Not long ago we chided a Sydney columnist for gushing that Royalty, in the form of horse loving Zara Phillips, had attended the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Zara is a commoner as are all children born to those with Royal titles unless HM The Queen confers titles upon them.Of course Her Maj usually does as a matter of course unless the parents decide otherwise as in Zara's case where her parents HH Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips decided to turn down the offer.
While a colonial writer and even a New York paper (as out pic shows) may be forgiven for making a common mistake, it's unacceptable for British newspapers who have also elevated the Duchess & Duke of Cambridge's newly born daughter to Princess status when, in reality she is a commoner at this stage. Talk about slack fact checking!.
Nothing is guaranteed in the world of Royalty where they ( and their handlers / courtiers) more than anyone judge the mood of the general public.
Kate and William may just decide to accept no title for the new bub,
Time will tell but I'm sure she's a little princess in their eyes.
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Fairfax Fail : The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have both failed in the fact checking
department. Are we being pedantic?. I think not as this indicates how journalists these days fail to do the most basic fact checking.Calling the new baby a "princess" is simply wrong until the Monarch confers a title upon her.
In fact she will not even strictly be a 'royal' unless she is given a peerage as well which is why her parents were created the Duke & Duchess of Cambridge which is also why her grandfather Prince Phillip was created the Duke of Edinburgh before he married the Queen so that she would not be marrying a commoner.
Last month with such sloppy fact-checking we had 2 large publishers killing of Australian actress Nell Campbell on the claim she was comedienne Tracey Ullman's mother.
# Even Whispers is less than perfect. We did forget that the recently born and now (created by the Monarch of Great Britain) Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte of Cambridge was a Lady from the word go. Being the daughter of a Duke & Duchess she is entitled to that title.
Critics again have attacked me for being pedantic which is nonsense. British titles are a powerful legal entity crafted over centuries of law making. The new Royal Princess could one day also be the Queen of Australia. We aren't a Republic yet (if ever) and it's sad that major media outlets in this country can display such ignorance. What other mistakes are they making?
It's remarkable that newspapers that lived and breathed the late princess Diana have ignored the fact that she felt the cruelest blow to her after divorcing the future King, Prince Charles was losing her Royal status.
