What does queen consort mean and how is it different to queen?

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September, there were several changes to royal titles. Prince Charles's became King Charles III. And, as his wife, Camilla, the former Duchess of Cornwall, became officially known as Her Majesty the Queen Consort.

In Queen Elizabeth's platinum jubilee message last year, she said it was her “sincere wish” that Camilla be known as Queen Consort when her husband becomes king.

Follow the latest news from the coronation of King Charles here

The title also means she sat at King Charles's side at his coronation on Saturday where she was also crowned. She is now officially Queen Camilla.

A queen consort is a royal by marriage, the king's wife. It is a symbolic role, meaning she is queen while the king is on the throne, but won't inherit the throne after he dies.

Queen Elizabeth, however, did inherit the throne from her father, making her the ruling monarch, the queen. Her mother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, was also a queen consort. She was not Queen Elizabeth I, that title belongs to the Tudor royal and daughter of King Henry VIII, who was born into the role and reigned from 1558 until 1603.

When Prince William becomes king, after the death of King Charles, the Princess of Wales will probably become Catherine, Queen Consort.

Why wasn't Camilla automatically Queen Consort?

Britain's new king and queen on their wedding day in April 2009. PA

King Charles's marriage to Camilla is, famously, not his first. He was married to Diana, Princess of Wales, from 1981 until 1996.

He married Camilla in 2005, however, the title of Princess of Wales was not passed on in the marriage because it was still strongly associated with Diana. Instead, Camilla became a duchess; Duchess of Cornwall was the female version of another of Charles's titles.

Until Queen Elizabeth's announcement, the official position of Clarence House, the couple’s office, was that Camilla would be known as Princess Consort when Prince Charles becomes king, as per a statement released in 2005 at the time of their wedding.

"Camilla was not popular or well-liked, though this has changed a lot since the marriage as Camilla has taken on a lot of patronages," historian and royal family expert Marlene Koenig explains in her blog. "Still, [there was] a lot of tension and anger among a certain element of the population, so it was decided that Camilla would be styled as the Duchess of Cornwall, even though, of course, she is the Princess of Wales."

However, it has been suggested that behind palace doors it was decided Camilla would be known as Queen Consort years ago.

In 2010, Prince Charles was interviewed by NBC and asked if Camilla would “become Queen of England”, to which he sheepishly replied; "That’s well … we’ll see won’t we? That could be."

In the 18 years since their wedding, public opinion of the duchess has changed and the statement disappeared from the Clarence House website in 2018. At the time, British politician Andrew Mackinlay said: "This is absolutely unequivocal that she automatically becomes queen when he becomes king."

The British royal family's website now reads: "Her majesty the queen consort (formerly HRH the Duchess of Cornwall) supports her husband, formerly the Prince of Wales, now his majesty the king, in carrying out his work and duties. She also undertakes public engagements on behalf of the charities that she supports."

King Charles's title

It was not a given that Prince Charles would become King Charles III. PA

It was not a given that Prince Charles would become King Charles III, however, it was confirmed by the royal family that he would take the title in the hours after his mother's death.

Royals are given the option to change their name when they take the throne.

Although Queen Elizabeth II kept her given name, her father was born Albert Frederick Arthur George, but chose to honour his father, King George V, and went by King George VI after his coronation in 1936.

The queen's great-grandfather, King Edward VII, was born Albert Edward, and even Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth II's great-great-grandmother, chose a different name as queen as she was christened Alexandrina Victoria.

Why wasn't Prince Philip a king consort?

Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, before her coronation, in London on June 2, 1953. AFP

Queen Elizabeth's late husband Prince Philip was never named King Philip, per the tradition that a man who marries a queen is named Prince Consort.

The only figures in the British royal family to have the title of king, in any form, are born into the role.

Prince Philip was born a prince, but dropped his titles as Prince of Greece and Denmark when he married Princess Elizabeth, who became the Queen of England.

Scroll through the gallery below to see Queen Camilla's fashion evolution

— This story was originally published on February 10, 2022

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

Pad Man

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Three-and-a-half stars