Why is Queen Elizabeth's husband referred to as Prince Phillip instead of King Phillip?

Question

Here in the US we don't have royalty, so I'm unfamiliar with how the system works, but I'm curious.

It seems to me that normally when a king takes a wife she becomes the queen. So why doesn't it work the other way in England? Why isn't the queen's husband called the king?

Answer 1

She is the head of the monarchy by blood, he is not, therefor he cannot be called King as it would make him higher than her, King is higher than Queen.

Answer 2

There is a difference between the Monarch who can be King or Queen or both in the case of William and Mary (who ruled jointly from 1689-1695) and the consort of the Monarch who in the case of the wife of a king could be queen consort.

The husband of a queen doesn't have the right to any title.  He would retain his own (King Phillip of Spain and Queen Mary or Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha who married Queen Victoria).  

Queen Victoria gave Albert the title Prince Consort as well as his own title.

Prince Phillip was a Prince of Greece and Denmark before he married Princess Elizabeth, heiress presumptive to the throne.(only presumptive because if a brother had been produced he would take precedence regardless of age).

  

He renounced his titles eight months before marrying in 1947 so that he could become naturalised British and carry on with his career in the Navy (he could not do it as a foreign national after the war) and even though he would have known he was marrying the Princess everyone expected her father the King to live a long life.

He was created Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich on the eve of his marriage.  

He wasn't created a Prince of the United Kingdom until 1957 10 years after his marriage.  Princess Elizabeth had become Queen 5 years earlier after her father died in 1952.

Other countries with a royal family have a similar tradition.  Look at the Netherlands, they have had three queens in succession - each of their husbands was given the title of Prince whether born to it or not.

Answer 3

Elizabeth II is Queen of the United Kingdom, her husband is titled and styled as HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Elizabeth II inherited the throne through her father, King George VI of the United Kingdom and was named Heiress Presumptive.

Prince Philip was never a "King" to start with, he was married to a princess who was first in the line to the British crown. However, your correct that when a King takes a wife, she becomes The Queen, but this is a different situation.

Although, the Queen could name her husband "King Consort" it is yet still only a "courtsey title." King consort is a title given in some monarchies to the husband of a queen regnant. Nowadays, it is a symbolic title only, the sole constitutional function of the holder being similar to a queen consort, namely to produce an heir to the throne. Spain, Portugal, England and Scotland have all had kings consort, however, since the rank of king normally outranks that of queen, in most monarchies the queen's husband is given the title of prince or prince consort instead.

Answer 4

Because he isn't a King. We only have one Monarch at a time. Kings and Queens reigning together are stuff of fairy tales.

Answer 5

He would then have power over her, which it is not his blood line holding the throne, therefore, he can only be a prince.

Answer 6

coz a king is higher ranking than a queen.

the queen has royal blood, he does not, how could he bocome king and out rank his wife who is the real head of state.

this is the real reason why queen Elizabeth 1st never married coz she was afraid that a husband would in-fact make her redundant

Answer 7

because the King is more powerful than the Queen, so if Philip is King, it mean he's the most powerful one but if he's Prince, a Prince is less powerful than the Queen.

Answer 8

In England there is no dual partnership for reigning our country such as king of England + queen of England,and there can only be one ruler. Elizabeth[queen mother] was a consort to king George V and when he died his wife was not chosen but another member of the royal family who was most eligible and young enough to take the strain..Elizabeth 11 was chosen.  Queen Elizabeth 11 is the direct member of the royal family but prince Phillip cannot sit on the throne and be king.

Answer 9

A Kings wife becomes a Queen but aQueens husband can only be a consort that is because he was not part of the royal family

Answer 10

Kings come from blood lines.  Elizabeth was the blood line, not Phillip.  The Queen's son can become the next king though.

Answer 11

Prince Phillip is not of our realms bloodline, simple

Answer 12

Put simply, he's the Queen's Consort, married to the legitimate monarch, much the same as Prince Albert was to Queen Victoria. To be the king, Phillip would have to have a legitimately stronger claim to the throne than his wife, and for it to be recognised. As he is originally a prince of Greece, rather than the UK, he has no inherited titles, and so the title of Duke of Edinburgh was created for him specially.

Answer 13

I think its because Prince Philip is French and not English Like Queen Elizabeth..  Queen Elizabeth Became Queen at the age of 18, after her father King Albert died...

Answer 14

because he is the queens consort (partner ) not the king

Answer 15

gary w prince phillip is greek not french, she became Queen at 25 and Albert was her grandfather, george vi was her father.

As for being king, he will never be king because he is not part of the blood line. if they had never had children and he became king when she was crowned, then as king is deemed stronger the next to be crowned would be his brother and so the monarchy would follow his blood line, as this is not the done thing, Queens have consorts and not kings, but as king is higher than a Queen then when a king is crowned his wife can become Queen with no threat to  the families blood line, thus resulting in a 'true' monarchy suceeding the king.

Answer 16

Because when our Queen was crowned by the Archbishop in the cathedral as our reigning monarch her husband was NOT crowned therefore cannot be a king.

When Queen Elizabeth's father George the VI was crowned in 1935 his wife was crowned along side of him and so we had a King and Queen.

But if Prince Charles were crowned King his wife will not be able to be crown Queen because she is not of royal blood.