A style of office or form of address, also called manner of address, is an official or legally recognized form of address for a person or other entity, and may often be used in conjunction with a personal title. A style, by tradition or law, precedes a reference to a person who holds a post or political office, and is sometimes used to refer to the office itself. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal capacity. Such styles are particularly associated with monarchies, where they may be used by a wife of an office holder or of a prince of the blood, for the duration of their marriage. They are also almost universally used for presidents in republics and in many countries for members of legislative bodies, higher-ranking judges, and senior constitutional office holders. Leading religious figures also have styles.
Princess Royal is a style customarily awarded by a British monarch to his or her eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family, just under Queen Regnant. There have been seven Princesses Royal. Princess Anne became Princess Royal in 1987.
A prince consort is the husband of a monarch who is not a monarch in his own right. In recognition of his status, a prince consort may be given a formal title, such as prince. Some monarchies use the title of king consort for the same role.
Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife,, born Lady Alexandra Duff and known as Princess Arthur of Connaught after her marriage, was the eldest surviving grandchild of King Edward VII. Alexandra and her younger sister, Maud, had the distinction of being the only female-line descendants of a British sovereign officially granted both the title of Princess and the style of Highness.
Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
Prince Henry of Battenberg was a morganatic descendant of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse. He became a member of the British royal family by marriage to Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, the youngest child of Queen Victoria. Through his daughter, Victoria Eugenie, who became the queen consort of Spain, Henry is a direct ancestor of current members of the Spanish royal family.
Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg was Queen of Spain as the wife of King Alfonso XIII from their marriage on 31 May 1906 until 14 April 1931, when the Spanish Second Republic was proclaimed. A Hessian princess by birth, she was a member of the Battenberg family, a morganatic branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was the youngest granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Unlike other members of the Battenberg family, who were accorded the lower rank of Serene Highness, Victoria Eugenie was born with the rank of Highness due to a Royal Warrant issued in 1886 by Queen Victoria.
Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk, titled Princess Maud from 1905 to 1923, was a granddaughter of Edward VII. Maud and her elder sister, Alexandra, had the distinction of being the only female-line descendants of a British sovereign officially granted both the title of Princess and the style of Highness.
The Malay language has a complex system of styles, titles and honorifics which are used extensively in Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and southern parts of the Philippines.
Royal Highness is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes or princesses. Monarchs and their consorts are usually styled Majesty.
The Battenberg family is a non-dynastic cadet branch of the House of Hesse-Darmstadt, which ruled the Grand Duchy of Hesse until 1918. The first member was Julia Hauke, whose brother-in-law Grand Duke Louis III of Hesse created her Countess of Battenberg in 1851, with the style of Illustrious Highness (H.Ill.H.), at the time of her morganatic marriage to Grand Duke Louis's brother Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine. The name of the title refers to the town of Battenberg in Hesse. In 1858, the countess' title was elevated to Princess of Battenberg, with the style of Serene Highness (H.S.H.).
Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a royal title normally granted to sons and grandsons of reigning and past British monarchs. The title is granted by the reigning monarch, who is the fount of all honours, through the issuing of letters patent as an expression of the royal will.
The use of the title of Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is entirely at the will of the sovereign as expressed in letters patent. Individuals holding the title of princess are styled "Her Royal Highness" (HRH). On 18 April 1917, the newest granddaughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor was styled a British princess from birth, even though Germany and Britain were fighting in WWI. Before the First World War, British princesses also held additional German titles, such as princesses of Hanover by virtue of being male line descendants of George III; or princesses of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, duchess of Saxony, by virtue of being male line descendants of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. George V issued letters patent on 30 November 1917, to restrict the automatic assignment of the title "princess" and the use of the style "Royal Highness" to the following persons:
Infante, also anglicised as Infant or translated as Prince, is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain and Portugal to the sons and daughters (infantas) of the king, regardless of age, sometimes with the exception of the heir apparent or heir presumptive to the throne who usually bears a unique princely or ducal title. A woman married to a male infante was accorded the title of infanta if the marriage was dynastically approved, although since 1987 this is no longer automatically the case in Spain. Husbands of born infantas did not obtain the title of infante through marriage, although they were occasionally elevated to the title de gracia at the sovereign's command.
Princess is a title used by a female member of a monarch's family or by a female ruler. The male equivalent is a prince. Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or for the daughter of a monarch. A crown princess can be the heir apparent to the throne or the heir apparent's spouse.
The Danish royal family is the dynastic family of the monarch. All members of the Danish royal family except Queen Margrethe II hold the title of Prince/Princess of Denmark Or Count/Countess of Monpezat children of the monarch and of the heir apparent are accorded the style of His/Her Royal Highness, while other members of the dynasty are addressed as His/Her Highness. The Queen is styled Her Majesty.
Countess Claudine Susanna Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde was the Hungarian wife of Duke Alexander of Württemberg. Her son, Francis, Duke of Teck, was the father of Mary of Teck, queen consort to George V of the United Kingdom. The current British monarch, Charles III, is Claudine's great-great-great-grandson.
Duchess of Edinburgh is the principal courtesy title held by the wife of the Duke of Edinburgh. There have been five Duchesses of Edinburgh since the title's creation. Following the accession of Charles III in 2022, the Dukedom of Edinburgh merged in the Crown. Following his parents’ wishes, on 10 March 2023, Charles III conferred the title Duke of Edinburgh to his youngest brother, Prince Edward, and his wife, Sophie, became the Duchess of Edinburgh.
