Forum heading

[memememe]

I know that I am new here but can I ask a question?

Why is this forum headed Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge?

Using that styling for The Duchess of Cambridge is to tell the world that she is the divorced ex-wife of The Duke.  Surely the forum should be headed with their offiical titles - The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (William and Kate) rather than use a style I am sure she believes she will never use - that of a divorced wife of a peer.

It is one of the reasons why people get confused with Sarah, Duchess of York and think that she has title when she is simply using the style of a divorced wife of a peer -

woman's own name + husband's title = they are divorced

[Iseult]

You're right, of course, but I think we all get a bit confused about titles at times. They're a bit of a minefield except to those who really know their stuff inside out - as you seem to do! And in any case, Kate will always be Kate to most people, that's the downside of having gone out with William for almost a decade before their marriage. We've known her so long as Kate Middleton that even the newspapers still call her by her maiden name at times. And before anyone bounces in about 'disrespect', it's nothing of the kind, it's just what everyone seems to call her in ordinary conversation. I've never heard anyone say 'I loved the Duchess of Cambridge's dress, that green one'; they'd say 'I loved Kate Middleton's dress, ...'.

Sorry, think I got side-tracked with my own thoughts there! I'm sure someone will be along to sort out the forum title soon.

[Thain]

There was a vote (in Forum Support) and a lengthy discussion about the forum name. I think the consensus was that people wanted to still use Prince William, which is familiar, and also that they wanted Kate's name included, even though as you say "Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge" is incorrect - she is "The Duchess of Cambridge."
 
I actually registered for the forum just to vote for "Duke and Duchess of Cambridge"! 

[LucyOfTheSky]

I don't understand titles at all.  Can someone tell me why Diana was a princess and Kate is not?  Is it the Queen who gives that title?

[iisuzieii]

From what I understand they shouldn't have been calling her that because she wasn't officially Princess Diana...she married a prince and wasn't born a princess...but sounds better than princess charles.  I do think the forum name should be changed too.

[cinrit]

I don't understand titles at all.  Can someone tell me why Diana was a princess and Kate is not?  Is it the Queen who gives that title?   

Kate is a princess by virtue of being married to Prince William.  She is also a duchess by virtue of being married to William, who is also Duke of Cambridge as well as being Prince William.  Her full title is Her Royal Highness Princess William Arthur Philip Louis, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, Baroness Carrickfergus.

Cindy

[pinkpearls]

If it makes it clearer, a woman has to be BORN a princess to have "princess" preceed their name (Like Princess Beatrice)

Kate is Princess William, but goes by Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

When Kate becomes the Princess of Wales, she will be Catherine, The Princess of Wales - just like Diana was. People who don't know any better assumes Diana was "Princess Diana" and no one could stop it. My guess is that when Catherine becomes the Princess of Wales, she'll be known as "Princess Catherine."

Harry's wife will be "Princess Henry" or (fill in the blank) the Duchess of (fill in the blank)

[memememe]

If it makes it clearer, a woman has to be BORN a princess to have "princess" preceed their name (Like Princess Beatrice)

Kate is Princess William, but goes by Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

When Kate becomes the Princess of Wales, she will be Catherine, The Princess of Wales - just like Diana was. People who don't know any better assumes Diana was "Princess Diana" and no one could stop it. My guess is that when Catherine becomes the Princess of Wales, she'll be known as "Princess Catherine."

Harry's wife will be "Princess Henry" or (fill in the blank) the Duchess of (fill in the blank)

If she is ever officially Catherine with a title she will be divorced.  Diana when married to Charles was HRH The Princess of Wales.  When she included Diana to be Diana, Princess of Wales she was divorced.

Married ladies don't use their own names but their husband's names or titles.

e.g. Catherine is HRH The Duchess of Cambridge - no Catherine at all.  She won't officially use Catherine again until William is King and then she will be HM Queen Catherine but until then no Catherine in her name formally at all.

BP said shortly after the wedding that she was not a princess.  She was a Duchess as the wife of a Duke but is would be 'misleading' to call her Princess William although that would have been her name had William not be created a Duke and that she is definitely not Princess Catherine.

There was a vote (in Forum Support) and a lengthy discussion about the forum name. I think the consensus was that people wanted to still use Prince William, which is familiar, and also that they wanted Kate's name included, even though as you say "Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge" is incorrect - she is "The Duchess of Cambridge."
 
I actually registered for the forum just to vote for "Duke and Duchess of Cambridge"! 

Obviously as someone who joined later I didn't know that.

I will have to just put up with the fact that people here married and divorced her at the same time      .


Double posts merged. Please use the 'modify' feature if you want to post immediately below your post within 20 minutes of your first post.

[Jenee]

Would Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge be more appropriate??? I know that we are all aware that the title of the board is technically incorrect, but people generally refer to Kate as Kate or Catherine, and not as of as The Duchess of Cambridge. So we wanted to keep "Catherine" in the board title.

[memememe]

Would Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge be more appropriate??? I know that we are all aware that the title of the board is technically incorrect, but people generally refer to Kate as Kate or Catherine, and not as of as The Duchess of Cambridge. So we wanted to keep "Catherine" in the board title.

It would be an improvement on using the divorced style.

[Orchid]

We must bear in mind the technicalities of search engines here.  Kate Middleton and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge are the most commonly used search tags and thus we must ensure that the public searching for information on Kate can easily find us using common search tags - even if "technically" the title is incorrect.

'Catherine' needs to remain in the title. 

Jenee, your suggestions is good.  We'll just preface her title with 'The'