Imperial Highness
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His/Her Imperial Highness (abbreviation HIH) is a style used by members of an imperial family to denote imperial – as opposed to royal – status to show that the holder in question is descended from an emperor rather than a king (compare His/Her Royal Highness).
The first dynasty to use the style in
Romanovs in the eighteenth century; the archdukes and archduchess of the House of Habsburg were only styled as Royal Highness given the officially elective nature of the Holy Roman Empire
.
With the establishment of the
Austro-Hungarian compromise with its creation of two intertwined but distinct states, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary, the style was changed to Imperial and Royal Highness
to reflect the double role; however, the colloquialism of omitting "and Royal" was acceptable even for the most formal occasions.
Today, the style has mainly fallen from use with the exception of the
royal family of Belgium descending from the Habsburgs do hold it as an official style (the "and Royal" might here possibly be read as referring as well to Belgium). Members of the British royal family, theoretically, as the imperial family of British India
, could have used the title, but did not.
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