Serene Highness (acronym HSH) – His Serene Highness or Her Serene Highness. The style of HSH appeared at the front of the princely titles of members of German ruling families. The style is also used today by the ruling families of Monaco and Liechtenstein. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Backronym and Apronym (Discuss) Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations, such as NATO, laser, and ABC, written as the initial letter or letters of words, and pronounced on the basis of this abbreviated written form. ... A style of office, or honorific, is a form of address which by tradition or law precedes a reference to a person who holds a title or post, or to the political office itself. ...

Monaco

The reigning Prince of Monaco, Prince Albert II of Monaco, is styled His Serene Highness and his sisters Stéphanie and Caroline are also styled as Her Serene Highness, although Caroline is now styled Royal Highness through marriage. In French, both male and female versions are Son Altesse Sérénissime (S.A.S.), which translates literally to "His/Her Most Serene Highness". Prince(ss) of Monaco is a title given to certain members of the princely family of Monaco. ... Albert II, Sovereign Prince of Monaco (Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre Grimaldi; born March 14, 1958), styled His Serene Highness The Sovereign Prince of Monaco, is the head of the House of Grimaldi and the current ruler of the Principality of Monaco. ... A style of office, or honorific, is a form of address which by tradition or law precedes a reference to a person who holds a title or post, or to the political office itself. ... Princess Stéphanie of Monaco. ... The Princess of Hanover is the eldest child of the late Prince Rainier III of Monaco and is currently heir presumptive to the principalitys throne. ...

German usage

The style Serene Highness was mainly used by the mediatized Dukes, reigning and mediatized Fürsten ("Princes"), and the children and grandchildren of the reigning or mediatized Dukes and Fürsten, of the small German states that survived after the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire. It was also given to several morganatic branches of German ruling family. Queen Mary, the consort of King George V used the style Her Serene Highness as a Princess of Teck. (The dukes and princes of Teck were a branch of the Royal House of Württemberg). In the Republic of Venice, also called the Serene Republic, the Doge was known as "Serenissimus". A style of office, or honorific, is a form of address which by tradition or law precedes a reference to a person who holds a title or post, or to the political office itself. ... Mediatized (from Mediatization) refers to a formerly souvereign non-eccelesiastic principality within the Holy Roman Empire that has has lost its immediate souvereignty (Reichsunmittelbarkeit = Imperial immediacy) within the Empire and been incorporated into another realm -- an event with wide application in Germany in 1803 (Reichsdeputationshauptschluss), following Napoleons victory over... Fürst (plural Fürsten) is a German title of nobility, usually translated into English as Prince; however this translation can be misleading, since a Fürst usually ranks below a Duke. ... The Holy Roman Empire and from the 16th century on also The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was a political conglomeration of lands in Central Europe in the Middle Ages and the early modern period. ... A morganatic marriage is a type of marriage which can be contracted in certain countries, usually between persons of unequal social rank (unebenbürtig in German), which prevents the passage of the husbands titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage. ... Mary of Teck (Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes; later Queen Mary; 26 May 1867 - 24 March 1953) was the Queen Consort of George V of the United Kingdom. ... George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 - 20 January 1936) was the first British monarch belonging to the House of Windsor, as a result of his creating it from the British branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. ... Arms of the Kingdom of Württemberg The title of this article contains the character ü. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as Wuerttemberg. ... Map of the Venetian Republic, circa 1000 CE. The republic is in dark red, borders in light red. ... Grand Procession of the Doge, 16th century Doges Palace Complex For some thousand years, the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice was the Doge (Duke). ...

In most of Europe, the style of Serene Highness was considered to be lower in rank than Highness, Grand Ducal Highness, Royal Highness, and Imperial Highness. If a woman with the rank of Royal Highness married a man with the rank Serene Highness, the woman would usually retain her pre-marital style. Queen Victoria did however create those German princes and dukes who married her daughters Royal Highnesses. Highness, often used with a personal possessive pronoun (His/Her/Your Highness, the first two abbreviated HH) and/or an adjective referring to the rank of the dynasty (e. ... His/Her Grand Ducal Highness (acronym HGDH). ... Royal Highness (abbreviation HRH) is a style His Royal Highness or Her Royal Highness. ... His/Her Imperial Highness (abbreviation HIH) is a title used by members of an Imperial family to denote Imperial - as opposed to royal - status to show that the holder in question is descended from an Emperor rather than a King (compare His/Her Royal Highness). ... Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837, and the first Empress of India from 1 January 1877, until her death in 1901. ...

In Germany, the styled used is Durchlaucht, a tranlation for the Latin perillustris. Although this is usually translated into English as Serene Highness it would be more correct to translate it as Transparency. The incorrect translation results in the inconsistency (to English speaking minds) of a mere Highness outranking a Serene Highness. Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ...

During World War I, King George V revoked the style Serene Highness for use by those members of the British Royal Family who were British subjects. Combatants Allied Powers: British Empire France Italy Russia United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary Bulgaria Germany Ottoman Empire Commanders Ferdinand Foch Georges Clemenceau Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna Armando Diaz Nicholas II Aleksei Brusilov Herbert Henry Asquith Douglas Haig John Jellicoe Woodrow Wilson John Pershing Wilhelm II Paul von Hindenburg... Members of the Royal Family on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after the Trooping the Colour ceremony Close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom are known by the appellation The Royal Family. ...

The official current usage of the style in the German-speaking countries is by the princely house of Liechtenstein, the entirety of which bears the style, and other higher Germanic states. It is used officially by these:

• Hohenzollern
• Lippe
• Reuss
• Schaumburg-Lippe
• Schwarzburg (now extinct)
• Schwarzenberg
• Waldeck and Pyrmont

Various mediatized German princely families also use the style, unofficially: The House of Hohenzollern is a German dynasty of electors, kings, and emperors of Prussia, Germany, and Romania. ... This article is about the district Lippe. ... Reuss (German: Reuß) was the name of several historical states located in present-day Thuringia, Germany. ... Schaumburg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... Schwarzburg is a village in the Schwatzatal in the district Saalfeld-Rudolstadt in Thuringia, Germany. ... There are things that have the name Schwarzenberg: Places In Austria Schwarzenberg (Vorarlberg) , a locality of Vorarlberg Schwarzenberg am Böhmerwald, Upper Austria in Germany Schwarzenberg (Erzgebirge), in Saxony Aue-Schwarzenberg, a district in Germany Schwarzenberg (Erzgebirge) Schwarzenberg, a part of Schömberg im Schwarzwald, in the [[(district)|]] district, Saxony... Waldeck (or later Waldeck-Pyrmont) was a sovereign principality in what is now Lower Saxony and Hesse (Germany). ... Mediatized (from Mediatization) refers to a formerly souvereign non-eccelesiastic principality within the Holy Roman Empire that has has lost its immediate souvereignty (Reichsunmittelbarkeit = Imperial immediacy) within the Empire and been incorporated into another realm -- an event with wide application in Germany in 1803 (Reichsdeputationshauptschluss), following Napoleons victory over...

• Arenberg
• Auersperg
• Bentheim
• Erbach-Schönberg
• Esterházy von Galántha
• Fürstenberg
• Hohenlohe
• Isenburg
• Leiningen
• Leyen
• Lobkowicz
• Löwenstein-Wertheim
• Oettingen
• Salm-Horstmar
• Salm-Salm
• Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
• Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn
• Schönburg-Hartenstein
• Schönburg-Waldenburg
• Solms-Braunfels
• Solms-Hohensolms-Lich
• The Prince of Starhemberg (although not junior members of the family)
• Stolberg-Stolberg
• The Prince of Stolberg-Wernigerode and his immediate family
• Thurn and Taxis
• Wied
• Windischgrätz

Arenberg (also spelled as Aremberg or Ahremberg) is a historic duchy located in modern Germany. ... Auersperg was a German Princely family, which held estates in Austria and Thengen (located in southern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, north of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. ... Bentheim (in full Grafschaft Bentheim (County of Bentheim)) is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany. ... Fürstenberg is the name of a noble house in Germany, primarily based in southern Baden-Württemberg). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Isenburg was a German region in southern Hesse, Germany, located in territories north and south of Frankfurt. ... Leiningen, the name of an old German family, whose lands lay principally in Alsace and Lorraine. ... The Lobkowicz (also spelled Lobkovic) family is one of the oldest still existing Bohemian noble families dating back to the 14th century. ... Öttingen-Öttingen or Oettingen-Oettingen was a County in eastern Baden-Württemberg and western Bavaria, Germany. ... Salm-Horstmar was a shortlived Napoleonic County in far northern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located around Horstmar, to the northeast of Münster. ... Salm-Salm was a German statelet located in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. ... Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was a county located in southeastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, located in the region surrounding Berleburg extending southwards across the Eder and Lahn Rivers. ... Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn was a County of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, comprising of the lands of the region of Sayn. ... Solms-Braunfels was a County of northern Baden-Württemberg and eastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. ... Solms-Hohensolms-Lich was a County of northern Baden-Württemberg and eastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. ... Stolberg-Stolberg was a County of southwestern Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, located in the southern Harz region around Stolberg. ... Stolberg-Wernigerode was a German County located in western Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, in the Harz region around Wernigerode. ... The Princely House of Thurn und Taxis is a German family that was a key player in the postal (mail) services in Europe in the 16th century and is well known as owners of breweries and builders of countless castles. ... Wied was a County of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, located on the Wied River where it meets the Rhine. ... Alfred Candidus Ferdinand, Fürst zu Windisch-Graetz (also written zu Windisch-Grätz, or zu Windischgrätz), (May 11, 1787, Brussels — March 21, 1862, Vienna) was an Austrian army officer who distinguished himself throughout the wars fought by the Habsburg Monarchy in the 19th century. ...

Hungary

Before 1947, the style His/Her Serene Highness (Ő Főméltósága, literally: "His/Her High Dignitary") was in use in Hungary. Princes were entitled to use it and between 1920 and 1944 Regent Miklós Horthy was styled as His Serene Highness the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary (Ő Főméltósága a Magyar Királyság Kormányzója). The term prince (the female form is princess), from the Latin root princeps, when used for a member of the highest aristocracy, has several fundamentally different meanings — one generic, and several types of titles. ... Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya, Duke of Szeged and Otranto (Hungarian: Vitéz* nagybányai Horthy Miklós, Szeged és Otranto hercege; Kenderes, June 18, 1868 – Estoril, February 9, 1957) was a Hungarian Admiral and statesman and served as the Regent of Hungary from March 1, 1920 until October...

France

There is some evidence that in pre-Revolutionary France, one bearing the style of Serene Highness would outrank someone who was merely a Highness without any modifier. Those members of the Royal House of France who were not children or grandchildren of the king used the style Most Serene Highness. In fact, that style was introduced into France by Gaston d'Orleans the son of Henry IV and younger brother of Louis XIII. A style of office, or honorific, is a form of address which by tradition or law precedes a reference to a person who holds a title or post, or to the political office itself. ... Gaston Jean-Baptiste, duc dOrléans (April 25, 1608 - February 2, 1660), third son of the French king Henry IV, and his wife Marie de Medici, was born at Fontainebleau. ... Henry IV (French: Henri IV; December 13, 1553 – May 14, 1610), was the first monarch of the Bourbon dynasty in France. ... Louis XIII (September 27, 1601 – May 14, 1643), called the Just (French: le Juste), was King of France from 1610 to 1643. ...

See also

• Style (manner of address)
• Use of courtesy titles and honorifics in professional writing

A style of office, or honorific, is a form of address which by tradition or law precedes a reference to a person who holds a title or post, or to the political office itself. ... The use of courtesy titles (Mr. ...

External links

• Article on the use of Highness