Changes in Royal Titles

Changes in Royal Titles.

An interesting writer has lately pointed out that the children of Prince Arthur, the only son of the Duke of Connaught, who is himself third son of the queen, will no longer be "Royal Highnesses," but merely nobles; and should these children have children they will be obliged to content themselves with the commonplace prefix "Mr." It is this fact that has induced the queen to issue letters patent, under the seal, declaring that the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales shall have, and at all times hold and enjoy, the style, title or attribute of "Royal Highness." Hitherto these children of the Duke of York had no right to being so termed. They were just plain princes, and their children would fare no better than their cousins of Connaught. This state of affairs results from the queen living to see three generations of her direct heirs, and it doubtless set her to thinking how Grandpapa Wales would like having an untitled great-grandson, with no place in the royal procession. Until the issue of these letters patent, little Eddie, David and Baby Victoria were nothing but commoners in the eyes of the law. It seems odd to Americans that this decree of the queen's should have lifted quite a weight from the Wales' and Yorks' hearts; but what say the Connaughts to being left out in the cold with their plain "Your Grace" and "Mr?" They haven't been benefitted, and what is to become to them a hundred years hence?