have both a queen and king in reign at the same time?

Question

If so would it be incest?

Answer 1

Carl C is talking rubbish. Charles and Camilla weren't "married in a morganatic marriage ceremony", because no such thing exists or ever has existed in English or Scottish law. (Nor is it ever likely to, since the principle underlying morganatic marriage is the idea that a true marriage can only be contracted between social equals, and therefore if a royal gets together with a non-royal their relationship can't be  a "real" marriage. On that basis, Charles' and Diana's marriage would have had to have been morganatic.)

If Camilla is Charles' wife when he inherits the crown she will, in law, be Queen. Nothing can make her not-queen, although she might not have a coronational ceremony if enough idiotic Dianamaniacs are likely to object.

Answer 2

Yes, it has happened before. James II usurped the power of Parliament and was promptly removed. His daughter and her husband became joint monarchs, Mary II and William III.

The world owes a lot to William and Mary. It was in 1688, during their reign, that democracy came to Britain when Parliament was made sovereign.

Answer 3

William and Mary were joint monarchs.  No, it wasn't incest as they were related only by marriage.

Answer 4

what a bunch of ballak, they would not be enjoined my marriage, but by title

Answer 5

A brother and sister could not occupy the throne, there is always one that is elder. or a male.

William and Mary became joint monarchs because her Father, James II, was unacceptable as a catholic, and his mother Mary was the eldest daughter of the previous king Charles I so he was her heir.

It was widely believed that he was g*y, attracted to his Dutch courtiers, and they had no children. After Mary died, William reigned alone for some years, then bequeathed the throne to his sister in law Anne, who was probably one of the least effective monarchs ever.

Maybe William should have forced himself to conceive an heir?

Answer 6

Yes. King William (I think the Third) was a king, while Queen Mary the 2nd was the queen. That happened at the end of the 17th Century.

Answer 7

Idiot.

Answer 8

The only time England has had a co-regency was during the joint reign of William and Mary, who were sovereigns of equal rank for both the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland.  Mary Tudor's husband, Prince Philip of Spain, who was later King Philip of Spain, held the title "King of England", and treaties between Spain and England at the time of their marriage ensured that Mary and Philip had the joint authority to call Pariament into session, but in practice, Philip's authority was extremely limited.  

Precedence ensures that should a woman ascend to the Throne of the United Kingdom, her husband will have very limited powers.  Prince Albert, for example, eventually became "Prince Consort" in 1857; however, Prime Melbourne counselled Queen Victoria very early in her reign to grant her husband very limited powers.  Parliament balked at making him a peer.

Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, has never been granted the title of "Prince Consort", although upon Her Majesty's succession, the Queen announced that Prince Philip would have "place, pre-eminence, and precedence" next to her as a "first gentlemen", Prince Philip's rank taking precedence over the heir apparent, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales.  The day before the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, George VI granted his future son-in-law the right to be called "His Royal Highness"; and the morning of the marriage, Philip was granted the titles Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron of Greenwich.Prince Philip' s uncle, The Earl of Mountbatten, urged that the couple take the name the House of Mountbatten, but Prime Minister Winston Churchill advised the Queen that they and their descendants should remain the House of Windsor.  When Commonwealth Prime Ministers for Canada and South Africa expressed misgivings about granting Prince Philip any titles similar to "Prince Consort", the Queen dropped the matter. 

In February 1957, Prince Philip became a "Prince of the United Kingdom".  In 1960, the Palace announced that their descendants not in the immediate line for succession would take the surname "Mountbatten-Windsor".  The Queen  and the Duke of Edinburgh greet foreign dignitaries together, and the Duke carries out a separate social agenda, but he very much remains a second banana, who walks behind the Queen, hands clasped behind his back. 

Bottomline: Because of the limitations placed upon Prince Albert and Prince Philip, as long as there is a constitutional monarch in the United Kingdom, it is highly doubtful that a qeen and king will reign at the same time.

Answer 9

Of course it can!

The present queen's father was King GeorgeVI while his wife was Queen Elizabeth.

Every King's wife has been crowned Queen Consort, but that will not be the case if Charles succeeds his mother as king. Camilla will never be crowned queen.  She has chosen to be known as HRH The Princess Consort, and they were married in a morganatic marriage ceremony, in which his mother, Queen Elizabeth was not even in attendance, although she did attend the blessing ceremony afterward.

The title of queen has two rather different meanings in English (in royal contexts):

1. Queen = Queen Regnant - that is a woman reigning in her own right because there was no sufficiently close male heir. The present queen, Elizabeth II, is an example of a Queen Regnant, so was Victoria.

2. Queen = Queen Consort - that is the wife of a reigning king. For example, Queen Mary was the Consort of George V.

Answer 10

The wife of a King is known as the Queen consort, but she is not the reigning monarch.

The only time we have ever had a real joint monarchy was the reign of William and Mary in the late 17th century.  William refused to reign as Mary's consort, he wanted to be her equal