Duchess of Cornwall

Duchess of Cornwall
Duchess of Cornwall
	Incumbent; Camilla; since 9 April 2005
Style	Her Royal Highness
Member of	British royal family
Term length	As long as married to the Duke of Cornwall

Duchess of Cornwall is a courtesy title held by the wife of the duke of Cornwall. The Dukedom of Cornwall is a non-hereditary peerage title held by the British monarch's eldest son and heir. The current duchess is Camilla, wife of Charles, Prince of Wales.^[1]

History[]

Duchess of Cornwall was one of the titles of Diana, Princess of Wales.^[2]

The only women who have been known as duchesses of Cornwall are Princess Mary of Teck, who used the title from January to November 1901, and Camilla Parker Bowles, who assumed title upon her marriage to Prince Charles in 2005. The latter does not use the title of Princess of Wales because it is still popularly associated with her husband's first wife, Diana, who died in 1997.^[3]

Duchesses of Cornwall[]

Name	Birth	Marriage	Became Duchess of Cornwall	Spouse	Change in style	Death
Joan, 4th Countess of Kent	19 September 1328	10 October 1361		Edward of Woodstock	7 June 1376 Husband's death; became Dowager Duchess of Cornwall	7 August 1385
Lady Anne Neville	11 June 1456	13 December 1470		Edward of Westminster	4 May 1471 Husband's death; became Dowager Duchess of Cornwall; later became Queen Consort as the wife of Richard III	16 March 1485
Infanta Catherine of Aragon	16 December 1485	14 November 1501		Arthur Tudor	2 April 1502 Husband's death; became Dowager Duchess of Cornwall; later became Queen Consort as the wife of Henry VIII	7 January 1536
Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach	1 March 1683	22 August 1705	1 August 1714	Prince George	11 June 1727 Husband acceded to throne as George II; became Queen Consort	20 November 1737
Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg	30 November 1719	17 April 1736		Prince Frederick	31 March 1751 Husband's death; became Dowager Duchess of Cornwall	8 February 1772
Duchess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel	17 May 1768	8 April 1795		Prince George	29 January 1820 Husband acceded to throne as George IV; became Queen Consort	7 August 1821
Princess Alexandra of Denmark	1 December 1844	10 March 1863		Prince Albert Edward	22 January 1901 Husband acceded to throne as Edward VII; became Queen Consort	20 November 1925
Princess Mary of Teck	26 May 1867	6 July 1893	22 January 1901	Prince George	6 May 1910 Husband acceded to throne as George V; became Queen Consort	24 March 1953
Lady Diana Spencer	1 July 1961	29 July 1981		Prince Charles	28 August 1996 Divorced; assumed the style of Diana, Princess of Wales^[4]	31 August 1997
Camilla Parker Bowles	17 July 1947	9 April 2005		Prince Charles	Incumbent

Literary references[]

Shakespeare's King Lear includes the character "Regan, Duchess of Cornwall", Lear's second daughter.
Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon included the fictional character Morgaine as the Duchess of Cornwall through inheritance.
Igraine, mother of King Arthur, was Duchess of Cornwall when she caught the eye of King Uther Pendragon in many retellings of Arthurian legend.

References[]

^ "House of Commons – Royal Marriage". parliament.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
^ Hall, Trevor (1985). Story of Diana. Crescent Books. ISBN 0517463172.
^ "The Royal Title that Camilla and Princess Diana Shared". Harper's Bazaar. 13 November 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2019. When she married Prince Charles, "Camilla was not popular or well liked, [though] this has changed a lot since the marriage as Camilla has taken on a lot of patronages and Charles is a lot happier," [Marlene] Koenig says. "Still, [there was] a lot of tension and anger among a certain element of the population—so it was decided that Camilla would be styled as the Duchess of Cornwall, even though, of course, she is the Princess of Wales."
^ The press secretary to the Queen. "DIVORCE: STATUS AND ROLE OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES". PR Newswire. Buckingham Palace. Retrieved July 9, 2015.

External links[]

[parliament-1] "House of Commons – Royal Marriage". parliament.uk. Retrieved 23 March 2019.

[2] Hall, Trevor (1985). Story of Diana. Crescent Books. ISBN 0517463172.

[3] "The Royal Title that Camilla and Princess Diana Shared". Harper's Bazaar. 13 November 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2019. When she married Prince Charles, "Camilla was not popular or well liked, [though] this has changed a lot since the marriage as Camilla has taken on a lot of patronages and Charles is a lot happier," [Marlene] Koenig says. "Still, [there was] a lot of tension and anger among a certain element of the population—so it was decided that Camilla would be styled as the Duchess of Cornwall, even though, of course, she is the Princess of Wales."

[4] The press secretary to the Queen. "DIVORCE: STATUS AND ROLE OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES". PR Newswire. Buckingham Palace. Retrieved July 9, 2015.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t British royal titles
List of British monarchs List of British royal consorts
Titles	Monarch of the United Kingdom Prince Princess Prince of Wales Princess Princess Royal Royal Dukedoms Duke of Cambridge Duke of Cornwall Duchess Duke of Edinburgh Duchess Duke of Gloucester Duke of Kent Duchess Duke of Sussex Duke of Rothesay Duke of York Duchess Earl of Wessex
Inactive	Duke of Albany Duke of Clarence Duke of Clarence and Avondale Duke of Clarence and St Andrews Duke of Connaught and Strathearn Duke of Cumberland (Duchess) Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh Duke of Kendal Duke of Kent and Strathearn Duke of Lancaster Duke of Ross Duke of Windsor Duke of York and Albany