RANK OF WINDSOR.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 90, 26 January 1938, Page 6

RANK OF WINDSOR.

QUESTION CONSIDERED.

KING’S DECISION EXPECTED. LONDON, January 10. The whole question of the rank of the Duchess of Windsor is under consideration by Court officials, in conjunction with the College 1 of Heralds. A final decision by the King is expected shortly. Interviewed about the Duchess’ rank following the press controversy, the editor of Debrett’s Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Conipanioiiage, Mr C. J. F. Hankinson, said: “I am of the opinion that a woman takes her rank from her husband, and is leceived with him unless, of course, she is of higher rank, when she Likes piocedence. 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 nothing whatever to do with the matter' of 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 Royal Duke, contracted a morganatic marriage, and his wife was known as ‘Mrs Fitzgeorge,’ and never as the Duchess of Cambridge.”