Quote Originally Posted by McClef View Post
No title was conferred upon Mark Phillips thus Peter and Zara have no title...
Actually, Mr. Phillips declined the offer of a title (earl) and it was at the express request of HRH The Princess Royal that no titles were granted to her children. But you're right, they are untitled nobles.

Who is, and more importantly who is not, a member of the Royal family is determined by Her Majesty, and by Her Majesty, alone (within the confines of the act of settlement). Likewise Her Majesty, as the font of all honours, may ennoble-- or degrade-- an individual in their title by her own mere motion. Thus after a divorce a Royal may be deprived of Royal status, and thereby forfeit the right to use HRH in front of their title.

I know what you are driving at, but I think it somewhat misleading when you refer to Her Majesty the Queen Mother as being a commoner prior to her marrying into the Royal Family and thus acquiring royal status. As the daughter of an earl she retained all of the prerogatives of nobility, including the style of "Lady". True, as the daughter of an earl she was eligible to seek elective office and if successful take her seat in the lower house of parliament, but this concession in the electoral laws did not take from her her noble status.

As nobiliary practice relates to Mr. Mark Phillips and Mr. Anthony Armstrong-Jones, as far as I am aware Mr. Phillip's family was non-armigerous, thus he was not noble, hence he was a commoner by most definitions. Mr. Anthony Armstrong-Jones did come from an armigerous family, and was armigerous himself prior to wedding HRH Princess Margaret, thus he was noble, and most certainly not a commoner. That he was given an earldom (Snowdon) on his wedding day merely elevated him to the status of the titled nobility (and, in my opinion, was a much better wedding present than a new pop-up toaster!). Snowdon's children, by the way, rank 12th and 13th in line for the throne, right after the children of Princess Anne-- that hardly makes them common.