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CONSORT (Lat. consors, a companion)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 980 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CONSORT (See also:Lat. consors, a See also:companion)  , in See also:general, a partner or See also:associate, but more particularly a See also:husband or wife . The word is also used in See also:conjunction with some titles, as " See also:queen See also:consort," " See also:prince consort." Under the See also:law of the See also:United See also:Kingdom, the queen consort is a subject, but has certain privileges . By the See also:Treason See also:Act 1351, the compassing and imagining her See also:death is high treason, as is also the See also:commission of See also:adultery with her . With regard to the acquisition and disposal of See also:property, the incurring of rights and liabilities under See also:contract, suing and being sued, a queen consort is regarded as a feme See also:sole (32 See also:Henry VIII. c . 51, 1540; Private Property of the See also:Sovereign Act x800) . The queen consort has her own ceremonial See also:officers and appears in the courts by her See also:attorney- and See also:solicitor-general . At one See also:time she had a See also:revenue out of the See also:demesne lands of the See also:crown and a portion of any sum paid by a subject to the See also:king in return for a See also:grant of any See also:office or See also:franchise; this was termed aurum reginae or queen-See also:gold . See also:Provision is now made for the queen consort by See also:statute . When the husband of a queen consort See also:dies she becomes a queen See also:dowager . A queen dowager is not under the See also:protection of the law of treason . It is said (See also:Blackstone, Commentaries) that she cannot marry without the king's See also:licence, but this is doubtful . A queen regnant, holding the crown in her own right, has all the prerogatives of a sovereign .

In the four cases of queens regnant in See also:

English See also:history, the husbands' positions have each been different . When Queen See also:Mary I. married See also:Philip of See also:Spain it was provided by every safeguard that words could suggest that the queen alone should exercise all the See also:powers of the crown; See also:official documents, however, were to issue in their See also:joint names . See also:William III. occupied the See also:throne jointly with his wife, Mary II . The husband of Queen See also:Anne, See also:George of See also:Denmark, who was naturalized by act of See also:parliament in 1689, occupied no definite position, and differed only from other subjects of the queen in the conditions of his See also:naturalization . The position of Prince See also:Albert of See also:Saxe-See also:Coburg-See also:Gotha, the husband of Queen See also:Victoria, was somewhat like that of Prince George of Denmark . A few days before his See also:marriage he had been naturalized as a See also:British subject, and immediately after his marriage letters patent were issued, giving him See also:precedence next to the queen . He had, however, no distinctive See also:title, and the privileges and precedence he received were only by See also:courtesy . As the patent which gave him precedence was inoperative outside the United Kingdom, certain difficulties occurred at See also:foreign courts, and in See also:order to See also:settle these, the formal title of " Prince Consort " was conferred upon him by letters patent in 1857 .

End of Article: CONSORT (Lat. consors, a companion)
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