Kate Middleton And Meghan Markle Are Now Royals, Thanks To Queen Elizabeth I

The common consensus among fans is that Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle became royals when they married Prince William and Prince Harry, respectively. However, there’s one person who paved the way for commoners like Kate and Meghan to become royals — Queen Elizabeth I.

A.N. Wilson, award-winning novelist known for writing biographies on Queen Victoria and John Betjeman, as well as penning the books “Winnie And Wolf,” “The Potter’s Hand” and “My Name Is Legion,” made a shocking claim that Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle are not really royals. Given his accomplishments, it’s easy to see why people took this claim rather seriously.

He pointed out that during Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert’s time, the latter held the belief that royals must only choose members of other European royalties as their spouses, adding that the future partner must know “what being royal was.” He also highlighted that royals must be of virtuous and impeccable moral character, considering that Queen Victoria’s relationship with Albert was one of “domestic virtue and sexual continence.”

But the requirements of becoming a royal sort of eased up when the future king George VI asked his father, King George V, to marry a nonroyal. The nonroyal bride was Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who would later be known as the Queen Mother.

Wilson pointed out that Queen Elizabeth I was not a royal despite being a noblewoman. In Wilson’s opinion, it was the Queen Mother’s entry into the establishment that paved the way for other nonroyals such as Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and Sarah Ferguson to enter into the royal family and be given a royal status.

“The ‘Queen Mum’ might have been popular in some quarters, but by affecting to pretend she was royal, the gate was opened for the likes of Duchess Fergiana, Meghan Markle and Duchess Kate,” Wilson explained in The Times newspaper.

“Since giving themselves the absurd invented name of ‘Mountbatten-Windsor’, they have proclaimed that they have surnames, like commoners. They are not really royal, not in an Albertian sense,” he added.

Mountbatten was added to the Windsor family name upon Prince Philip’s insistence. Previously, the Duke of Edinburg wanted Prince Charles and Princess Anne to carry his Mountbatten family name. However, Queen Elizabeth II issued a public declaration in 1952 stating that her offsprings will carry only the Windsor family name.

Naturally, the decision angered Philip and put a strain on their relationship. A compromise was later reached, and the Queen stated that her descendants who don’t carry the HRH title will carry the Mountbatten-Windsor family name.