Royal Churnalism
How did we sink so low?
I like to monitor what the British press writes about the royal family. Sometimes it’s a pretty thankless task. Today I came across one of the worst articles about the royal family that I’ve ever read. It appeared (as so many of the worst examples of journalism do) on the Express website. It was entitled Princess Charlotte could be set to lose access to her royal title after major change. Feel free to follow the link if you like, but the deluge of adverts is very likely to render your browser unusable. I’ve reproduced the text here:
The young princess could face a major change when her father Prince William becomes King.
Princess Charlotte is only ten-years-old at the moment, but she is likely to one day play a major role in the Royal Family. As the daughter of a future King, and the sister of Prince George, who is second-in-line to the throne, Charlotte is an important member of the family.
While she may one day have a career outside royal life, once her education is complete, she is also likely to be a working royal. However, it is not yet clear what title she could have. This is because when the next major royal change happens, she could find herself without a title at all.
This is because when her father William becomes King, George is likely to be named Prince of Wales.
This means that Charlotte won’t be able to take the title of Princess of Wales, and could find herself without a royal title to her name.
This was explained previously by celebrity broadcaster OSSA channel, which said: “By the time William is King of England, his eldest son George will be Prince of Wales.
“Her right to be Princess of Wales flies out the window when her brother gets the official title of Prince of Wales because a Royal lady can only be a princess if she’s married to a Prince or the daughter of a Prince.”
Charlotte in this case would be neither of those, as her father would then be a King.
However, as many royal commentators have said before, she could take on the title of Princess Royal, especially as she would be the daughter of a monarch.
This title is currently held by Princess Anne, with Charlotte only able to take it if her father is King, and if Princess Anne is no longer alive.
Before we even get to the claims themselves, the byline gives away what’s really going on here. This new version was written by Jasmine Carey and published on 23 Nov 2025, but we also have:
Princess Charlotte could be set to lose access to her royal title after major change (Lauren Welch, 23 Oct 2024)
Princess Charlotte set for ‘dramatic’ title change when Prince William becomes king (Tom Hussey, 12 May 2021)
So this is the very definition of “churnalism”. Jasmine Carey didn’t write this story at all, she simply recycled an old story that was last published a year ago.
The story itself seems to be based on this video that was published in May 2021. Don’t watch it, it’s wrong about almost everything.
Now let’s dig into exactly what the video (and, therefore, the article based on it) gets wrong.
To be honest, it took me a while to unpick the claims because they were so nonsensical. And it’s slightly confused by the fact that it dates from the time when the late Queen was still alive, Charles was Prince of Wales, and William was Duke of Cambridge. But I think it boils down to this:
When Charles is king, William becomes Prince of Wales (this obviously came true)
At that point, Charlotte’s title is Princess Charlotte of Wales (this is also correct)
When William becomes king, George will become Prince of Wales (this seems very likely)
When George is the Prince of Wales, Charlotte can no longer be “Princess of Wales”
It’s not that the last point is wrong. It’s that it comes from a complete misunderstanding of how royal titles work. Let’s look at how it actually works:
The eldest son of the monarch is traditionally (but not automatically) made the Prince of Wales
The wife of the Prince of Wales is the Princess of Wales
Any children of the Prince and Princess of Wales are Prince/ss Name of Wales
In fact, that previous rule can be generalised. If your title is “Prince/ss Name of Place”, it means your father is (or was) the Prince or Duke of Place
Prince Michael of Kent is a good example of that last item. He’s Prince Michael of Kent because his father was the Duke of Kent. That Duke of Kent died and the current duke is Prince Michael’s brother. But because Prince Michael has no more important title, he still uses “of Kent” from his father’s title.
Putting all that together, we can see that when William becomes king and George becomes Prince of Wales, Charlotte could still be Princess Charlotte of Wales by the same process as Prince Michael of Kent. The fact that her brother is the Prince of Wales makes no difference here because (and here’s another crucial point that both the video and the many articles fail to spot) Princess of Wales and Princess Charlotte of Wales are two completely different titles. Being Princess of Wales means you’re married to the Prince of Wales, and being Princess Name of Wales means you’re a daughter of a Prince of Wales.
So where does that leave Princess Charlotte? Ironically, the one thing the video does get right is that her style will change one day – just not in the way they think. If William becomes king, she doesn’t lose some mythical claim to “Princess of Wales”; she stops being “Princess Charlotte of Wales” because she becomes The Princess Charlotte – a daughter of the monarch in her own right, not defined by which patch of the UK her father happens to hold as a title that week. That’s not a catastrophic demotion; it’s just how the system works and has always worked.
And that, really, is the problem with this sort of royal churnalism. It isn’t simply that they pad out a non-story with recycled copy; it’s that they don’t understand the basics of the subject they’re paid to cover. As a useful rule of thumb: never trust any “royal expert” or outlet that talks about a future “King of England” when discussing any monarch from the last three hundred years. If they can’t grasp that we’ve had a United Kingdom – and therefore a King or Queen of the United Kingdom – since 1707, they’re not doing serious journalism, they’re doing fan-fiction with adverts.
So the next time you see a headline breathlessly promising “major changes” to a ten-year-old’s title, remember: the monarchy may be complicated, but it isn’t that complicated. What’s really changing isn’t Princess Charlotte’s status – it’s the standards of the outlets reporting on her.