Highness


Highness is a formal style used to address or refer to certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty. It is typically used with a possessive adjective: "His Highness", "Her Highness", "Their Highnesses", etc. Although often combined with other adjectives of honour indicating rank, such as "Imperial", "Royal" or "Serene", it may be used alone.
Highness is, both literally and figuratively, the quality of being lofty or above. It is used as a term to evoke dignity or honour, and to acknowledge the exalted rank of the person so described.

History in Europe

Abstract styles arose in profusion in the Roman Empire, especially in the Byzantine. Styles were attached to various offices at court or in the state. 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.
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 VI and I. 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, 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.

Continental Europe

At the conclusion of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, His/Her Highness, became prevalent for reigning dukes and members of their dynasties in Germany ; for cadets of some German grand ducal houses ; and cadet members of some imperial or royal families. That custom remains official in the Dutch and Norwegian dynasties. The Almanach de Gotha and Burke's Peerage continued to ascribe Highness to members of deposed dynasties of ducal rank.
Among the nobility, the Almanach de Gotha notes that Highness was accorded to the heads of the families of Murat, Hohenberg, Teck and all members of the House of Ligne.
The style was discontinued in the Danish royal family in 2023, having been applied to junior lines for many generations.

Example of official holders of the style Highness:
Usually members of an imperial or royal dynasty are addressed as Imperial Highness or Royal Highness respectively.
Grand Ducal Highness was the treatment accorded cadet princes of those families of ruling grand dukes who did not simply use "Highness", viz. Baden.
While "Highness" was used for rulers of German duchies, the sovereign Dukes of Modena and of Parma were heads of cadet branches of ruling dynasties of higher rank. They and their cadets therefore used the imperial or royal styles borne by members of those houses, respectively the royal House of Bourbon and the imperial House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
In modern times, Serene Highness is used as the equivalent of the German Durchlaucht. In the 17th century, it became the general style borne by the heads of the reigning princely states of the Holy Roman Empire, as "Illustrious Highness became customary for those of the comital houses. In 1825, the Imperial German Diet agreed to grant the style Durchlaucht to the heads of all mediatized princely houses domiciled in Germany elevated to the rank of Fürst 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.
His Exalted Highness is a rare hybrid of the title style Highness. It is used as a salutation style only for the Nizams of Hyderabad and Berar conferred by the British Government.

Commonwealth realms

Highness was the style accorded to princes of the British royal family who were the male-line great-grandchildren of a British sovereign, except the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. In 1917, George V revoked authorization for use of that style.
The children and grandchildren in the male-line of a British sovereign were and are addressed as Royal Highness, as are the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. The sovereign has the right as a legal fons honorum to grant or revoke use of the style of Highness, as with other styles, titles and honours.

Colonial use

  • In the British Empire, the style Highness became reserved for the elite of the feudatory dynastic heads of the major princely states.
  • In various other empires, such as the Dutch East Indies, a similar system was introduced.

    Modern Islamic World

Royal Afghanistan

In Afghanistan the title Jalalat Mahab is used for Sardars, or Princes of the former Muhammadzai dynasty, who are descendants of the Afghan Emir Payindah Muhammad Khan Barakzai. Although Jalalat Mahab is derived from the Arabic term Jalalat literally meaning His Majesty, it is regarded as equal to His Highness internationally. A legal ground for it is a strengthened ius cogens within the Afghan royal family with gateways in the first written constitution of Afghanistan issued by Abdur Rahman Khan in year 1890 and amended by Amanullah Khan in year 1923.
Prince Daoud Khan, a member of the Telai cadet branch and Cousin of the last Afghan King Zahir Shah, acting as prime minister under his cousin held the address Jalalat Mahab Aali Qadr Sardari Alaa during his term as Prime Minister.
After the constitution of 1964 that changed Afghanistan's state system from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy, the descendants of King Nadir Shah held the exclusive address as Alaa Hazrat in which context Hazrat is Turkish and means Majesty or Highness and thus literally translated means Higher Majesty or Higher Highness and is internationally also equal to His Royal Highness. Jalalat Mahab was still used for other cadet branches by customary law and in light of the law of royal expenses, based on Article 13 and 24 of the Royal Constitution of 1964. Cadet branches include:
The King himself held the title Alaa Hazrat Humayoon which literally translated means His Most Noble Majesty, and can be equalized with His Majesty internationally.
Despite the de facto fall of Barakzai leadership through the Soviet Invasion in year 1978, the address is until today still used out of courtesy.

Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, all members of the royal family have the title of Emir but sons, daughters, patrilineal granddaughters and grandsons of Ibn Saud are referred to by the style "His Royal Highness", differing from those belonging to the cadet branches who are styled as "His/Her Highness", and in addition to that a reigning king has the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.
The definition of the cadet branches has been legally defined in year 2000 by King Abdullah and includes the following:
The Emirs of Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates also use the style of "Highness".

Iraq

Patrilineal descendants of former ruling Emirs of Iraq use His Highness for the head of the house

Aga Khan

The Aga Khan was granted the style of His Highness by Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom in 1957 upon the death of his grandfather Aga Khan III. This has been a traditional gesture by British sovereigns since the Aga Khan III allied himself with Britain against Afghanistan.
The style of His Highness was formally granted to the Aga Khan IV's successor and eldest son, Aga Khan V, by King Charles III on 10 February 2025.

Republican and non-royal usage

Very rarely, the style of Highness or variations thereof have been used by non-monarchical heads of state, particularly before the 20th century, and often in cases where the distinction between monarchy and republic was blurred. For example, Oliver Cromwell and his wife were styled "Highness" upon his elevation to Lord Protector of the Commonwealth; he also enjoyed the style of by the Grace of God, was succeeded by his son, and had even been offered the throne.

Spanish-speaking world

In the Spanish-speaking world, a handful of leaders historically enjoyed the official, if often ephemeral, style of Highness or variations thereof.
In Spain, Manuel Godoy, who twice served as Prime Minister from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808, was granted the style of Most Serene Highness in 1807 by King Charles IV. He had been created Principe de la Paz in 1795, but the princely title did not carry the style of Highness on its own. The former style was possibly derived from the traditional Spanish honorific of Excelentísimo Señor.
Baldomero Espartero, Prince of Vergara, who was regent for Queen Isabella II from 1840 to 1843, and three times served as Prime Minister: in 1837, from 1840 to 1841, and from 1854 to 1856, was created Prince of Vergara in 1872. Espartero had previously declined an offer to the throne following the Spanish Revolution of 1868, which instead went to the Italian Amadeo of Savoy, who in turn bestowed the royal princedom on him.
Furthermore, according to the provisions of Royal Decree 1368/1987 promulgated by King Juan Carlos I in 1987, a Regent of Spain is to enjoy the style of Highness, unless they were to possess rank conferring a higher style.
During the short-lived Luz de America uprising of 1809 in modern-day Ecuador, the Junta de Gobierno Autónoma de Quito, granted its president, Juan Pío de Montúfar, 2nd Marquis of Selva Alegre, the style of Most Serene Highness, while claiming for itself the collective dignity of "Majesty". Selva Alegre's pseudo-monarchical government, which was formed following Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808 and lasted for a mere seventy-five days, was considered by both contemporaries and later historians to be a thinly-disguised effort to establish a "Kingdom of Quito"; Selva dressed himself in regal vestments, bestowed honours on citizens, and instituted the National Order of San Lorenzo.
Antonio López de Santa Anna, enjoyed the official style of Most Serene Highness during his eleventh and final tenure as President of Mexico for life from 1853 until his deposal in 1855.