What is a consort? In this case, the question is more suitable, who is this? After all, we are talking about a person, or rather, about the status associated with the life of monarchs. About who this consort will be described in detail in the article.
Definition
The meaning of the word "consort" is as follows. This is usually called the spouse of the queen in power, who is not a sovereign monarch in her own right. An exception would be the case when he is the king of another country. His destiny, as a rule, is only representative functions. Most often, such a person is called a prince-consort, sometimes - a prince, prince-spouse, king-spouse. His title is Royal Highness.
Examples
Modern consort princes are:
- husband of Elizabeth II, Queen of Great Britain, Duke of Edinburgh Philip;
- the husband of Margrethe II, the Danish queen, Henrik of Denmark (died this year).
If the queen passes away, the consort does not become king; he just remains a prince.
The spouse of the king may also have a similar status. In this case, she receives the title of Queen Consort. An example is the wife of Willem II of Orange, king of the Netherlands, who ruled in the middle of the 19th century, Anna Romanova.
To understand who this consort is, you need to consider the history of the issue.
Who is the reigning queen?
The status of the Prince Consort is granted to the spouse of the reigning queen, who is a female monarch in her own right. She has sovereign power, applying it, in contrast to the person who is the wife of the ruling king. The latter shares the royal title and title, but does not have real power, does not share sovereignty. Also, the prince consort does not share the sovereignty of the reigning queen.
In history, you can find examples of women rulers in ancient Egypt, in European countries and Pacific cultures, who received titles identical to those of the ruler of a particular state. For example, the title of Pharaoh.
Irina, the Byzantine empress, called herself “emperor” (basileus), and not “empress” (basilissa). Jadwiga (Queen of Poland) was crowned “King of Poland”. The only ruler of Judea was Calvary, the reigning queen. These reigning queens today are the already mentioned Elizabeth II and Margrethe II, whose spouses are consort princes.
Continuing to consider the question of what “consort” means, it would be advisable to say about one of them.
Husband of the british queen
Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Consort - this is an odious figure. He himself is an interesting person, but he failed to realize himself. He is a former Greek prince. In 1922, a military coup took place in Greece, and the royal family was forced to leave the country.
At the time of his marriage to Elizabeth, the heiress of the British crown, Philip is a brave naval officer. When he transferred to the status of spouse of the queen, he had to fade into the background. Although the external picture was quite decent. Always and everywhere, Philip accompanied his spouse. The couple had four children, and the prince took up most of his parental duties, realizing that his wife was the current monarch, although limited by the constitution.
However, because of the veil of external prosperity, rumors began to leak out about the Prince Consort's dissatisfaction with his fate, which began to manifest itself in the form of his “riots”. More than once, he went on cruises in the company of cheerful friends, made attempts to open a documentary studio in Buckingham Palace in order to make films here telling about the fate of orphans.
Often, Prince Philip was unrestrained in public, and his entourage more than once managed to smooth out unpleasant situations. At the same time, the young handsome did not differ in marital fidelity. Everything went so far that the queen was ready to divorce in the 50s of the last century.
However, the representatives of the royal family intervening in the relationship of the spouses managed to dissuade Elizabeth from this decisive step. At the same time, the prince was obliged to be more restrained and respect decency.
Today this marriage lasts more than 60 years. Philip, contrary to his old age and health problems, performed his representative duties, but in 2011 during the celebration of the 90th anniversary he declared his desire to reduce his public functions. Since 2017, he only accompanies the queen at public events.