Princess Royal

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This article is about the British royal title. For the current holder, see Anne, Princess Royal. For other uses, see Princess Royal (disambiguation).
Princess Royal
Monarch of the United Kingdom
Term lengthLife tenure or until accession to the throne
Inaugural holderMary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange

Princess Royal is a

Princess Anne became Princess Royal in 1987.[2]

The style Princess Royal came into existence when

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

Prince Albert Edward
.

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,

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 become eligible only 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:

Order Princess Royal (from [date] to [date]) Portrait Born Tenure Marriages Died
1
Countess of Nassau
(1641))		 4 November 1631,
Queen Henrietta Maria
 18 years 2 May 1641
William II, Prince of Orange (1 son)		 24 December 1660,
Whitehall Palace
, London
2 Princess Anne
1727–1759
(also: Princess of Orange (1734))		 2 November 1709, Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover; daughter of King George II and Queen Caroline 32 years 25 March 1734
William IV of Orange (3 children
)		 12 January 1759, The Hague, Netherlands
3
Queen consort of Württemberg
(1806))		 29 September 1766,
King George III and Queen Charlotte
 39 years 18 May 1797
Frederick I of Württemberg (1 daughter)		 5 October 1828, Ludwigsburg Palace, Baden-Württemberg
4
Queen consort of Prussia
(1888))		 21 November 1840, Buckingham Palace, London; daughter of
Prince Albert
 60 years
25 January 1858
Frederick III, German Emperor (8 children
)		 5 August 1901, Schloss Friedrichshof, Hesse
5 Princess Louise
1905–1931
(also: Duchess of Fife (1889))		 20 February 1867,
Queen Alexandra
 26 years
27 July 1889
Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife (3 children
)		 4 January 1931, Portman Square, London
6 Princess Mary
1932–1965
(also: Countess of Harewood (1929))		 25 April 1897,
King George V and Queen Mary
 33 years 28 February 1922
Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (2 sons)		 28 March 1965, Harewood House, West Yorkshire
7 Princess Anne
1987–present
 15 August 1950,
Prince Philip
 37 years
Sir Timothy Laurence
 —
now 73 years, 256 days old

In fiction

  • In the House of M alternate universe of Marvel Comics, Betsy Braddock is the elder twin sister of the British King and bears the title Princess Royal.
  • The novel The Lady Royal, by Molly Costain Haycraft, is a fictionalized account of the life of
    Edward III
    , enjoyed the special privileges that came with her rank, she could not have been titled the Princess Royal because the title was not used in England until long after her death. The title of "the Lady Royal" has never existed.

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

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".

References

  1. ^ a b c "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. ^ a b Panton, Kenneth J. (2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Lanham, Maryland, US: Scarecrow Press, Inc. pp. 381–2. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  4. 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
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