RANK OF WINDSORS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 47, 24 January 1938, Page 2

RANK OF WINDSORS.

QUESTION CONSIDERED. ■ KING’S DECISION EXPECTED. LONDON, Jan. 10. The whole question of the rank of the Duchess of Windsor is under consideration by Court officials, in conjunction with the College of Heralds. A final decision by the King is expected shortly. Interviewed about the Duehesss's rank, following .the Press controversy, the editor of Debrett’s Peerage, Baronetage. Knightage and Companionage, Mr.C. J. F. Hankinson, said: “I am of the opinion that a woman takes her rank from her husband, and is received with him unless, of course, she is of higher rank, when she takes precedence. Therefore, it is correct to assume that the Duchess of Windsor ranks immediately under the Duchess of Kent, just as her husband ranks after the Duke of Kent. “Whether the Duchess is a ‘Royal Highness' has notihng whatever to do with the matter of her precedence. Princess Alice, who is a ‘Royal Highness’ and a member of the Royal Family, is ranked among other countesses. “Another argument—that the'Windsors’ marriage was morganatic—is conclusively refuted by the fact that about the middle of last century the .second Duke of Cambridge, who was a lloyal Duke, contracted a morganatic marriage, and his wife was known as ‘Mrs Fitzgeorge,’ and never as the Duchess of Cambridge.”