Princess Royal

Last updated
Princess Royal
Coat of Arms of Anne, the Princess Royal.svg
Arms of Anne, Princess Royal
Princess Anne Feb 2023.jpg
Incumbent
The Princess Anne
since 13 June 1987
Style Her Royal Highness
Ma'am
Residence St James's Palace
Appointer Monarch of the United Kingdom
Term length Life tenure or until accession to the throne
Inaugural holder Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange

Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by British monarchs to their eldest daughters. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. [1] There have been seven Princesses Royal. Princess Anne became Princess Royal in 1987. [2]

Contents

The style Princess Royal came into existence when Queen Henrietta Maria (1609–1669), daughter of Henry IV, King of France, and wife of King Charles I (1600–1649), wanted to imitate the way the eldest daughter of the King of France was styled "Madame Royale". [3] Thus, Princess Mary (born 1631), the daughter of Henrietta Maria and Charles, became the first Princess Royal in 1642.

It has become established that the style belongs to no one by right, but is given entirely at the sovereign's discretion. Princess Mary (later Queen Mary II) (1662–1694), the eldest daughter of King James II, and Princess Sophia Dorothea (1687–1757), the only daughter of King George I, were eligible for this honour but did not receive it. At the time they respectively became eligible for the style, Princess Mary was already Princess of Orange, and Sophia Dorothea was already Queen in Prussia. [1] A Princess Royal has never acceded to the British throne; Princess Victoria, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, was the only Princess Royal to simultaneously be heir presumptive, until she was displaced by the birth of her brother Prince Albert Edward.

Princess Louisa Maria (1692–1712), the youngest daughter of King James II (died 1701), born after he lost his crown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688–1689, was considered to be Princess Royal during James's exile by Jacobites at Saint-Germain-en-Laye and was so called by them, even though she was not James's eldest living daughter at any time during her life. [3]

The title is held for life, even if the holder outlives her parent the monarch. On the death of a Princess Royal, the style is not inherited by any of her daughters; instead, if the monarch parent of the late Princess Royal has also died, the new monarch may bestow it upon his or her own eldest daughter. Thus, Princess Louise was granted the style of Princess Royal by her father King Edward VII in 1905; she retained it until her death in 1931, over twenty years into the reign of her brother King George V. Only upon Louise's death did the title become available for George's own daughter, Princess Mary, who was granted the title in 1932, retaining it until her death in 1965. Because Mary outlived not only her father but also her brother King George VI, the title was never available during George VI's reign to be granted to his elder daughter Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II), though she would otherwise have been eligible to hold it. [1] If Princess Anne dies during the reign of her brother King Charles III, then there would be no eligible royal princess; Charles III has no daughters and Princess Charlotte, the daughter of William, Prince of Wales, would only become eligible upon William's accession to the throne.

Customarily, when a princess marries, she takes on her husband's title. If her husband has a lower title or style, her style as a princess remains in use, although it may then be combined with her style by marriage, e.g. HRH The Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll or HRH Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone  – if that princess had a territorial designation, she may cease its use. Exceptionally, however, a princess who has been granted the title of HRH The Princess Royal will not customarily combine it with her style by marriage. For example, Princess Anne has been Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal since being given the title in 1987; prior to that, her formal title was Her Royal Highness The Princess Anne, Mrs Mark Phillips. [4]

List of title holders

The following is a complete list of women formally styled Princess Royal:

OrderPrincess Royal (from [date] to [date])PortraitBornTenureMarriagesDied
1 Princess Mary
1642–1660		 Marie Henriette Stuart.jpg 4 November 1631, St. James's Palace, London; daughter of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria 18 years2 May 164124 December 1660, Whitehall Palace, London
2 Princess Anne
1727–1759
(also: Princess of Orange (1734))
 Accama Anna van Hannover.jpg 2 November 1709, Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover; daughter of King George II and Queen Caroline 32 years25 March 173412 January 1759, The Hague, Netherlands
3 Princess Charlotte
1789–1828		 Charlotte Mathilde von England.jpg 29 September 1766, Buckingham House, London; daughter of King George III and Queen Charlotte 39 years18 May 17975 October 1828, Ludwigsburg Palace, Baden-Württemberg
4 Princess Victoria
1841–1901		 Victoria, Princess Royal.jpg 21 November 1840, Buckingham Palace, London; daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert 60 years 25 January 1858 5 August 1901, Schloss Friedrichshof, Hesse
5 Princess Louise
1905–1931
(also: Duchess of Fife (1889))
 Louise Princess Royal.jpg 20 February 1867, Marlborough House, London; daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra 26 years 27 July 1889 4 January 1931, Portman Square, London
6 Princess Mary
1932–1965
(also: Countess of Harewood (1929))
 Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood.jpg 25 April 1897, York Cottage, Sandringham; daughter of King George V and Queen Mary 33 years 28 February 1922 28 March 1965, Harewood House, West Yorkshire
7 Princess Anne
1987–present
 Princess Anne October 2015.jpg 15 August 1950, Clarence House, London; daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip 37 years 14 November 1973 —
now 73 years, 241 days old

In fiction

Other uses

Princess Royal was one of the GWR 3031 Class locomotives that were built for and run on the British Great Western Railway between 1891 and 1915. The LMS Class 8P "Princess Royal" 4-6-2 was a type of express passenger locomotive built between 1933 and 1935 by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.

Princess Royal is an abandoned town in the Western Australian Goldfields, named for Victoria, Princess Royal, daughter of Queen Victoria.

Five ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Princess Royal.

A hospital in Shropshire, UK is named Princess Royal Hospital .

"The Princess Royal" is also the name of a folk tune from the British Isles, and of a morris dance performed to that tune. [5]

In the Thai monarchy, the style of Sayamboromrajakumari (Thai : สยามบรมราชกุมารี; RTGS: Sayam boromma ratcha kumari) for Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand is similar to the position of Princess Royal. [6]

In the Kingdom of Tonga, Princess Sālote Mafileʻo Pilolevu is also the Princess Royal.

In a number of African monarchies, the title of the highest-ranking female royal by blood in the kingdom is often translated as Princess Royal. This usually happens in kingdoms that do not make use of the higher title of queen mother. Princess Elizabeth, Batebe of Toro in Uganda, for example, often has her title translated in this manner. This happens even though it has historically meant something closer to "queen sister".

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountbatten-Windsor</span> Family name

Mountbatten-Windsor is the personal surname used by some of the male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Under a declaration made in Privy Council in 1960, the name Mountbatten-Windsor applies to male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II without royal styles and titles. Individuals with royal styles do not usually use a surname, but some descendants of the Queen with royal styles have used Mountbatten-Windsor when a surname was required.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Windsor</span> British royal house

The House of Windsor is a British royal house, and currently the reigning house of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms. The royal house's name was inspired by the historic Windsor Castle estate. Since it was founded in 1917, there have been five British monarchs of the House of Windsor: George V, Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II, and Charles III. The children and male-line descendants of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip also genealogically belong to the House of Oldenburg since Philip was by birth a member of the Glücksburg branch of that house.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood</span> British princess (1897–1965)

Mary, Princess Royal, was a member of the British royal family. She was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, the sister of Kings Edward VIII and George VI, and aunt of Elizabeth II. In the First World War, she performed charity work in support of servicemen and their families. She married Henry Lascelles, Viscount Lascelles, in 1922. Mary was given the title of Princess Royal in 1932. During the Second World War, she was Controller Commandant of the Auxiliary Territorial Service. The Princess Royal and the Earl of Harewood had two sons, George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood, and The Honourable Gerald Lascelles.

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. Most monarchies do not allow the husband of a queen regnant to be titled as a king because it is perceived as a higher title than queen, however, some monarchies use the title of king consort for the role.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge</span> Duchess of Teck (more)

Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, later known as the Duchess of Teck, was a member of the British royal family. She was one of the first royals to patronise a wide range of charities and was a first cousin of Queen Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Patricia of Connaught</span> British princess (1886–1974)

Lady Victoria Patricia Helena Elizabeth Ramsay was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Upon her marriage to Alexander Ramsay, she relinquished her title of a British princess and the style of Royal Highness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife</span> Princess Arthur of Connaught

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 and also the first cousin of George VI. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg</span> Queen of Spain from 1906 to 1931

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 and Prince Albert. 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louise, Princess Royal</span> British princess (1867–1931)

Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife was the third child and eldest daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom; she was a younger sister of King George V. Louise was given the title of Princess Royal in 1905. Known for her shy and quiet personality, Louise remained a low-key member of the royal family throughout her life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maud Carnegie, Countess of Southesk</span> Granddaughter of King Edward VII (1893-1945)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Succession to the Danish throne</span>

The Danish Act of Succession, adopted on 5 June 1953, restricts the throne to those descended from Christian X and his wife, Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, through approved marriages. By a change in the law in 2009, succession is governed by absolute primogeniture.

Royal Highness is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes or princesses. Kings and their female consorts, as well as queens regnant, are usually styled Majesty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British prince</span> Royal title in the United Kingdom

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, together with consorts of female 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British princess</span> Princess of the United Kingdom

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, and is now expressed in letters patent. Individuals holding the title of princess are styled "Her Royal Highness" (HRH). The current letters patent were issued in 1917 during the First World War, with one extension in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serene Highness</span> Style of address

His/Her Serene Highness is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Thailand. Over the past 400 years, it has also used as a style for senior members of the family of Hazrat Ishaan, who are believed to succeed Prophet Muhammad based on the 1400 year old Sunni Sayyid ul Sadatiyya line of Imamate of Ahlul Bayt. Until 1918, it was also associated with the princely titles of members of some German ruling and mediatised dynasties and with a few princely but non-ruling families. It was also the form of address used for cadet members of the dynasties of France, Italy, Russia and Ernestine Saxony, under their monarchies. Additionally, the treatment was granted for some, but not all, princely yet non-reigning families of Bohemia, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania and Russia by emperors or popes. In a handful of rare cases, it was employed by non-royal rulers in viceregal or even republican contexts.

The precedence of Thai royalty follows a system of ranks known as thanandon, which are accompanied by royal titles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess</span> Regal rank and the feminine equivalent of prince

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 heiress apparent to the throne or the spouse of the heir apparent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danish royal family</span> Family of the Danish monarch

The Danish royal family is the dynastic family of the monarch of Denmark. While some members of the Danish royal family hold the title of Prince(ss) of Denmark, descendants of Margrethe II additionally bear the title Count(ess) of Monpezat. Children of the monarch are accorded the style of His/Her Royal Highness. The King and Queen are styled Majesty.

Highness is a formal style used to address or refer to certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty. It is typically used with a possessive adjective: "His Highness", "Her Highness" (HH), "Their Highnesses", etc. Although often combined with other adjectives of honour indicating rank, such as "Imperial", "Royal" or "Serene", it may be used alone.

A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of similar yet distinct monarchical concepts in non-European cultures around the world. The rank does not go to all mothers of monarchs though. A mother of a ruling monarch may only be referred to as Queen Mother if she was a Queen Consort as opposed to a Princess Consort.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Royal Titles: Style and Title of the Princess Royal". The British Monarchy. n.d. Archived from the original on July 27, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ↑ "The Princess Royal". The British Monarchy. n.d. Archived from the original on 7 March 2013.
  3. 1 2 Panton, Kenneth J. (2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Lanham, Maryland, US: Scarecrow Press, Inc. pp. 381–2. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  4. ↑ Davies, Nicholas (2013). Elizabeth II: Behind Palace Doors. Random House. ISBN   9781780578279. Until Elizabeth gave her the title, Anne's correct form of address had been a mouthful, 'Her Royal Highness the Princess Anne, Mrs Mark Phillips'.
  5. ↑ "Princess Royal". folkopedia.info. English Folk Dance and Song Society. 2 July 2007.
  6. ↑ McCargo, Duncan (2010), "Thailand", Regional Oulook: Southeast Asia 2010-2011 (Institute of Southeast Asian Studies): 55
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.