Highness Vs Serene Highness | WordReference Forums

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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. Highness vs Serene Highness

• Thread starter Thread starter Sognino
• Start date Start date Nov 15, 2020

Sognino

Member

Thai In the past, monarchs, princes and princesses were referred with the styles "Your Majesty", "Your Highness" or "Your Grace" interchangeably. And then in the recent centuries, "Majesty" is reserved to Kings/Queens only ("Imperial Majesty" for Emperors/Empresses) Meanwhile, "Highness" is modified to "Royal Highness","Imperial Highness" "Illustrious Highness", Serene Highness" etc. And the simple "Highness" is still used. The styles are ranked as below 1. Imperial Majesty 2. Majesty 3. Imperial Highness 4. Royal Highness 5. Highness 6. Serene Highness It is quite weird why the shorter "Highness" is higher than "Serene Highness" ? In the past, the British princes/princess held the style "HRH" (children and grandchildren of male line of the mornach), "HH" or "HSH" (great-grandchildren). I remember that Queen Victoria elevated some her great-grandchildren from "HSH" to "HH". But nowadays, Queen Elizabeth II decide that great-grandchildren of male line of mornach (except the line of heir) have to enjoy with the peer title, Lord or Lady instead. Last edited: Nov 15, 2020

heypresto

Senior Member

South East England English - England In which country do all these 'ranks' exist? Maybe someone from that country might know the answer? They don't in the UK, so I can't comment.

Andygc

Senior Member

Devon British English

Sognino said: In the past, monarchs, princes and princesses were referred with the styles "Your Majesty", "Your Highness" or "Your Grace" interchangeably. Click to expand...

Why do you say that? Do you have any evidence to support that statement?

Sognino

Member

Thai

Andygc said: Why do you say that? Do you have any evidence to support that statement? Click to expand...

In English usage, the terms Highness, Grace and Majesty, were all used as honorific styles of kings, queens and princes of the blood until the time of James I of England.[1] Thus in documents relating to the reign of Henry VIII of England, all three styles are used indiscriminately; an example is the king's judgment against Dr. Edward Crome (d. 1562), quoted, from the Lord Chamberlains' books, ser. I, p. 791, in Trans. Roy. Hist. Soc. N.S. lOX. 299, where article 15 begins with Also the Kinges Highness hath ordered, 16 with Kinges Majestie, and 17 with Kinges Grace. In the Dedication of the Authorized Version of the Bible of 1611, James I is still styled Majesty and Highness; thus, in the first paragraph: "the appearance of Your Majesty, as of the Sun in his strength, instantly dispelled those supposed and surmised mists ... especially when we beheld the government established in Your Highness and Your hopeful Seed, by an undoubted title". It was, however, in James I's reign that Majesty became the official style.[3] Highness - Wikipedia

Sognino

Member

Thai

heypresto said: In which country do all these 'ranks' exist? Maybe someone from that country might know the answer? They don't in the UK, so I can't comment. Click to expand...

They did it in UK (before Queen Elizabeth II abolished HH and HSH ) and some countries still do it when the royal styles and titles are translated in English

Loob

Senior Member

English UK Can you explain why you're asking this series of questions? It's difficult to help if we don't understand the reasons for your desire to compare titles.

PaulQ

Senior Member

UK English - England

Sognino said: They did it in UK (before Queen Elizabeth II abolished HH and HSH ) Click to expand...

That is not accurate: Serene Highness - Wikipedia

Several morganatic branches of reigning German dynasties took up residence in the United Kingdom in the 19th century, where their German princely titles and style of Serene Highness were recognized by the sovereign. Click to expand...

Note that "Serene Highness" is solely a foreign term and has nothing to do with any British titles. Where such a title was "recognised" - recognised" is not the same as "official" - it would, in Britain/the British Empire, by convention and like all foreign titles, be lower than any similar British title.

Andygc

Senior Member

Devon British English Queen Elizabeth II did not abolish those titles. Serene Highness is an English translation of a German honorific which was used in Britain in the 19th century. I think its use was abolished in Britain by George V as part of the "de-Germanification" of the Saxe-Coburg family, which became the House of Windsor. Cross-posted with PaulQ, and saying much the same.

Sognino

Member

Thai Thank you all so much for correcting the information

london calling

Senior Member

Salerno, Italy UK English Yes indeed. Wikipedia. Mary of Teck. 'Although technically a princess of Teck, in the Kingdom of Württemberg, she was born and raised in the United Kingdom'. She was styled Her Serene Highness until she married HRH George, Duke of York (who would become George V) in 1893.

• 26 May 1867 – 6 July 1893: Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Mary of Teck
• 6 July 1893 – 22 January 1901: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of York
• 22 January 1901 – 9 November 1901: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall and York
• 9 November 1901 – 6 May 1910: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales
• 6 May 1910 – 20 January 1936: Her Majesty The Queen
• 20 January 1936 – 24 March 1953: Her Majesty Queen Mary

Last edited: Nov 15, 2020 You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Bluesky LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link

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