We often assume that being part of the royal family means having a royal title — but that’s not always the case.

Take Princess Anne’s children, for example. Despite being the niece and nephew of King Charles III, neither Peter Phillips nor Zara Tindall holds a royal title.

This is quite different from their cousins, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie — the daughters of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson — who both carry royal titles.

The reason behind this difference comes down to a long-standing royal tradition.

Under this tradition, royal titles are passed down through the male line. In other words, only the father can pass on a title to his children.

Since Princess Anne is Zara and Peter’s mother, and titles can’t be inherited through the maternal line, her children weren’t entitled to royal titles.

Their father, Captain Mark Phillips, also doesn’t hold a royal title. In fact, he turned down an earldom that was offered to him, which means Peter and Zara were born without any titles.

While Queen Elizabeth II could have granted them HRH (His/Her Royal Highness) status, both Anne and Mark chose not to accept the offer for their children.

“I think most people would agree that having titles comes with its own set of drawbacks… So in that sense, I think it was probably the right decision,” Anne said in an interview with Vanity Fair back in 2020.