The announcement of the former Prince Andrew's new surname carried a mysterious omission - the hyphen.
In 1960 when The Queen made changes to the surname of some of her future descendants when she declared, by Letters Patent, that her descendants, who did not enjoy the style, title or attribute of HRH and the titular dignity of Prince, would be known as Mountbatten-Windsor, with the hyphen.
The recent Press release decreeing Andrew's new name left out the hyphen, where other members of the royal family use the all important 'dash'.
The children of the the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Earl of Wessex and Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, use the hyphen, and from birth until 2022 the children of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Archie and Lilibet, were surnamed Mountbatten-Windsor. However, with the accession of the King to the throne in September, 2022, Harry & Meghan's children became prince and princess, and thus free of a surname, as laid down in 1960 by the late Queen.
In 1973, Princess Anne decided to use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor on her marriage certificate to Capt Mark Phillips. This contradicted the wishes of Queen Elizabeth II because Anne (who signed 'Anne as tradition dictates), was most definitely a HRH and a Princess.
We have some strange rules regarding the hyphen. I was told many years ago that double barrelled names in England should include one, but double barrelled surnames in Scotland do not. However, many English peerages have surnames in a 'hyphen free' zone, and some from o'er the border clearly insert one.
Look at the case of Andrew's grandmother for instance. Was Elizabeth Bowes Lyon born with or without the hyphen? Burke's Peerage gives the Earls of Strathmore one, and Debrett's Peerage and editions of Who's Who leave the hyphen out of the late Queen Mother's family name. Who is right? Certainly, when Lady Elizabeth signed her marriage certificate on her marriage to the then Duke of York in 1923 she left the hyphen out.
The King's great friends the Palmer-Tomkinson's have one, very English of course, but the Dukes of Marlborough are Spencer Churchill without. That great Briton Sir Winston Churchill, officially a Spencer Churchill, chose to drop the double barrel completely, and the Spencer part of the name was side lined to the status of a third Christian name. The Duke of Norfolk, who is head of the College of Arms, is surnamed Fitzalan Howard, without the hyphen. The Dukes Sutherland are Leveson-Gower, with one. The Duke of Hamilton & Brandon, Premier Peer of Scotland, is in all sources given the hyphen in his family name Douglas-Hamilton, further throwing my friend's ruling into disarray.
The hyphen is invariably always inserted where a double barrelled person without the 'dash' is raised to the peerage, -- but this isn't aways the case. Thus, Andrew Lloyd Webber when ennobled became Baron Lloyd-Webber. Yet David Lloyd George, the Liberal statesman and former prime minister, took the title Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor, minus the hyphen.
Her Majesty Queen Camilla spent thirty years as Camilla Parker Bowles, with no hyphen, as wife of Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, scion of the Earls of Macclesfield, who according to my source should have had a hyphen, as coming from an upper class English family.
There are occasions when a first name is shunted into a title. It is for practicality they say, to make clear that two parts form one surname and not the first name and surname. In 1930 the Labour politician Noel Buxton became Lord Noel-Buxton. It’s for practicality, they say, to make clear that the two parts form one surname and not first name and surname. This effectively meant that his name became Noel Noel-Buxton. Similarly, the Labour politician and former foreign secretary George Brown, on accepting a life peerage demanded to be styled 'Lord George Brown', but Garter King of Arms objected. 'Lord George Brown' would be his style if the younger son of a duke or marquess, and Garter baulked at this. And so a compromise was reached. George Brown adopted the surname 'George-Brown' by deed poll and he became 'George George-Brown' and was created Baron George-Brown.
Hyphens do make matters tidier. Was the omission from Andrew's change of status a typo? Or was the lack of hyphen for the former Duke of York an intentional omission to further distance him from his hyphenated kinfolk?
We are now told that after some discussion the missing hyphen will be restored to the disgraced former prince.
-=-
No comments:
Post a Comment