What The Heck Is A Duchess Anyway? (How To Become A British Monarch) [VIDEO]

With all the hullabaloo about the royal baby this week we've been hearing a lot about Kate Middleton. (AKA Catherine, Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge.)

Being an American that knows slim to none about the specifics about British royals, my brain begs the question; What is a duchess?

According to Dictionary.com. a duchess is:

1. The wife or widow of a duke.
2. A woman holding a rank equivalent to duke in her own right

LiveSciences gives these distinction between a princess and a duchess:

Princesses are usually the daughters or granddaughters of a king or queen. Traditionally, a "commoner," or a woman possessing no royal rank, can gain the title of princess by marrying a prince, with the possibility of later becoming a queen.

A duchess is the wife or widow of a duke, or a woman who equally holds the rank of duke in her own right.

Now, according to DukeAndDuchessOfCambridge.org, the Duke and Duchess perform a whole plethora of royal duties. They do a lot of appearances and a lot of charity events, and fill in for things that a King, or Queen, or Prince or Princess don't have time to be at. US Weekly did a report on what an average day is like for the William and Kate, it sounds busy. Posh, but very busy.

This all stemmed from my watching of this simplistic and fairly entertaining video about how to become a British Monarch. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I sure feel more informed now.