The following list of place names with royal styles in the United Kingdom includes places granted a royal title or style by express grant from the Crown (usually by royal charter or letters patent) and those with a royal title or style based on historic usage.
England
Royal
The following places have been explicitly granted or confirmed the use of the title "royal" by royal charter, letters patent or similar instrument issued by the monarch. Since 1926 the entitlement to the title "royal borough" has been strictly enforced.[1]Devizes in Wiltshire, which had previously used the title without authorisation, was forced to end the practice.[2]
Coronation place of King Æthelstan in 924–925. Æthelstan described Kingston as royal town in a charter, as did Eadred later in the 10th century. In 1927 the mayor of Kingston upon Thames petitioned George V for the right to use the title of "royal borough". In reply to the petition the king declared that Kingston was entitled to the status, having been described as a royal borough since time immemorial.[1]
Spa town established in late 18th century. The town received the title of "Royal Leamington Spa" in 1838 following a visit by Queen Victoria.[11][13] Royal Leamington Spa was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1875, and on the borough's abolition in 1974 charter trustees were formed.[12] The charter trustees were themselves abolished when a town council was formed in 2002.[12]
Spa town, incorporated as a municipal borough in 1888. In 1909 Edward VII allowed the prefix "Royal" in recognition of the town's connections with the royal family since the Stuart dynasty.[15] The Borough of Royal Tunbridge Wells was abolished in April 1974, and charter trustees were briefly appointed to preserve the mayoralty of the town. The trustees, who were themselves abolished in December 1974, obtained letters patent reauthorising the prefix "Royal" to the name of the town.[16]
For a list of places suffixed Regis, see Regis (place).
Regis, Latin for "of the king", occurs in numerous placenames. This usually recalls the historical ownership of lands or manors by the Crown.[19] The "Regis" form was often used in the past as an alternative form to "King's", for instance at King's Bromley and King's Lynn.[20][21]
There is one modern example of the granting of the suffix "regis". In 1929, George V, having spent several months recuperating from a serious illness in the seaside resort of Bognor, West Sussex, allowed it to be renamed as "Bognor Regis".[22]
Kingsburgh, Skye is a corruption of Cinnseaborgh, which is in turn a corruption of a Norse name.
In many places "Kin(g)" is a suffix meaning "head", an anglicisation of Ceann: Kinghorn and Kingussie, for example, are nothing to do with royal patronage.
Regis
Cramond, formerly referred to as Cramond Regis.[23]
In Scotland a royal burgh was a burgh or incorporated town founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. By 1707, when the Act of Union with England and Wales came into effect, there were 70 royal burghs.[24] None were created after 1707, and they were formally abolished in 1975. Notwithstanding their abolition, the term is still used in many of the former burghs.[25]
^Email response[original research?] from Berkshire Record Office 2 February 2006: "The Letters Patent granting Berkshire the style 'Royal County' date from 1974. However, Royal approval had been given in 1957/8 when the Queen agreed to permit the style 'Royal County of Berkshire' recognising that the term had been used for many years. The Letters Patent of 1974 merely confirmed their existing usage. The status applies to the county of Berkshire..."
^ abBerrows Worcester Journal. Worcester. 26 July 1838. Her Majesty, it is said, has graciously aceded to the request of the inhabitants of Leamington "that they may be permitted to call the Spa the Royal Leamington Spa".{{cite news}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^P H Ditchfield and William Page, ed. (1923). "The royal borough of Windsor: The borough". A History of the County of Berkshire. Vol. 3. Victoria County History. pp. 56–66. Retrieved 19 March 2011.
^"Court Circular". The Times. 10 August 1963. p. 8.
^Davies, M. Lloyd (19 January 2009). "Caernarfon; Caernarvon". Coflein. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
