10 Things That Will Change Once Kate Becomes Queen Consort
At the moment, Prince William is second in line to the British throne, with only his father Prince Charles in front of him. So when Prince William does become king, his wife, Kate Middleton, will be given the title of Queen consort, along with lots of changes for both of them. Here are just a few of the changes that Kate will have to adapt to.
1.Kate will be able to incorporate her name into her title for the first time
At the moment, Kate has the title of “Duchess of Cambridge.” While some fans call her Duchess Catherine, this isn’t technically correct as only blood princesses are allowed to use their first name after their title.
However, this will change when Kate becomes Queen consort. Just like the current monarch’s mother was known as Queen Elizabeth and subsequently the title of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother upon the death of her husband King George VI, Kate will become Queen Catherine when Prince William ascends to the throne.
2.Her job description will change
If you check it now, Kate’s job description describes her as “working in support of The Queen in carrying out Royal duties both at home and overseas.”
This means that she has a duty of attending all garden parties at Buckingham Palace hosted by her Majesty, the monarch’s Trooping the Color birthday parade, and official state banquets. When Prince William becomes King, he will become the one who will have to host these engagements. That means that Kate will have to be by his side in her role as a consort for any event.
“Catherine’s role will certainly change as she will be the consort of the sovereign,” Koenig told Insider.
“There is no real constitutional role for a consort, just by tradition. She will be the first lady of the land, in terms of precedence.”
3.Her workload will increase
If we take a look at the current Queen’s husband, the Duke of Edinburgh and how he fulfilled his role as a consort, it seems that Kate should prepare for a much bigger workload once she becomes Queen. Prince Phillip is patron, president or a member of over 750 organizations and founder of the Duke of Edinburgh awards, while Kate is the only patron of 21 organizations.
Before his retirement back in 2017, the duke carried out a total of 22,219 solo engagements, according to BBC News. As Queen, Kate will have to step up her game and become a patron of an increased number of organizations and carry out a similar number of engagements.
4. She will never have to curtsy again
The current rules for curtsy are that any member of the royal family should curtsy or bow their heads to those who are higher in rank. With her current title, Kate has to curtsy only the Queen, Prince Phillip, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall.
When she becomes the Queen consort, the only person that will be higher in rank will be her husband William, which means that Kate will likely never curtsy again. Instead, now every other member of the royal family will have to curtsy her, such as Meghan Markle or any other Princess.
5.The two of them will have to host the rest of the royal family for Christmas
As it has become tradition, Prince William and Kate will have to host the rest of the royal family during the Christmas holidays, most likely at Sandringham, just like Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip have done very year. Each year the royal family gather and exchange gifts at the Norfolk residence on Christmas Eve, before attending church together on Christmas morning and enjoying a meal together prepared by the royal chefs at the residence that evening.
6 She will be crowned after Prince William’s coronation ceremony
When it comes to coronations, its not protocol for male consorts to be crowned, while it is a tradition for the female consorts. This means that unlike Prince Phillip, Kate will be crowned alongside William.
“Unless decided otherwise, a Queen consort is crowned with the King, in a similar but simpler ceremony,” the royal family’s official website states.
“If the new Sovereign is a Queen, her consort is not crowned or anointed at the coronation ceremony. After the present Queen was crowned The Duke of Edinburgh was the first, after the archbishops and bishops, to pay homage to her.”
7.She will move to Buckingham Palace
Kate and William have already moved quite a few times in their lives, but when William becomes King, they should expect one more.
Buckingham Palace, the 775-room royal residence in London, has been the official residence of Britain’s monarch since 1837. As soon as Prince William is crowned, the whole family will relocate from Kensington Palace to Buckingham Palace, which will bother their home and their administrative headquarters.
If Prince William dies before his wife Kate, then the palace will automatically go to the next monarch, meaning Buckingham Palace will become Prince George’s. In that case, Kate could choose to relocate to any other royal residence, just like the Queen Mother did by moving to Clarence House when the current Queen took the throne.
8.But the palace won’t be her only royal residence
Queen Elizabeth, the current monarch, spends time in a number of royal residences, such as Windsor Castle, Balmoral Castle, Holyrood Palace, and the Sandringham estate. Some of these residences, like Balmoral Castle and Sandringham, are privately owned by the current Queen, so she could decide to leave it to any member of the royal family to inherit it after her death.
Other residences are owned by the crown and are only used by each reigning sovereign. So one might conclude that William and Kate will be using Windsor Castle as their Easter residence, while Holyrood Palace will act as their official residence in Edinburgh, Scotland.
9. Kate could adopt Queen Elizabeth’s “never complain, never explain” mantra
Despite Kate’s representatives at Kensington Palace having a similar “no comment” policy to Buckingham Palace when it comes to dealing with the press, they sometimes make exceptions to the rule.
In recent news, the palace openly criticized the British magazine Tatler for its profile on Middleton, entitled “Catherine the Great”, with a spokesperson describing the article as being filled with “swathe of inaccuracies and false misrepresentations”. It took some time and legal action for the publication to finally be removed from the website that was deemed false and inaccurate.
When she becomes Queen, her whole approach to these kinds of things might change completely. The current Queen rarely engages with the media, having adopted a “never complain, never explain” mantra that was first introduced by the Queen Mother in 1936.
10.Kate will most likely be more informal than our current Queen
“I think it is difficult to predict what her role will be like, but I expect that King William V and Queen Catherine will be far more informal than previous sovereigns and consorts,” a royal expert has stated.
Prince William and Kate have always been trying to be the people’s royals, trying to keep up with current events and be as modern as they can be. They already have that reputation, having made appearances on all kinds of radio shows, podcasts, and TV shows. And they aren’t big fans of royal rules and protocol, as they often stop to speak with a well-wisher during their royal tours and have even taken selfies with fans, something previously unheard of in the royal family as it was strictly against protocol.