So I watched "The King's Speech" and that led to some basic wiki'ing, and while reading about Queen Elizabeth II I come across this bit just after she marries HRH Phillip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh.
Elizabeth gave birth to her first child, Prince Charles, on 14 November 1948. One month earlier, the King had issued letters patent allowing her children to use the style and title of a royal prince or princess, to which they otherwise would not have been entitled as their father was no longer a royal prince.[49] A second child, Princess Anne, was born in 1950
What's this about having to issue letters patent in order for the unborn children to be able to use royal titles/styles?
How/when/why did King Phillip cease to be a royal prince (I'm guessing when he renounced his previous titles, but then that would be before his marriage, right? I'm thoroughly confused)?
Why wouldn't the children of the Queen be able to call themselves Prince and Princess, had he not issued those letters? Are they not still the children of the Queen?
she marries King Phillip
Do you mean "marries HRH Phillip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh" ? Prince Phillip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, converted his religion, adopted the family name Mountbatten and became a British subject on becoming engaged to Princess Elizabeth. Obviously, while her father was still alive, Princess Elizabeth was not a Queen.
Also Queen Elizabeth II is a queen regnant (reigning in her own right). Her husband is not a King. He became a Prince in 1957 after the Queen's ascension to the throne, and after the birth of the children.
Edit: Danish not Dutch titles.