Trending: ‘queen consort’

Lookups spiked 25,000% on September 7th, 2022.

Why are people looking up queen consort?

The news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022 was announced by the royal family and identified Camilla, the wife of King Charles III and known until the Queen's death as Duchess of Cornwall, as the Queen Consort.

The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.

The King and The Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to London tomorrow.

What does queen consort mean?

The Queen Consort is "the wife of a reigning king."

The extra word in the title makes clear the nature of the queen's rank as a queen who is not the reigning monarch, as was the case for Queen Elizabeth II.

A parallel title exists for the husband of a reigning queen, prince consort.

Where does queen consort come from?

Consort comes from a French word and traces back to the Latin word meaning "one who shares."

This term traces back to the 1660s, when it was coincidentally used to refer to Queen Catherine, the wife of King Charles II.

What is notable about this use of queen consort?

Queen consort is one of several two-word terms in English that place the adjective after the noun, in what would be usual in French grammar. Such terms have an elevated formalness and dignity, and usually refer to titles of high rank or esteem or official proceedings of some sort.

Other examples of this kind of term include attorney general, poet laureate, and court martial.

Trend Watch is a data-driven report on words people are looking up at much higher search rates than normal. While most trends can be traced back to the news or popular culture, our focus is on the lookup data rather than the events themselves.