8 LEGAL WORLD LAW IN HEADLINES 24 May 2019 | www.newlawjournal.co.uk

to whom it is appropriate bear the name of Mountbattten-Windsor, while other descendants of simply bear the name Windsor. So the little boy has his surname, but what of his first names, which after his baptism, will be his Christian names? His parents have chosen Archie Harrison. The first name, Archie, is a diminuitive of Archibald, an ancient Scottish name. Are there any precedents? Yes, there are three. The Queen is directly descended from James VI of A prince Scotland, who became the I of England in 1603. James was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and her second husband, Henry Lord in all but Darnley. Henry was the son of Matthew Stewart, and Lady Margaret Douglas. Lady Margaret was the favourite name niece of King Henry VIII, the daughter of the king’s sister Queen Margaret Tudor and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th . Interestingly, when she was A child who is the great-grandson of a reigning Queen could left a widow after the Battle of Flodden in never be anything but royal, as Michael Nash explains 1513, and pregnant with the king’s child, Domic Lipinski/PA/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

© she was left alone as Regent and Protector of Scotland, and looking around the Council he birth and naming of a son to Charlotte or Prince Louis, and it does not espied the handsome, nineteen-year-old Prince Harry and his wife Meghan extend to the children of the second son, Archibald. She fell in love with him, married is certainly in keeping with the line Prince Harry. him in haste, and the result was that she lost Tthey are taking within the Royal However, what has been done by one the Regency and the custody of her sons, and Family. Whichever line they were to take it Sovereign can be changed, amended or gave birth to Archibald’s daughter, Margaret. is inescapable that they are part of the most deleted by another, as the Sovereign is the Unfortunately, the marriage ended in famous and elevated family in the world: who Fount of Honour. (This explains how George acrimony and divorce, and Margaret then are their competitors? VI was able to deprive Wallis Simpson of married a third time, to the Earl of Methven. One of the most interesting spin-offs from the style of Royal Highness, although it was Previously to this, there had been two the population living longer than it did is otherwise wrong in Peerage Law). Queen other Archibalds in the Scots royal family. that we get to know our great-grandchildren, Elizabeth II therefore amended the Letters The eldest son of King Robert III of Scotland, something vouchsafed only to women Patent of December 1917 by making both Prince David, married Marjorie, daughter generally before. Thus did the younger children of Prince William of Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas, know her great-grandchildren, but George Royal Highnesses with the prefix Princess but there was no issue of this marriage, and V and George VI did not. Queen Elizabeth and Prince; but she has not done this with David died in prison in . II and her nonagenarian husband, the the child of Prince Harry, after family Following this, Margaret, the Lady of Duke of Edinburgh, now have eight great- consultation. Galloway, the sister of Prince David and his grandchildren. This may explain why George brother James I of Scots, married Archibald V in 1917 did not provide for the contingency Where does this leave the little son of Douglas, the 4th Earl of Douglas and Duke of great-grandchildren, with regard to titles, Prince Harry? of Touraine (a French title). They did have although there is one important clause in the His surname was already assured by the issue. Archibald, the 5th Earl, married, Letters Patent issued on December 11th of Letters Patent issued by Queen Elizabeth II Euphemia, the great-grand-daughter of that year. This reads as follows: ‘The children in February, 1960. This amended the Letters Robert II, and so also became a (distant) of any Sovereign of the United Kingdom and Patent of George V in July 1917, declaring member of the royal family. the children of the sons of the Sovereign that all of the descendants in this country The Scottish title of Prince Harry is Earl and the eldest living son of the eldest son of the of Queen Victoria should bear the name of Dumbarton, and it was expected that the Prince of Wales, shall have and at all times Windsor in place of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (the little boy would have this title, but at the hold and enjoy the style, title, or attribute of family name of Prince Albert) and various moment he has no style or title. Laudable as Royal Highness, with the titular dignity of other German titles. They would also cease it is to bring royal children up in as ‘normal’ Prince or Princess prefixed to their respective to be Dukes and Duchesses of Saxe-Coburg a way as possible, a child who is the great- Christian names, or with their other titles of and Serene Highnesses or simply Highnesses. grandson of a reigning Queen and who has honour….’ (emphasis added). Now the restricted group of Princes and the surname of Mountbatten-Windsor, could The words in italics (mine) mean that Princesses would only be of the United never be anything but royal. NLJ Prince George, when he was born in 2013, Kingdom. was the eldest living son of the eldest son The Queen amended this law, in Michael L Nash teaches in the Norwich (Prince William) of the Prince of Wales; deference to her husband’s wishes that their Business School in the University of East and therefore he was a prince and a royal descendants should bear his name too, and Anglia & is a judge of the Diocesan Tribunal of highness according to the Letters Patent. so, after 1960, those descendants of Queen East Anglia. A longer version of this article is However, this did not extend to Princess Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh available at www.newlawjournal.co.uk.