By the Grace of God


By the Grace of God is a formulaic phrase used especially in Christian monarchies as an introductory part of the full styles of a monarch. In England and later the United Kingdom, the phrase was formally added to the royal style in 1521 and continues to be used. It is also used by bishops. For example, on UK coinage, the abbreviation DG appears today.

History and rationale

Originally, it had a literal meaning: the divine right of kings was invoked—notably by Christian monarchs—as legitimation for the absolutist authority the monarch wielded, that is, the endorsement of God for the monarch's reign.
By custom, the phrase "by the Grace of God" is restricted to sovereign rulers; in the feudal logic, a vassal held fief not by the grace of God, but by grant of a superior noble. Yet this did not stop kings using it, even when they did homage to the pope or another ruler, such as the Kingdom of Bavaria, a state of the Holy Roman Empire.
Parallels exist in other civilizations, e.g. Mandate of Heaven of the Chinese empire, where for centuries the official decrees by the emperors of China invariably began with the phrase 「奉天承運，皇帝詔曰」 which is translated as "The Emperor, by the Grace of Heaven, decrees".

Contemporary usage

The traditional phrase "by the grace of God" is still included in the full titles and styles of the monarchs of Denmark, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Monaco and the United Kingdom.
In other Commonwealth realms, who share the same monarch with the United Kingdom, the style is used in Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tuvalu. Papua New Guinea does not use the style.
The phrase was used in Luxembourg until 2000, when Grand Duke Henri decided to drop it. During the 20th-century dictatorship of Francisco Franco in Spain, Spanish coins bore a legend identifying him as Francisco Franco Caudillo de España por la G de Dios .
The phrase is not used in the monarchy of Belgium, which is explicitly a popular monarchy whose royal status is formally granted by the will of the people rather than by divine authority; the title is accordingly "King of the Belgians" rather than "King of Belgium". The phrase was previously used in three European monarchies that have since ceased to do so: Luxembourg, Norway and Sweden. In Spain, article 56 of the 1978 constitution, states that the title of the King of Spain is simply "King of Spain" but that he "can use the titles that correspond to the Crown". As a result, the King of Spain may use "by the grace of God", but this is not used on official documents.

Variant examples

In some cases, the formula was combined with a reference to another legitimation, especially such democratic notions as the social contract, e.g.