student asking question

I've heard that many countries in Europe have their own nobiliary particles. Like "von" for Germanic nations or "de" for French so on and so forth. But, I don't think either the British royals or aristocrats use the nobiliary particles for their surname/title. Why is that?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

England and Wales use the particles "de" or "of." "Of" is the more common one. For example, Prince Philip was known as "the Duke of Edinburgh." Or Meghan, "Duchess of Sussex." However, other uses of "of," like, "Richard of Shrewsbury" is used less now. The particle "de," which was borrowed from Latin and French when used in England and Wales, isn't used much either. So I suppose it either just went out of fashion or became less important to have these titles as time went on. Ex: There was once a "Simon de Montfort," Earl of Leicester. Ex: Prince Louis of Cambridge is such an adorable child.

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