Prince William, Kate Middleton, Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, King Charles, Queen Camilla, Princess Eugenie, and Princess Beatrice are in the spotlight a ton, but reminder: they represent only a fraction of the royals. And there are a lot of random family members who stay out of the spotlight / don’t use their titles.
Example? Princess Anne’s kids, Zara Tindall and Peter Phillips—who are first cousins with Prince William, but spend a lot less time in the news. The same goes for Prince Edwards kids, Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James, Earl of Wessex.
Zara, Peter, Louise, and James all have one thing in common: unlike their cousins, they don’t use Prince/Princess titles, and aren’t called His/Her Majesty. That’s because their parents decided to let them make title decisions themselves at age 18—and according to The Daily Mail, James just had the milestone birthday and fully rejected the chance to go by “Prince.”
Per royal expert Richard Eden, “Prince Edward and Sophie’s son, James, turned 18 yesterday, but he won’t be celebrating by following the example of his cousins across the Atlantic.” He adds that James—who is 16th in line to the throne—”will not, I’m told, be using his titles,” and that a source claims “That’s the last sort of thing he’s interested in.”
Meanwhile, James’ mom Sophie told the Sunday Times “We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living. Hence we made the decision not to use HRH titles. They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but it’s highly unlikely.”
