Catherine, Princess of Wales has received several titles, decorations and honorary appointments both during her time as Duchess of Cambridge and Princess of Wales. Each is listed below; where two dates are shown, the former indicates the date of receiving the title or award and the latter indicates the date of its loss or renunciation.
Upon her marriage in 2011, Catherine became a princess of the United Kingdom and gained the style of Royal Highness. She also gained the titles of Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn and Baroness Carrickfergus. [1] She was normally known as "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge" except in Scotland, where she was instead called "Her Royal Highness The Countess of Strathearn". [2]
Upon her father-in-law's accession to the throne on 8 September 2022, Catherine also became Duchess of Cornwall as well as Duchess of Rothesay, Countess of Carrick, and Baroness of Renfrew (all in Scotland). [3] [4] [5] She was thus briefly called "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall and Cambridge". [6] On 9 September 2022, the King announced the appointment of William as Prince of Wales, with Catherine thus becoming Princess of Wales. [4] As the wife of the Earl of Chester, she also bears the title Countess of Chester. [5] Catherine is known as "Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales", except in Scotland, where she is called "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Rothesay" instead. [7]
Country | Date | Appointment | Ribbon | Post-nominal letters |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tuvalu | 30 October 2017 | Recipient of the Tuvalu Order of Merit [9] | ||
United Kingdom | 5 December 2017 | Recipient of the Royal Family Order of Queen Elizabeth II [10] [11] | ||
United Kingdom | 29 April 2019 | Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order [12] | GCVO | |
United Kingdom | 23 April 2024 | Royal Companion of the Order of the Companions of Honour [13] | CH |
Decorations and medals (Shown in order in which appointments were made, not order of precedence)
Country | Date | Decoration | Ribbon | Post-nominal letters |
---|---|---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 6 February 2012 | Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal [14] | ||
United Kingdom | 6 February 2022 | Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal | ||
United Kingdom | 6 May 2023 | King Charles III Coronation Medal | ||
Country | Date | University | Degree |
---|---|---|---|
Scotland | 2005 | University of St Andrews | Master of Arts (Hons) [22] |
The British royal family comprises King Charles III and his close relations. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although the Royal Household has issued different lists outlining who is a part of the royal family. Members often support the monarch in undertaking public engagements, and pursue charitable work and interests. Members of the royal family are regarded as British and world cultural icons.
William, Prince of Wales, is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales.
Mary, Princess Royal was a member of the British royal family. She was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, the sister of Kings Edward VIII and George VI, and aunt of Elizabeth II. In the First World War, she performed charity work in support of servicemen and their families. She married Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles, in 1922. Mary was given the title of Princess Royal in 1932. During the Second World War, she was Controller Commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The Princess Royal and the Earl of Harewood had two sons, George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, and The Honourable Gerald Lascelles.
Duke of Cambridge is a hereditary title of nobility in the British royal family, one of several royal dukedoms in the United Kingdom. The title is named after the city of Cambridge in England. It is heritable by male descendants by primogeniture, and has been conferred upon various members of the British royal family several times throughout history.
Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a royal title normally granted to sons and grandsons of reigning and past British monarchs, together with consorts of female monarchs. The title is granted by the reigning monarch, who is the fount of all honours, through the issuing of letters patent as an expression of the royal will.
The use of the title of Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is entirely at the will of the sovereign, and is now expressed in letters patent. Individuals holding the title of princess are styled "Her Royal Highness" (HRH). The current letters patent were issued in 1917 during the First World War, with one extension in 2012.
Earl or Mormaer of Strathearn is a title of Scottish nobility, referring to the region of Strathearn in southern Perthshire. Of unknown origin, the mormaers are attested for the first time in a document perhaps dating to 1115. The first known mormaer, Malise I, is mentioned by Ailred of Rievaulx as leading native Scots in the company of King David at the Battle of the Standard, 1138. The last ruler of the Strathearn line was Malise, also Earl of Caithness and Orkney, who had his earldom forfeited by King Edward Balliol. In 1344 it was regranted by King David to Maurice de Moravia, a royal favourite who had a vague claim to the earldom as Malise's nephew and also stepfather.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne.
Baron Carrickfergus is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom, referring to Carrickfergus in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Its current holder, since its creation on 29 April 2011, is William, Prince of Wales, who was granted the title as a personal gift by Elizabeth II, on the day of his marriage to Catherine Middleton. On the same day he was also created Duke of Cambridge and Earl of Strathearn, with his bride becoming "Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge" as well as Countess of Strathearn and Baroness Carrickfergus as a result of the marriage. Traditionally, when male members of the British royal family marry, they are granted at least one peerage. Catherine uses the title "Lady Carrickfergus" in a fuller version of her titles and styles, Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales, Countess of Strathearn and Baroness Carrickfergus.
The Middleton family is an English family that has been related to the British royal family by marriage since the wedding of Catherine Middleton to Prince William in April 2011, when she became the Duchess of Cambridge. The couple have three children: George, Charlotte and Louis. Tracing their origins back to the Tudor era, the Middleton family of Yorkshire of the late 18th century were recorded as owning property of the Rectory Manor of Wakefield with the land passing down to solicitor William Middleton who established the family law firm in Leeds which spanned five generations. Some members of the firm inherited woollen mills after the First World War. By the turn of the 20th century, the Middleton family had married into the British nobility and, by the 1920s, the family were playing host to the British royal family.
Prince George of Wales is a member of the British royal family. He is the eldest child of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. George is the eldest grandchild of Charles III and second in the line of succession to the British throne behind his father.
Princess Charlotte of Wales is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. A granddaughter of Charles III, she is third in the line of succession to the British throne.
Prince Louis of Wales is a member of the British royal family. He is the third and youngest child of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales. A grandson of Charles III, he is fourth in the line of succession to the British throne.
Portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge is the first official joint portrait of William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, unveiled at the Fitzwilliam Museum on 23 June 2022 in the presence of the couple. Following an idea by Sir Michael Marshall, Jamie Coreth was commissioned in 2021 by the Cambridgeshire Royal Portrait Fund, which is held by the Cambridge Community Foundation, to paint a portrait of the Duke and Duchess as a gift to Cambridgeshire. The portrait will be kept at the Fitzwilliam Museum for three years, but it will be loaned to the National Portrait Gallery, London for a brief period in 2023 to mark its reopening. It will later on be displayed in different places and galleries across Cambridgeshire. The Duke called the painting "amazing" at the unveiling ceremony.