Prince

A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. Prince is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The female equivalent is a princess. The English word derives, via the French word prince, from the Latin noun prīnceps, from primus (first) and caput (head), meaning "the first, foremost, the chief, most distinguished, noble ruler, prince".
In a related sense, now not commonly used, all more or less sovereign rulers over a state, including kings, were "princes" in the language of international politics. They normally had another title, for example king or duke. Many of these were Princes of the Holy Roman Empire.
The Latin word prīnceps (older Latin *prīsmo-kaps, lit. 'the one who takes the first [place/position]'), became the usual title of the informal leader of the Roman senate some centuries before the transition to empire, the princeps senatus.
Emperor Augustus established the formal position of monarch on the basis of principate, not dominion. He also tasked his grandsons as summer rulers of the city when most of the government were on holiday in the country or attending religious rituals, and, for that task, granted them the title of princeps.
The title has generic and substantive meanings:
The original but now less common use of the word was the application of the Latin word prīnceps, from late Roman law and the classical system of government that eventually gave way to the European feudal society. In this sense, a prince is a ruler of a territory that is sovereign or quasi-sovereign, i.e., exercising substantial (though not all) prerogatives associated with monarchs of independent nations, such as the immediate states within the historical boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire. In medieval and early modern Europe, there were as many as two hundred such territories, especially in Italy, Germany, and Gaelic Ireland. In this sense, "prince" is used of any and all rulers, regardless of actual title or precise rank. This is the Renaissance use of the term found in Niccolò Machiavelli's famous work, Il Principe. It is also used in this sense in the United States Declaration of Independence.
As a title, by the end of the medieval era, prince was borne by rulers of territories that were either substantially smaller than those of or exercised fewer of the rights of sovereignty than did emperors and kings. A lord of even a quite small territory might come to be referred to as a prince before the 13th century, either from translations of a native title into the Latin prīnceps (as for the hereditary ruler of Wales) or when the lord's territory was allodial. The lord of an allodium owned his lands and exercised prerogatives over the subjects in his territory absolutely, owing no feudal homage or duty as a vassal to a liege lord, nor being subject to any higher jurisdiction. Most small territories designated as principalities during feudal eras were allodial, e.g. the Princedom of Dombes.
Lords who exercised lawful authority over territories and people within a feudal hierarchy were also sometimes regarded as princes in the general sense, especially if they held the rank of count or higher. This is attested in some surviving styles for e.g., British earls, marquesses, and dukes are still addressed by the Crown on ceremonial occasions as high and noble princes (cf. Royal and noble styles).
In parts of the Holy Roman Empire in which primogeniture did not prevail (e.g., Germany), all legitimate agnates had an equal right to the family's hereditary titles. While titles such as emperor, king, and elector could only be legally occupied by one dynast at a time, holders of such other titles as duke, margrave, landgrave, count palatine, and prince could only differentiate themselves by adding the name of their appanage to the family's original title. This tended to proliferate unwieldy titles (e.g. Princess Katherine of Anhalt-Zerbst; Karl, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Neukastell-Kleeburg; or Prince Christian Charles of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön-Norburg) and, as agnatic primogeniture gradually became the norm in the Holy Roman Empire by the end of the 18th century, another means of distinguishing the monarch from other members of his dynasty became necessary. Gradual substitution of the title of Prinz for the monarch's title of Fürst occurred, and became customary for cadets in all German dynasties except in the grand duchies of Mecklenburg and Oldenburg. Both Prinz and Fürst are translated into English as "prince", but they reflect not only different but mutually exclusive concepts.
This distinction had evolved before the 18th century (although Liechtenstein long remained an exception, with cadets and females using Fürst/Fürstin into the 19th century) for dynasties headed by a Fürst in Germany. The custom spread through the Continent to such an extent that a renowned imperial general who belonged to a cadet branch of a reigning ducal family, remains best known to history by the generic dynastic title, "Prince Eugene of Savoy". Note that the princely title was used as a prefix to his Christian name, which also became customary.
Cadets of France's other princes étrangers affected similar usage under the Bourbon kings. Always facing the scepticism of Saint-Simon and like-minded courtiers, these quasi-royal aristocrats' assumption of the princely title as a personal, rather than territorial, designation encountered some resistance. In writing Histoire Genealogique et Chonologique, Père Anselme accepts that, by the end of the 17th century, the heir apparent to the House of La Tour d'Auvergne's sovereign duchy bears the title Prince de Bouillon, but he would record in 1728 that the heir's La Tour cousin, the Count of Oliergues, is "known as the Prince Frederick" ("dit le prince Frédéric").
The post-medieval rank of gefürsteter Graf (princely count) embraced but elevated the German equivalent of the intermediate French, English and Spanish nobles. In the Holy Roman Empire, these nobles rose to dynastic status by preserving from the Imperial crown (de jure after the Peace of Westphalia in 1648) the exercise of such sovereign prerogatives as the minting of money; the muster of military troops and the right to wage war and contract treaties; local judicial authority and constabulary enforcement; and the habit of inter-marrying with sovereign dynasties. By the 19th century, cadets of a Fürst would become known as Prinzen.
The husband of a queen regnant is usually titled "prince consort" or simply "prince", whereas the wives of male monarchs take the female equivalent (e.g., empress, queen) of their husband's title. In Brazil, Portugal and Spain, however, the husband of a female monarch is accorded the masculine equivalent of her title (e.g., emperor, king), at least after he fathered her heir. In previous epochs, husbands of queens regnant were often deemed entitled to the crown matrimonial, sharing their consorts' regnal title and rank jure uxoris.
However, in cultures which allow the ruler to have several wives (e.g., four in Islam) or official concubines (e.g., Imperial China, Ottoman Empire, Thailand, the Zulu monarchy), these women, sometimes collectively referred to as a harem, often have specific rules determining their relative hierarchy and a variety of titles, which may distinguish between those whose offspring can be in line for the succession or not, or specifically who is mother to the heir to the throne.
To complicate matters, the style His/Her (Imperial/Royal) Highness, a prefix often accompanying the title of a dynastic prince, may be awarded/withheld separately (as a compromise or consolation prize, in some sense, e.g., Duke of Cádiz, Duchess of Windsor, Princesse de Réthy, Prince d'Orléans-Braganza).
Although the arrangement set out above is the one that is most commonly understood, there are also different systems. Depending on country, epoch, and translation, other usages of "prince" are possible.
Foreign-language titles such as Italian: principe, French: prince, German: Fürst, German: Prinz (non-reigning descendant of a reigning monarch), Ukrainian and Russian: князь, romanized: knyaz, etc., are usually translated as "prince" in English.
Some princely titles are derived from those of national rulers, such as tsarevich from tsar. Other examples are (e)mirza(da), khanzada, nawabzada, sahibzada, shahzada, sultanzada (all using the Persian patronymic suffix -zada, meaning "son, descendant"). However, some princely titles develop in unusual ways, such as adoption of a style for dynasts which is not pegged to the ruler's title, but rather continues an old tradition (e.g., "grand duke" in Romanov Russia or "archduke" in Habsburg Austria), claims dynastic succession to a lost monarchy (e.g. Prince de Tarente for the La Trémoïlle heirs to the Neapolitan throne), or descends from a ruler whose princely title or sovereign status was not de jure hereditary, but attributed to descendants as an international courtesy, (e.g., Bibesco-Bassaraba de Brancovan, Poniatowski, Ypsilanti).
In some dynasties, a specific style other than prince has become customary for dynasts, such as fils de France in the House of Capet, and Infante. Infante was borne by children of the monarch other than the heir apparent in all of the Iberian monarchies. Some monarchies used a specific princely title for their heirs, such as Prince of Asturias in Spain and Prince of Brazil in Portugal.
Sometimes a specific title is commonly used by various dynasties in a region, e.g. Mian in various of the Punjabi princely Hill States (lower Himalayan region in British India).
European dynasties usually awarded appanages to princes of the blood, typically attached to a feudal noble title, such as Prince of Orange in the Netherlands, Britain's royal dukes, the Dauphin in France, the Count of Flanders in Belgium, and the Count of Syracuse in Sicily. Sometimes appanage titles were princely, e.g. Prince of Achaia (Courtenay), Prince de Condé (Bourbon), Prince of Carignan (Savoy), but it was the fact that their owners were of princely rank rather than that they held a princely title which was the source of their pre-eminence.
For the often specific terminology concerning an heir apparent, see Crown prince.
Other princes derive their title not from dynastic membership as such, but from inheritance of a title named for a specific and historical territory. The family's possession of prerogatives or properties in that territory might be long past. Such were most of the "princedoms" of France's ancien régime, so resented for their pretentiousness in the memoirs of Saint-Simon. These included the princedoms of Arches-Charleville, Boisbelle-Henrichemont, Chalais, Château-Regnault, Guéménée, Martigues, Mercœur, Sedan, Talmond, Tingrey, and the "kingship" of Yvetot, among others.
A prince or princess who is the head of state of a territory that has a monarchy as a form of government is a reigning prince.
The current princely monarchies include:
In the same tradition, some self-proclaimed monarchs of so-called micronations style themselves as princes:
Various monarchies provide for different modes in which princes of the dynasty can temporarily or permanently share in the style and/or office of the monarch, e.g. as regent or viceroy.
Though these offices may not be reserved legally for members of the ruling dynasty, in some traditions they are filled by dynasts, a fact which may be reflected in the style of the office, e.g. "prince-president" for Napoleon III as French head of state but not yet emperor, or "prince-lieutenant" in Luxembourg, repeatedly filled by the crown prince before the grand duke's abdication, or in form of consortium imperii.
Some monarchies even have a practice in which the monarch can formally abdicate in favour of his heir and yet retain a kingly title with executive power, e.g. Maha Upayuvaraja (Sanskrit for Great Joint King in Cambodia), though sometimes also conferred on powerful regents who exercised executive powers.
In several countries of the European continent, such as France, prince can be an aristocratic title of someone having a high rank of nobility or as lord of a significant fief, but not ruling any actual territory and without any necessary link to the royal family, such as Andora, which makes it difficult to compare with the British system of royal princes.
The kings of France started to bestow the style of prince, as a title among the nobility, from the 16th century onwards. These titles were created by elevating a seigneurie to the nominal status of a principality—although prerogatives of sovereignty were never conceded in the letters patent. Princely titles self-assumed by the princes du sang and by the princes étrangers were generally tolerated by the king and used at the royal court, outside the Parlement of Paris. These titles held no official place in the hierarchy of the nobility, but were often treated as ranking just below ducal peerages, since they were often inherited (or assumed) by ducal heirs:
This can even occur in a monarchy within which an identical but real and substantive feudal title exists, such as Fürst in German. An example of this is:
In other cases, such titular princedoms are created in chief of an event, such as a treaty or a victory. Examples include:
In the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the titles of prince dated either to the times before the Union of Lublin or were granted to Polish nobles by foreign monarchs, as the law in Poland forbade the king from dividing nobility by granting them hereditary titles: see The Princely Houses of Poland.
In Ukraine, landlords and rulers of Kievan Rus' were called князь (knjazʹ), translated as "prince". Similarly, foreign titles of "prince" were translated as knyaz in Ukrainian (e. g. Ivan Mazepa, "knyaz of Holy Roman Empire"). Princes of Rurik Dynasty obeyed their oldest brother, who was taking the title of Grand Prince of Kiev. In 14th their ruling role was taken by Lithuanian princes, which used the title of Grand Prince of Lithuania and Ruthenia. With the rise of cossacks, many former Ukrainian princes were incorporated into the new Cossack nobility.
In the Russian system, knyaz was the highest degree of official nobility. Members of older dynasties, whose realms were eventually annexed to the Russian Empire, were also accorded the title of knyazʹ—sometimes after first being allowed to use the higher title of tsarevich (e.g. the Princes Gruzinsky and Sibirsky).
In the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Ukraine, Japan, Lithuania, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Belarus and Hungary the title of prince has also been used as the highest title of nobility (without membership in a ruling dynasty), above the title of duke, while the same usage (then as Fürst) has occurred in Germany and Austria but then one rank below the title of duke and above count.
In each case, the title is followed (when available) by the female form and then (not always available, and obviously rarely applicable to a prince of the blood without a principality) the name of the territory associated with it, each separated by a slash. If a second title (or set) is also given, then that one is for a Prince of the blood, the first for a principality. Be aware that the absence of a separate title for a prince of the blood may not always mean no such title exists; alternatively, the existence of a word does not imply there is also a reality in the linguistic territory concerned; it may very well be used exclusively to render titles in other languages, regardless whether there is a historical link with any (which often means that linguistic tradition is adopted)
Etymologically, we can discern the following traditions (some languages followed a historical link, e.g. within the Holy Roman Empire, not their language family; some even fail to follow the same logic for certain other aristocratic titles):
The below is essentially the story of European, Christian dynasties and other nobility, also 'exported' to their colonial and other overseas territories and otherwise adopted by rather westernized societies elsewhere (e.g. Haiti).
Applying these essentially western concepts, and terminology, to other cultures even when they don't do so, is common but in many respects rather dubious. Different (historical, religious...) backgrounds have also begot significantly different dynastic and nobiliary systems, which are poorly represented by the 'closest' western analogy.
It therefore makes sense to treat these per civilization.
It's crucial to use the proper title while speaking to members of the royal family because Brunei is an absolute monarchy, and inappropriate use might be uncomfortable. The heir apparent and crown prince, styled as Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri (His Royal Highness), is officially known as Pengiran Muda Mahkota (Crown Prince); A blood prince is officially known as Pengiran Muda (Prince); their names are styled differently: If they do not have additional titles, the Sultan's sons are addressed as Duli Yang Teramat Mulia Paduka Seri (His Royal Highness); The Pengiran Muda Mahkota's sons are addressed as Yang Teramat Mulia (His Royal Highness).
Before Qin dynasty, prince (in the sense of royal family member) had no special title. Princes of the Zhou dynasty were specifically referred to as Wangzi (王子) and Wangsun (王孫), which mean "son of the king" and "grandson of the king," while princes of the vassal states were referred to as Gongzi (公子) and Gongsun (公孫), which mean "son of the lord" and "grandson of the lord," respectively. Sons of the vassals may receive nobility titles like Jun (君), Qing (卿), Daifu (大夫) and Shi (仕).
Since Han dynasty, royal family members were entitled Wang (王, lit. King), the former highest title which was then replaced by Huang Di (皇帝, lit. Emperor). Since Western Jin, the Wang rank was divided into two ranks, Qin Wang (親王, lit. King of the Blood) and Jun Wang (郡王, lit. King of the Commandery). Only family of the Emperor can be entitled Qin Wang, so prince is usually translated as Qin Wang, e.g. 菲利普親王 (Prince Philip). For the son of the ruler, prince is usually translated as Huang Zi (皇子, lit. Son of the Emperor) or Wang Zi (王子 lit., Son of the King), e.g. 查爾斯王子 (Prince Charles).
As a title of nobility, prince can be translated as Qin Wang according to tradition, Da Gong (大公, lit., Grand Duke) if one want to emphasize that it is a very high rank but below the King (Wang), or just Zhu Hou (诸侯, lit. princes) which refers to princes of all ranks in general. For example, 摩納哥親王 (Prince of Monaco).
In Japan, the title Kōshaku (公爵) was used as the highest title of Kazoku (華族 Japanese modern nobility) before the present constitution. Kōshaku, however, is more commonly translated as "Duke" to avoid confusion with the following royal ranks in the Imperial Household: Shinnō (親王 literally, Prince of the Blood); Naishinnō (内親王 lit., Princess of the Blood in her own right); and Shinnōhi 親王妃 lit., Princess Consort); or Ō (王 lit., Prince); Jyo-Ō (女王 lit., Princess (in her own right)); and Ōhi (王妃 lit., Princess Consort). The former is the higher title of a male member of the Imperial family while the latter is the lower.
In the Joseon Dynasty, the title "Prince" was used for the king's male-line descendants. The title was divided into two: the king's legitimate son used the title daegun (대군, 大君, literally "grand prince"), but any other male royals used the title gun (군, 君, lit. "prince"). These included the descendants of the king up to the grandsons of illegitimate sons of the king and the crown prince, and up to the great grandsons of daeguns, with other royals being able to be named gun if they reached the second rank. But the title of gun wasn't limited to the royal family. It was also granted as an honorary title to the king's father-in-law and to gongsin (공신, 功臣, lit. "servant of merit") and was only conditionally hereditary for gongsins.
As noble titles no longer exist in modern Korea, the English word "Prince" is now usually translated as wangja (왕자, 王子, lit. "king's son"), referring to princes from non-Korean royal families. Princes and principalities in continental Europe are almost always confused with dukes and duchies in Korean speech, both being translated as gong (공, 公, lit. "duke") and gongguk (공국, 公國, lit. "duchy").
The title 'Prince' was used for the King's son in Sinhalese generation in Sri Lanka.
In the former Empire of India, during the British Colonial Era, the title of a Prince was conferred upon by the Emperor to the hereditary Indian rulers of the numerous principalities of varying sizes in the empire called "princely states", who ruled their territories in the name of the Emperor of India, who was also simultaneously the Monarch of the United Kingdom and the Dominions. They acknowledged the Emperor as their imperial sovereign till the empire's dissolution in 1947 and subsequently acceded to the newly formed Union of India and the Dominion of Pakistan between 1947 and 1949.
See Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos
See Principalia, the Sultanate of Maguindanao and the Sultanate of Sulu.
In Thailand (formerly Siam), the title of Prince was divided into three classes depending on the rank of their mothers. Those who were born of a king and had a royal mother (a queen or princess consort) are titled Chaofa Chai (Thai: เจ้าฟ้าชาย: literally, "Male Celestial Lord"). Those born of a king and a commoner, or children of Chaofas and royal consorts, are tilted Phra Ong Chao (พระองค์เจ้า). The children of Chaofas and commoners, or children of Phra Ong Chaos, are titled Mom Chao (หม่อมเจ้า), abbreviated as M.C. (or ม.จ.).
A Western model was sometimes copied by emancipated colonial regimes (e.g. Bokassa I's short-lived Central-African Empire in Napoleonic fashion). Otherwise, most of the styles for members of ruling families do not lend themselves well to English translation. Nonetheless, in general the princely style has gradually replaced the colonialist title of "chief", which does not particularly connote dynastic rank to Westerners, e.g. Swazi Royal Family and Zulu Royal Family. Nominally ministerial chiefly titles, such as the Yoruba Oloye and the Zulu InDuna, still exist as distinct titles in kingdoms all over Africa.
In states with an element of theocracy, this can affect princehood in several ways, such as the style of the ruler (e.g. with a secondary title meaning son or servant of a named divinity), but also the mode of succession (even reincarnation and recognition).
Certain religious offices may be considered of princely rank, or imply comparable temporal rights. Pope, Hereditary Prince-Cardinals, Cardinals, Prince-Lord Bishops, Prince Bishops, Lord Bishops, Prince-Provost, and Prince-abbots are referred to as Princes of the Church.
Also, in Christianity, Jesus Christ is sometimes referred to as the Prince of Peace. Other titles for Jesus Christ are Prince of Princes, Prince of the Covenant, Prince of Life, and Prince of the Kings of the Earth. Further, Satan is popularly titled the Prince of Darkness; and in the Christian faith he is also referred to as the Prince of this World and the Prince of the Power of the Air. Another title for Satan, not as common today but apparently so in approximately 30 A.D. by the Pharisees of the day, was the title Prince of the Devils. Prince of Israel, Prince of the Angels, and Prince of Light are titles given to the Archangel Michael. Some Christian churches also believe that since all Christians, like Jesus Christ, are children of God, then they too are princes and princesses of Heaven. Saint Peter, a disciple of Jesus, is also known as the Prince of the Apostles.