Dictionary Definition
Highness
Noun
1 (Your Highness or His Highness of Her Highness)
title used to address a royal person
User Contributed Dictionary
see Highness
English
Pronunciation
-
- Rhymes: -aɪnəs
Noun
highness- the state of being high
Extensive Definition
Highness, often used with a personal possessive
pronoun (His/Her/Your/Their Highness(es), the first two abbreviated
HH) is an attribute referring to the rank of the
dynasty (such as Royal
Highness, Imperial Highness) in an
address. It is literally the quality of being lofty or high, a
term and style used, as are so many abstractions, as a style of
dignity and honour, to signify exalted rank
or station.
Western and European tradition
Abstract styles arose in great profusion in the Roman Empire, especially in the Byzantine continuation. Currently such styles can be subject to confusion, as their meaning was affected by inflation and devaluation, but at any given time they were rather rigidly ruled by imperial commands, rendering the official hierarchy of offices; for example at the time of the Notitia dignitatum, the highest offices were grouped in classes, each awarded a characteristic title on top of every functional one, the highest being Illustris, next Spectabilis, et cetera. Like other exorbitant and swelling attributes of the time, the higher styles were conferred on imperial and ruling foreign princes generally as well as attached to various offices at court and/or in the state (military, financial, judiciary and various other, often combined, central and provincial administrations), clarifying the protocollary hierarchy (often deviating from the political reality, though).In the early
Middle Ages such styles, couched in the second or third person,
were uncertain and much more arbitrary, and were more subject to
the fancies of secretaries than in later times (Selden, Titles of
Honor, part I, Ch. vii. 100). In English usage, the terms Highness,
Grace
(which is not used exclusively for the sovereign), and Majesty, were all
used as honorific styles of Kings and Queens until the time of
James
I of England. 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. f562), 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.
It may be noted that Oliver
Cromwell, as Lord
Protector of the Commonwealth, and his wife, were styled
Highness, which is unusual for a republic.
In present usage the following members of the
British Royal Family normally have the right to be addressed as
Royal Highness (HRH, His or Her Royal Highness): The children of
past and present Sovereigns, the grandchildren in the male-line and
the eldest son of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales (decree of
31 May 1898). A change of sovereign does not entail the forfeiture
of the style of Royal Highness. However, the sovereign has the
right to grant or revoke the style of HRH and other titles (e.g.,
Princess Royal).
As a general rule, the members of the blood royal
of an Imperial or Royal house are addressed as Imperial or Royal
Highness (French Altesse Imperiale, Altesse Royale; German
Kaiserliche Hoheit, Königliche Hoheit; Spanish Alteza Imperial,
Alteza Real, etc.) respectively. In Germany, Austria (and other
former parts of the Holy
Roman Empire) the reigning heads of the Grand Duchies bear the
title of Royal Highness (Königliche Hoheit), while other members of
the family are simply addressed as Grand Ducal Highness or Highness
(Großherzogliche Hoheit or Hoheit). Hoheit is borne by the reigning
dukes and the princes and princesses of their families. The style
Serene Highness has an antiquity equal to that of highness, and was
a title borne by the Byzantine rulers, as were serenitas and
serenissimus by the Emperors Honorius and
Arcadius.
The Doge of Venice was also styled Serenissimus (Latin 'Most
Serene'). The crowned republic and the (later Austrian, then
Italian) city itself remain widely known as la Serenissima. Selden
(op. cit. part II. ch. X. 739) calls this style one of the greatest
that can be given "to any Prince that hath not the superior title
of King". In modern times Serene Highness (Altesse Sérénissime) is
used as the equivalent of the German Durchlaucht, a stronger form
of Erlaucht, illustrious, represented in the Latin honorific
superillustris- Thackeray's burlesque title Transparency in the
fictitious court at Pumpernickel very accurately gives the meaning.
The style of Durchlaucht was granted in 1375 by the Emperor
Charles IV to the electoral princes (Kurfürsten),
the highest rank under the Roman Emperor).
In the 17th century it became the general style
borne by the heads of the reigning princely states of the empire
(reichsständische Fürsten), as Erlaucht by those of the comital
houses (reichsständische Grafen, i.e. Counts of the Empire). In
1825 the Imperial German Diet agreed to grant the style Durchlaucht
to the heads of all mediatized princely houses domiciled in Germany
or Austria, and it is now customary to use it of the members of
those houses. Further, all those who are elevated to the rank of
Fürst
(prince in the *secondary meaning of that title) are also styled
Durchlaucht. In 1829 the style of Erlaucht, which had formerly been
borne by the reigning Counts of the empire, was similarly granted
to the mediatized countly families (Almanach
de Gotha, 1909, 107).
His Highness, often abbreviated HH, is a style
for members of ducal families, some grand ducal families, and
lesser members of some royal families. The third case is the only
usage of the style that is still used officially. However,
socially, many formerly-reigning ducal and grand ducal families
assume the style HH, but this is only used socially and they are
not normally referred to as such in any official capacity.
The style is officially used by junior members of
the royal houses of Denmark and the
Netherlands.
Before 1917,
it was also used by some junior members of the British royal house.
The style was also once used by the ruling families of the Grand
Duchies of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach,
Oldenburg,
Mecklenburg-Schwerin,
and Mecklenburg-Strelitz,
and of the Duchies of Brunswick,
Anhalt,
Saxe-Coburg
and Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen,
and Saxe-Altenburg,
as well as by the House of Schleswig-Holstein,
which never ruled. Surviving members of these families are
sometimes known by the style.
Example of official holders of the style
Highness:
- His Highness Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, Van Vollenhoven, son of HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Mr. Pieter van Vollenhoven, the maternal grandson of HM Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, and nephew of HM Queen Beatrix. Upon his mother's marriage, it was decreed that her children would be known as HH Prince(ss) of Orange-Nassau, Van Vollenhoven.
- His Highness Prince Nikolai of Denmark, son of HRH Prince Joachim of Denmark and HE Alexandra, Countess of Frederiksborg, the paternal grandson of HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.
- His Highness Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway son of HRH Crown Prince Haakon and HRH Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, the paternal grandson of HM King Harald V of Norway.
Examples of other people entitled to the style
Highness:
- His Highness Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the current Head of the Ducal Family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. His actual official name is Andreas Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha as since the fall of the monarchy the German state has not recognised royal or aristocratic titles or styles except as a part of the surname. Nonetheless, the style is still correctly used by members of formerly-reigning families. It is not regarded as appropriate that the German republican state should be an arbiter of nobiliary or royal styles and these families therefore still use these styles even though the state itself does not recognise them.
- His Highness Duke Christoph of Schleswig-Holstein, the current Head of the Ducal Family of Schleswig-Holstein. His actual official name is Christoph Herzog von Schleswig-Holstein, on the same basis as above.
- His Highness Duke Georg Borwin of Mecklenburg, the current Head of the Grand Ducal Family of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. His actual official name is Georg Borwin Herzog zu Mecklenburg, on the same basis as above.
African usage
- In most of Africa, many styles are used by Tribal Royalty. Currently, the members of these Royal Families use Highness or Royal Highness, while some still just use Prince or Princess.
Colonial use
- In the British Empire, the style (His) Highness became reserved for the elite of the feudatory dynastic heads of the major princely states (mainly in India and other territories—as on the Persian Gulf coast—once under the Honourable East India Company).
- In various other empires, such as the Dutch East Indies (see List of regencies and cities of Indonesia), a similar system was introduced.
Other uses
Regardless of the official traditions in the various colonial empires, the style is evidently used to render, often merely informally, various somewhat analogous titles in non-western cultures, regardless whether there is an actual linguistic and/or historical link.In Samoa the heads of
the two paramount chieftain carry the title Highness. Both the
current and previous Heads of State were titles High
Highness.
Variations and precedence
While the actual precedence depends on the rank itself, and sometimes more specifically on the monarchy, rather than on the style of address, the holders tend to end up roughly in the following order of precedence:- His/Her Imperial and Royal Highness (HI&RH; ranks with HIH)
- His/Her Imperial Highness (HIH; ranks with HI&RH)
- His/Her Royal Highness (HRH)
- His/Her Grand Ducal Highness (HGDH)
- His/Her Highness (HH)
- His/Her Most Serene Highness (HMSH)
- His/Her Serene Highness (HSH)
- His/Her Illustrious Highness (HIll.H)
- His Most Eminent Highness, a hybrid with His Eminence, created in 1630 for the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, as Prince of the empire at par with a Cardinal (Prince of the Church).
In 1876 Queen
Victoria of the United Kingdom was amongst the mightiest
rulers, but by protocol was accorded precedence below the Austrian,
German and Russian Emperors (the 'three eagles'), and in particular
would be outranked by her eldest daughter, married to the heir to
the less powerful German
Empire. This was a consideration for
Parliament to raise the Sovereign in precedence by creating the
new title of Emperor/Empress of India, in chief of the British
crown's position as Paramount
ruler of British India, as such the colonial successor to the
Mughal dynasty which had the imperial style Padshah-i-Hind.
However, the British sense of tradition led to the old royal style
in chief of the European UK remaining the lead title, the short
formula being King-Emperor, not the inverse.
Sources and references
highness in German: Hoheit (Adelsprädikat)
highness in Indonesian: Highness
highness in Portuguese: Sua Alteza
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Eminence, Grace, Her Excellency, Her
Highness, Her Ladyship, Her Majesty, His Lordship, His Majesty,
Honor, Imperial Highness,
Imperial Majesty, Lady,
Ladyship, Lord, Lordship, Majesty, My Lady, My Lord,
Reverence, Royal
Highness, Royal Majesty, Serene Highness, Worship, Your Lordship, milady, milord