The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-11-12 00:00:00

STYLE AND DIGNITY OF THE PRINCE OF WALES

It is generally thought that the style and dignity of the
Prince of Wales are inherited by the heir-apparent to the
throne. This opinion naturally enough has arisen from the
fact, that very soon after his birth (or the accession of his
predecessor to the crown, as the case may be) the heir appa-
rent has for a long period received the title of Prince of
Wales. The Dukedom of Cornwall is his by inheritance,
and, of course, like all sons of the Sovereign, he is a Prince
by birth. The practice is, that he should be created Prince
of Wales and Earl of Chester, by special patent, but no
creation is required for the purpose of enabling him to assume
the dignity of Duke of Cornwall ; and therefore the eldest
son of the Sovereign cannot properly be styled otherwise
than Duke of Cornwall until after the usual patents of crea-
tion pass through the customary forms.
Edward 11. was the first Prince of Wales, at least in the
modern sense of the word—that is, he was the first of the
English Royal Family who bore the title ; and George IV.
was the last of those illustrious personages on whom the dig-
nities of Prince of Wales, &c., were conferred.
The eldest son and heir apparent of the Sovereign is, with
respect to the Duchy of Cornwall, not subject to all the inci-
dents of minority, though he necessarily acts under the ad-
vice and direction of his friends. On the death of the eldest
son of the Monarch without issue, the second inherits the
dukedom ; but if he (the eldest son) should leave issue, then
the dukedom will revert to the Crown, so that in order to
possess a legal right to this title, the Prince claiming it must
be eldest son or eldest surviving son of the Sovereign, and
at the same time heir apparent. Thus, any son of the Mo-
narch might possibly become Duke of Cornwall, but none of
his grandchildren could, during his lifetime, succeed to that
title. George 111., though Prince of Wales for ten years,
was never Duke of Cornwall. except during the short time
that elapsed between his accession to the throne in October,
1760, and the birth of his eldest son (12th of August, 1762),
for George 111. succeeded, not his father, but his grand-
father. The first Duke of Cornwall was the illustrious son
of Edward 111. That renowned Prince, _

-" Britain's hope and France's fear,
" Victor of Cressy and Poictier,"
received the title in 1337.
As the eldest sons of the Kings of Scotland have borne the
titles of Duke of Rothsay, Earl of Carrick, and Baron Ren-
frew, those dignities are also usually attributed to the Prince
of Wales. We need scarcely inform our readers, that, though
of the highest rank in the next realm after the Queen, he is
still only a subject, but he enjoys many privileges. To con-
trive or design his death, (as the lawyers say, " to compass
or imagine his death"), or to violate the chastity of his con- '
sort, is as much high treason as in the case of a King or
Queen. The heir apparent sits on the right hand of the
Monarch upon all occasions of state and ceremony,
When Edward I. subdued Wales, he promised the people
of that country, upon condition of their submission, to give
them a Prince who was born amongst them, and who could
speak no other language. Upon their acquiescence with
this deceitful offer, he conferred the principality of Wales
upon his second son Edward, then an infant, born within
the principality, and unable to speak any language. Edward,
by the death of his elder brother Alfonso, became heir to the
crown, and from that time this honour has been appropriated
to the eldest sons of the Kings of England.
The Earldom of Chester, which is usually conferred upon
the heir apparent, was once a principality, and erected into
that title by parliament, in the 21st of Richard 11.; it was
then appointed to be given to the king's eldest son. But the
whole acts of that parliament were repealed in the reign of
Henry IV., although the Earldom has usually been since

_ .
given with the prinCipality of Wales.
The legal points connected with this subject have at various
periods given rise to much controversy, but since the time of
Lord Hardwicke they are considered to be quite settled. The
reader will be surprised to learn that the celebrated Lord
Coke is, by later Judges, held to have entertained erroneous
opinions respecting the descent of the Duchy of Cornwall;
but these controversies have long since been obsolete.
It is a remarkable fact, that Henry VIII. did not create
his son, Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI., Prince of
Wales.

By a statute of the order of the Garter, issued in 1805,
the Prince of Wales was declared a constituent part of the
original institution. Hence every Prince will become a
Knight of the Garter the moment he is created Prince of
Wales.

LIST OF THE PRINCES OF WALES OF THE ROYAL FAMILY

OF ENGLAND, FROM THE FIRST CREATION OF THAT

TITLE BY EDWARD I

1. Edward Carnarvon, son of King Edward 1., afterwards
King Edward 11.
2. Edward of Windsor, son of King Edward 11., after-
wards Edward 111.
3. Eward the Black Prince, son of Edward 111., who died
in the lifetime of his father.
4. Richard of Bordeaux, son of the Black Prince, after-
wards King Richard 11.
5. Henry of Monmouth, son of Henry IV., afterwards
Henry V.
6. Henry of Windsor, son of Henry V., afterwards King
Henry VI.
7. Edward, son of Henry VI., murdered by Richard, Duke
of Glocester.
Edward, son of Edward IV., afterwards V., murdered
by the order of Richard, Duke of Glocester.
9. Edward, son of Richard 111., who died in his father's
lifetime.
who also died in
g
10. Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII.,
his father's tlhieern'sr muler son of King Henry VII., afterwards
Henry VIII.
12. Edward, son of Henry VIII., afterwards Edward VI.
13. Henry, eldest son of King James 1., who died in his
father's lifetime.
14. Charles, younger son of James 1., afterwards Charles 1.
15. Charles, 500
of Charles 1., afterwards Charles 11.
16. James, pretended son of King James 11.
17. George 11.
IS. Frederick Lewis, son of George 11., died in his father's
lifetime.
19. George 111.
20. George IV.
The first creation of the title " Prince of Wales " in the
Royal Family of England occurred in the reign of Edward I.
It was one of the trophies of the conquest of Llewellyn.
King Edward 1., to conciliate the affections of the Welch,
whom he had subdued, removed his Queen Xleanor to Car-
narvon Castle, in North Wales, in which place, on the 25th
of April, 1284, she was delivered of a son. On this event
Edward summoned the Welch barons, and demanded if they
would be willing to subject themselves to a native prince.
Happily they consented, and having sworn him obedience he
nominated the royal infant in a subsequent charter, dated
the 24th of March, 1305, in the 33d year of his reign, Ed-
ward Prince of Wales, since which period the eldest son and
heir apparent of the King of England has retained that title.
The Prince of Wales is heir apparent to the crown of Great
King of Scotland, on
Britain ; he is also Hereditary Steward of Scotland, Duke of
Rothsay, Earl of Carrick, and Baron of Renfrew. These
thetitlesrwi'ne
cr were
,coh
insfer eldestred bysoin Robertl399 a
I I.n,d
perpetually appropri-
ated to the future Princes of Scotland as soon as born. Since