to be sad that when the Queen dies it will be kings all the way?

[Incaminka]

I think the Queen should be a feminist icon for her behaviour in her role, (though she can't be a role model as she is in an inherited role.) Kings will get too cosy with Cameron/Blair and the likes.... Long live the Queen!

Although our next 2 monarchs will be Kings, as has already been said, women will no longer be overlooked in succession so from now on we will hopefully see more female monarchs - as has been said if William and Kate's eldest is a female she will be Queen. It is fortunate that the next two Monarchs are obviously male (ie neither have older sisters) because that could have caused some difficultly.
I can't think of another time either when there was both a King and Queen other than William and Mary - unfortunately in that scenario it was Mary who was rightfully Queen in that she was James II's daughter whereas William was his nephew, so technically she should have rightfully ruled on her own merit anyway, i can't remember the reasons why she didn't - but it was a very complex situation when they came to the throne due to the mess James II had made of things.

The Queen's own parents were King George VI and her mother was Queen Elizabeth.
The Duchess of Cambridge will be Queen Catherine to the reigning King (William) when his turn comes.

You had a similar situation in Spain with King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Both were regents in their own rights of different parts of Spain (she of Castille and he of...most of the rest of Spain, but famously Aragon; hence their daughter being Catherine of Aragon, first wife of Henry VIII)

We've had co-Regents here too; William and Mary.

The proposals to change the succession (and I think permit any faith by ending exclusion of Catholics) has been announced, but legislation as not yet been put forward. Until it is passed, boys will take precedence over their elder sisters.

YABU..Purely on the fact you have even given it thought.

I dont see why it matters if we have a king or queen. The job is the same and so are there powers.
If they change the rules so that it is just the first born regardless of sex who becomes the next in line then i could still be alive to see another queen but changing the Act of Settlement is a mine field and i cant see it being done in time for Wiliam and Kate's as yet unconcieved female child to benefit.

If wills and Kate have a dd first than it will inherit the throne. It wasn't just suggested. It was announces a few weeks back than from now the first born will inherit, regardless of gender.
it was all over the news. 'kates dd will be queen' I thought she was already pg and had announced it was a girl. I wondered where she was hiding it. :)

So will camiller ever become queen of consort

They also scrapped the law that says any descendant of king George must have their marriage approves by the monarch. It was early may.
I believe (not sure) that camelia will be princess as she is a divorcee she can not be queen. But that rule may have gone too. Before they got married the rule was that heir to the throne could not marry a divorcee at all, but they got round that one.

The commonwealth approved the changes last year but i dont think we have had the bill go through yet (or maybe we have and i missed it)

YABU purely because the real concern is that currently our head of state is an hereditary position, there would be plenty of chances for a female head of state if we could elect people into the position.

Given the paucity of female prime ministers I'd say we've got more chance of having queens if they're not elected.

If you google will mates dd be queen. The full info comes up. The changes were accepted and will be official before she would have a baby. It was in the papers may 10th. That's how i understood it. It wasn't just a suggestion if was the first steps to making it law.

Philip was offered King Consort but refused, if memory serves.

I disagree noblegiraffe we don't actually get to choose who is prime minister, they are picked by the party with a majority in the House of Commons, generally being the leader of that party. Because politics is still very male dominated the odds are skewed in favour of this resulting in a male prime minister. A president would be elected as an individual so theoretically there is a better chance of a women getting the job.

Rath will kates dd be queen.

Very good point two.

Camilla will be Queen. It was glossed over when she married Prince Charles, that she would be the Duchess of Cornwall instead of Princess of Wales, which sounded as if she was to be less than his wife but - the wife of the King is the Queen and that is that.

"Morganatic Marriage" where the wife of the King does not become Queen was suggested for Mrs Simpson but rejected. Tellingly, it has not been suggested for Camilla. Which I am pleased about. I was sorry for Diana, but divorces do happen, and Charles is happy with Camilla and I think she should be Queen if he is King. I think I would probably also think that if Diana was still alive.

Have they changed it so that the husband of the Queen can be called King?

The proposed changes to the law were first publicised ass a done deal back in October last year, and no objections were raised at CHOGM. But regardless how firm the intention, the change cannot take effect until legislated upon. So as things a Royal DD will still be leapfrogged by her younger brothers, and it will remain the case until an Act is passed.

Camilla could be Queen (consort), but we shall not know what future title she will choose to use (there are a number of options) until it s announced. Nor can we be certain about PoW's choice of regnal name.

CommaderShepard: do you have a link/source for an offer of style "King" being made to the Duke of Edinburgh? (That's a new one on me)

No, Josephine I thought someone had explained it upthread.

The "King" is the monarch.

The "Queen" can be either a female monarch or a consort.

This comes from the days when women were subservient to their husbands. If a man married the Queen, he had a very good chance of styling himself as King. Mary Queen of Scots' useless tosser of a husband, Darnley tried this, and didn't get very far as by then she and everyone else had seen his true colours. The Earl of Bothwell raped Mary in an attempt to get her pregnant so she would have to marry him and he could proclaim himself King. (This is sometimes portrayed as a love affair between them and it is not at all clear what did happen, but it was probably as I have said and she had to pretend not to have been raped in order to maintain some semblance of power and control )

Mary Tudor married King Philip of Spain who called himself King of England, to the people's dismay. Luckily he lost interest in Mary and did not pursue it too much but I think he also tried to marry Elizabeth when Mary died. Elizabeth knew that the only way to not have some bloke muscling in on the act trying to make himself King was not to marry at all.

When Victoria came to the throne she was very young, so things had to be worked out very carefully so that she married someone who would not try to take over. Prince Albert was perfect, he did a lot of the work, but SHE was the monarch. Prince Philip has been similar.

I think Elizabeth is Queen Regnant - and that Regent is a title entrusted to a person appointed temporarily in the case of an underage or incapable sovereign - as the Prince of Wales (later George iv) was appointed during the illness of his father (George iii) - thus we refer to the Regency Period -

I thought the promigeniture law had been passed, but is not retrospective, so will only kick in if W&K's firstborn is a girl?

I always read that Camilla would not be referred to as queen as a nod to Diana. Oh it's bloody complicated. Meh.

I think that Camilla is referred to a Princess of Wales because of Diana.

As Diana was never Queen though, perhaps Camilla will be called that.

Have a feeling Charles will want her to be-but that she wouldn´t care.