Why is it that William and Mary were King and Queen, but Queen Elizabeth II's husband is just a prince?

Question

Is it something about royal blood marrying royal blood (ie., if a German princess married an English prince, she would become Queen of England when he became King, but if she were simply a Lady/Duchess/etc., she would simply be Princess when he became King?)

Answer 1

The present Queen, Elizabeth the Second, is Queen in her own right. Her husband is the Queen's consort and is not entitled to be styled King. But when a King succeeds to the throne his wife takes the title of Queen because this is the title bestowed on the King's consort. The same thing happens lower down in the British Peerage. If a man is created Lord x*x, his wife becomes Lady x*x. But if a woman is created Lady x*x in her own right, her husband remains Mr x*x.

Among monarchy titles, King is the highest and has the most authority therefore Prince Philip is not a king because if he was he would technically rank higher than the Queen in precedence.

Answer 2

William & Mary were a special case - their claim to the throne of England came through Mary, who was the daughter of James II, the king they overthrew.  William's claim to the British throne was weak, but he had the troops and Mary insisted that he be given equal status as co-monarch with her.

Answer 3

Because when Elizabeth became Queen back in 1952, nobody trusted Phil the Greek so he was held at the 'Prince' level. Nobody trusts him today.

Answer 4

Oh dear, more rubbish from answerers who know nothing about it and just make things up, except for jeremy_hancock (answerer 4).

It has nothing to do with blood, and everything to do with Parliament.

In 1689 Parliament declared Mary the rightful heir to the throne, but she refused to become Queen unless her husband William was made King. Parliament decided to agree, and maybe William's already high rank in the Netherlands made it easier for them to decide, but it was their decision.

Elizabeth was equally the rightful heir in 1952, and she waited for 5 years before asking Parliament to give her husband any higher title than he had when they were first married. So she and Philip must have agreed what to ask for, and been pretty sure that Parliament would okay it. He became The Prince Philip, instead of just the Duke of Edinburgh.

There has never been any problem about Parliament granting a King's wife the title of Queen, and her previous rank would have nothing to do with their decision anyway. Charles and Camilla have decided to ask them only to approve of the title "Princess Consort" when the time comes, but it's not because they think "Queen" might cause Parliament any problem.

Answer 5

I  have the  answer  for  you.  First,  William  and  Mary  were  the  King and  Queen  consort  of  the  Netherlands  in  the  late  17th  century.  When  Oliver  Crowell   who  was  the mastermind  behind  the  English  Civil  war  was  executed,  Parliament  wanted  to  reestablish  the  monarchy,  but  not  have  be  like  it  was  with  an  all  powerful  monarch  looked  to  the  Netherlands.  At  the  time,  the  Netherlands   was  one  of  a  few  counries  that  had  a   constitutional  monarchy.  William  and Mary  of Orange, ( The  royal  house  of the  Netherlands  is  known  as  the House  of Orange-Nassau.  Not  to  be  confused  with  the  House  of  Nassau which  is  the  name  of the  Monarchy  in  Luxembourg)  were  popular  in their  home  nation.  The English  saw  how  successful  the  constitutional  Monarchy  system  was  working  in Holland,  they  felt  it  would  be   good  for  them.  Also  the  time  of  All powerful  kings  was  about  to  come  to  and  end , by  the  end of  18th,  the  last  vestiage  of  the old  gaurd,  the  French royal  system  was  exterminated.  Anywhoo,  By  1688,  the  English  were  flourishing  under  a system  where   the  palace and Parliament  worked  in conjunction  with  each  other  and  the people  had  much more  of  a  voice.  

The  reason  why  Queen  Elizabeth's  husband,  Prince Philip  isn't  a  king  consort  is  because  there  isn't  such  a title.  And  say  for  argument's sake   there  was,  since he  wasn't  born  in England  and  part  of  the  Brit  aristocracy,  he  would  have  the  title  he  has now.  He  had  to  give  up  his  Greek  citizenship  and  title of  Prince  of   Greece  before  he married  the then  Princess  Elizabeth  in 1947.  The  only  spouse of  a  ruling  European  queen  that  has  the  title  Prince  consort  is  Queen  Margarethe  of Denmark's  husband  Prince  Henrik,  {The  Prince  is  actually  French  aristocracy,  his  first  name in French  is  Henri). It  is not  necessarily  true  that  if   Queen  Elizabeth  had  been  a  Lady  or  Duchess  and  Prince  Philip  was  heir  to the  Brit throne  that  she  would  be known  as  Princess  if he  ascended  the  throne.   Take  Diana  for example,  obviously  if  her  and  Charles's  marriage  had  worked  out  and  he ascended  the  throne, she  would be  Queen  of  England.

And  that  would  be regardless  if  she was or  wasn't  born  into  English  Aristocracy.  Queens  Sofia  of  Spain,  Sonja  of Norway,  Paola of  Belgium  and  Silvia  of Sweden   all  weren't  born  in the nations where they  are   queen  consorts.  In  fact,  only  queen  Sonja  of  Norway  is  the  only  native  born  queen  who  married  a  king  of  a  European  country.  Queen  Sofia's  father,  King  Paul  of  Greece  was  the  oldest  brother  of  Prince  Philip's  father,  Prince Andrew,  {The  Duke  of  York  was  named  after  his  paternal  grandfather).

The  then  Princess  Sofia  of  Greece  married  the crown  prince  Juan  Carlos  of  Spain  in  1963. Queen  Silvia of  Sweden  was  born in  Germany  and  met  the then Crown  Prince  Carl  Gustaf  at  the  1972  Munich  olympics  where  she  was  a  translator.  And King Albert  of Belgium's wife  Queen  Paola  was  born  into  a  aristocratic  family  in Italy.  

Technically,  when  Charles  ascends  the  throne,  Camilia will  be  Queen  Camilia,  but  it  was  decided  by both  Charles  and Camilia  that  when  he  ascends  the throne,  she  will  be  known as  her present  title, the Duchess  of  Cornwall.

Hope this helps

Answer 6

Because she is a queen in her own right, so giving her husband the title of king would in fact place him above her in rank.

Answer 7

The simple answer is that Queen Elizabeth was the eldest child of the late King and and because she did not have any brothers, that made her the legal heir to the British Throne. Had she had a brother younger than her he would have become the next King because of the rules of inheritance.  She became Queen on the death of her father and her husband remained a Prince because to have made him a King would have meant that he outranked her.

Useful info here...

http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page5655....