Many years ago, I saw Charles & Diana in the USA, I addressed them as Chuck & Di, and I think they nearly had a cow.
from the canadian government website :
Guidelines
Visits by The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the Royal Family are always special occasions, but individual engagements can range from the very formal to the informal. Members of the Royal Family wish any elements of protocol to be in tune with what is generally acceptable in Canadian society. The following guidelines are designed to help people feel comfortable and prepared; they are not rules to be applied inflexibly or prescriptively.
How to address
The Queen is called Your Majesty initially and Ma'am (rhymes with jam) as the conversation continues.
The Duke of Edinburgh is called Your Royal Highness initially and Sir as the conversation continues.
Other members of the Royal Family are called Your Royal Highness initially and Sir/Ma'am as the conversation continues
Blimey - look at how many people have viewed this thread!
Wonder what the attraction is.
Anyway - I've decided that "Sir" is good enough (although I had a ridiculous math teacher once who I had to call sir - and I managed to sneer the word to myself as I said it - so sir has become a bit of a 'slur' in my mind.
But what if the prince is just a kid (say 9 - 12 years old) do you still call him 'Sir'?
Like, "D'you want anymore ice-cream, Sir?"
Seems a bit weird.
Anyway before M takes another swing at me with her cricket bat let me say that I was asking the question initially as a writer of fiction, thinking about a story that questions the idea of monarchy in a fantasy novel.
Prince Andrew (who already had more skills than James Bond) disappears over the Indian ocean while flying a search/rescue helicopter.
He wakes up 500 years later in London. The city is divided between rich and poor. The poor live in Elizabethan-like slums - the direct result of terrible world wars.
The rich (headed by a dictator/king) live in a glass dome that extends under the city.
At some point, Andrew (now a rat-catcher or some such thing,) meets a Prince from the dome who (unlike him) is not a real prince - but has been proclaimed one.
I don't know what happens next but it's something of a political SF/Fantasy remake on The Prince and The Pauper.
Anyway I'll probably never get around to it.
Blimey - look at how many people have viewed this thread!
Wonder what the attraction is.
Anyway - I've decided that "Sir" is good enough (although I had a ridiculous math teacher once who I had to call sir - and I managed to sneer the word to myself as I said it - so sir has become a bit of a 'slur' in my mind.
But what if the prince is just a kid (say 9 - 12 years old) do you still call him 'Sir'?
Like, "D'you want anymore ice-cream, Sir?"
Seems a bit weird.
Anyway before M takes another swing at me with her cricket bat let me say that I was asking the question initially as a writer of fiction, thinking about a story that questions the idea of monarchy in a fantasy novel.
Prince Andrew (who already had more skills than James Bond) disappears over the Indian ocean while flying a search/rescue helicopter.
He wakes up 500 years later in London. The city is divided between rich and poor. The poor live in Elizabethan-like slums - the direct result of terrible world wars.
The rich (headed by a dictator/king) live in a glass dome that extends under the city.
At some point, Andrew (now a rat-catcher or some such thing,) meets a Prince from the dome who (unlike him) is not a real prince - but has been proclaimed one.
I don't know what happens next but it's something of a political SF/Fantasy remake on The Prince and The Pauper.
Anyway I'll probably never get around to it.
Charles' lawyers fight diary leak
The prince believes the diaries were accessed unlawfully
Prince Charles is entitled to keep his personal documents confidential, like "the humblest private citizen", his lawyer has told the High Court.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4734798.stm
Charles vs Press freedom
Setanta - agree totally! He's emotionally stunted, ridiculously arrogant, not at all intelligent and lives surrounded by sycophants - his choice. I work with deprived people of whom there are so many in the UK and absolutely detest the mindless extravagance of royalty - and Charles is the worst example of it. He DOES have his toothpaste squeezed out for him, remember! So I would struggle to address him in any circumstances. Certainly Sir is not merited whatever the form books say.
Your Majesty" to a King, and "Your Royal Highness" to a Prince.
