Talk:Prince George William of Great Britain

Nonsense

Throughout his life, he was styled His Royal Highness Prince George William of Wales.

Is there any evidence of this whatsoever? My understanding was that the first time the form "Prince N of Wales" was used was for the children of the future Edward VII. It was not even used for Princess Charlotte, much less for this guy. Can anyone provide any evidence to the contrary? john k 18:44, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

The 8 & 11 February 1718 issues of The London Gazette refer to him only as "Prince George William", and those are the only issues which refer to the prince by name... I'll make edits to that effect, but surely this revelation would make the title of this page wrong — it would presumably move to either Prince George William of Prince George William of Great Britain (which are both redirects to this page) DBD 14:41, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

This would apply, as noted, to others - to the children of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and to Princess Charlotte, in particular. john k (talk) 17:09, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Actually, my research in the Gazette archives shows that Princess Charlotte (daughter of the Prince Regent) is the first example of "of Wales". Before her, there are absolutely no occurrences of "Prince/ss X of Wales" DBD 19:09, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Searching further, the Gloucesters (great-grandchildren of GIIR), were the first to be "Prince/ss X of Y" (starting with William on 29 April 1794) DBD 19:29, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

I'd suggest, then, moving Prince George William of Wales, Princess Augusta Frederika of Wales, Princess Elizabeth Caroline of Wales, Princess Louisa Anne of Wales, Prince Frederick William of Wales, and Caroline Matilda of Wales, probably to "Prince/ss X of Great Britain". john k (talk) 03:43, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

The title "Prince/Princess X of Wales" has been used for the children of Princes and Princesses of Wales since at least as far back as the children of George II. I am 99% certain that this styling came in with the Hanoverians, because the only previous instance of a Prince of Wales who was married with children was the Black Prince in the 14th century. The reason we don't hear the "of Wales" often is that these children, when they grew up, were normally given additional titles - or, if they lived until their parent ascended the throne, they then became "Prince/Princess X of Great Britain". It's only the ones, like Caroline Matilda, whose parents who never got to the throne, or those who died while their father was still Prince of Wales, that need to be considered.

According to Alison Weir's Britain's Royal Families, which is normally a very reliable source, Prince George William is sometimes referred to as "the Duke of Gloucester", which presumably means that it was the intention to invest him with this title - but it never happened. Therefore it is correct to refer to him as "Prince George William of Wales". It would not be correct to refer to him as Prince George William of Great Britain, since this style is reserved for the children of a monarch, which he was not. Deb (talk) 14:40, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

And sorry, John, but here's a virtually unchallengeable reference for Princess Charlotte being called "of Wales" [1]. Deb (talk) 14:49, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Grammar

It's terrible! I'll just fix that...71.66.230.44 (talk) 06:43, 31 July 2009 (UTC)