'consort' is a perfectly correct and usable word in written English.
It can be used to refer to a husband, wife, or companion of a ruler, or to refer to the members of a royal family. For example: "The Queen and her consort Prince Philip attended the event."
David Cameron will today signal a sea-change in the government fight against home-grown terrorism, saying the state must confront, and not consort with, the non-violent Muslim groups that are ambiguous about British values such as equality between sexes, democracy and integration.
Secondly, some people in the 1970s could be cruel to the husbands of well-known women, and they would refer to him as Mr Shirley Williams, or as my consort.
The episode, disclosed by Mr Brunner in his autobiography, Lambrais Dorés et Coulisses (Gilded Panels and Corridors), will be added to a list of indiscretions by the ex-PM's consort.
For one thing, they consort with pop stars these days; Goldsworthy shows me a message on his phone that begins: "Mikey!
You show Leopold I, the first king of Belgium and a nephew of Britain's prince consort, Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
That stirred up interest in pre-Romantic music, though still not enough to fill a room when his little consort played Biber's unpublished "Fidicinium sacro-profanum", or other treasures he had unearthed.
Last November, the announcement of her pregnancy wiped Ken Livingstone off the front pages at an awkward moment in the London mayoral saga.Mrs Blair has quickly become the most high-profile prime-ministerial consort in British history.
Kali, who is variously characterised as a flickering black tongue or black giantess standing on the corpse of her consort Shiva, is the most feared Hindu deity.
But then the attorney-general raised the temperature further, by letting it be known that radical imams might be charged with treason, an ancient crime in English law that dates back to an era when having sex with the king's consort was a capital offence.Part of this is politicking.
Making straight for the door is much wiser, since he who hangs around risks being eaten by his consort.
The most romantic hanging is a summer view of Krishna and his consort Radha embracing.
