It's been one month since Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi exchanged vows at their royal wedding. Those celebrations came less than two years after the marriage of her younger sister Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank – and already their mother, Sarah Ferguson, has expressed her delight at the prospect of one day becoming a grandmother. But would Beatrice and Eugenie's children inherit a royal title? HELLO! investigates…
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Central to the question is the fact that in the UK, titles pass down through the male line, and therefore, if the father does not have a title, neither will the child – regardless of whether their mother is a princess.
The only way Beatrice and Eugenie's children could inherit a title, therefore, is if the Queen bestows an earldom on Edoardo and Jack. But this does seem unlikely now; there is no precedent for them to receive an earldom, and if the monarch had decided to break tradition and grant one, it’s likely this would have occurred at the time of their respective weddings.
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Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank on their 2018 wedding day
Beatrice's children, however, will inherit a title – just not a royal one. Upon her marriage to Edoardo, Beatrice became an Italian 'Contessa' or 'Nobile Donna' (noble woman). Edoardo's father Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi, 68, who descends from Italian aristocracy, told Mail Online prior to the wedding: "Edoardo is the only male descendent taking the family into the next generation. He is a count – his wife will be a countess automatically and any of their children will be counts or nobile donna."
Giving consideration to the male line of title inheritance, the Queen famously bestowed an earldom on Antony Armstrong-Jones following his wedding to Princess Margaret, and as such their children were also in line for titles – their son David is styled the 2nd Earl of Snowdon, and their daughter is Lady Sarah Chatto.
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Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips were married in 1973
In contrast, Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips declined a similar peerage following their 1973 wedding, and therefore their children, Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall ,do not have titles – something they have spoken about in the past.
Zara told The Times in 2015: "I'm very lucky that both my parents decided to not use the title and we grew up and did all the things that gave us the opportunity to do."
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The former couple decided not to bestow royal titles on their two children
Former Buckingham Palace press secretary Dickie Arbiter has previously said: "It was a masterstroke of the Princess Royal when she decided not to give her children titles.
"Growing up as a commoner allowed Zara to thrive as her own woman, and there has never been pressure on her to conform. She has benefited from it in all sorts of ways."
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A notable exception to the royal male line rule is Prince Edward. At the time of his marriage to Sophie, Buckingham Palace released a statement to announce their future titles - which came as a surprise to many royal fans.
Prince Edward with his wife Sophie and their children
It broke with the tradition that children of the monarch were created Dukes upon marriage; Edward became the Earl of Wessex, with the acknowledgement that he will become Duke of Edinburgh after Prince Philip passes away and Prince Charles succeeds the throne.
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It was further announced that the Queen had decided – with the consent of Edward and Sophie – to not confer HRH titles on their future children. Instead, they would be styled as the children of an earl. Lady Louise Windsor and James, Viscount Severn are therefore the first male line descendants not to have royal titles, and the first to be allowed the proper use of the Mountbatten-Windsor family name.
