The Prince Consort

A prince consort is the husband of a queen regnant who is not himself a king in his own right. In recognition of his status, a prince consort may be given a formal title, such as Prince or Prince Consort, with Prince being the most common. However, most monarchies do not have formal rules on the styling of princes consort, thus they may have no special title. Few monarchies use the title of King Consort.

Prince Consort (capitalized) is a formal title, and Prince Albert is the only spouse of a British queen to have held it. The title was awarded to him in 1857 by his wife, Queen Victoria (reigned 1837–1901). In 2005, Prince Henrik, the spouse of Margrethe II of Denmark, was awarded the title, but in 2016, he announced that he objected to it and would not be using it. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (prince consort of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth realms) is a Prince of the United Kingdom but is not titled as Prince Consort.

The distinction between the title of prince consort and king is very important in the British patriarchal hierarchical system. Within this hierarchy, the king holds a higher position in the British social hierarchy. Thus, more power is attributed to him. In cases where the hereditary monarch is female, such as Queen Victoria, who ascended to the throne in 1837, power is attributed to the queen, for she holds the highest position in the absence of a king.

Neither the descriptive phrase princess consort nor the title of Princess Consort has yet been used in Western monarchies, since dynastic wives of kings have instead been styled as queen consort, often with the title of Queen. However, Clarence House has announced that if Charles, Prince of Wales, becomes monarch of the United Kingdom, his second wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, will have the title of Princess Consort rather than Queen.

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