Style (manner of address)
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. An honorific can also be awarded to an individual in a personal capacity. Such styles are particularly associated with
monarchies, where they may be used by a
wife of an office holder or of a prince of the blood, for the duration of their
marriage. They are also almost universally used for
presidents in
republics and in many countries for
members of
legislative bodies, higher-ranking
judges and senior constitutional office holders. Leading
religious figures also have styles.
In law courts
*The Honorable (abbreviation
Hon., oral address
Your Honor) — Judges of
Commonwealth countries and Justices in the
United States* Oral address
Your Worship -
Justices of the Peace (Magistrates) in the
United KingdomIn diplomacy
*His Excellency (abbreviation
HE, oral address
Your Excellency) — most Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Permanent Representatives to International Organizations; sometimes also the Presidents of the Republics, Governors of provinces and the Prime Minister.
*The Honorable (oral address
Mr./Madam Ambassador) — U.S. Ambassadors
In religion
*His Highness the Aga Khan (abbreviation
HH the Aga Khan., oral address
Your Highness and then Sir
) — The Head of the Ismalii group of Shi'ite muslims.
*His All Holiness (abbreviation HAH
, oral address Your All Holiness
) — The Patriarch of Constantinople
*His Holiness (abbreviation HH
, oral address Your Holiness
) — The Pope (Roman Catholic Church), The Dalai Lama, The Coptic Pope, The Patriarch of Moscow, The Pharaoh (Kemetic Orthodoxy)
*Holy Father — The Pope of Rome
*His Beatitude (oral address Your Beatitude
) — Eastern, Oriental and Roman Catholic Patriarchs
*His Eminence (oral address Your Eminence
) — Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Metropolitans and Archbishops
*His Excellency or
The Most Reverend (abbreviation The Most Rev.
, oral address Your Excellency
) — Roman Catholic Archbishops and Bishops in the United States.
*His Grace or
The Most Reverend (abbreviation for latter The Most Rev.
, oral address Your Grace
) — Roman Catholic Archbishops in Commonwealth countries; and Roman Catholic Bishops in Ireland
*His Grace or
The Right Reverend (abbreviation for latter The Rt. Rev.
, oral address Your Grace
) — Eastern Orthodox Bishops
*His Lordship or
The Right Reverend (abbreviation for latter The Rt Rev.
, oral address My Lord Bishop
) — Roman Catholic Bishops in Commonwealth countries.
*The Most Reverend and Right Honourable (abbreviation The Most Rev. and Rt Hon.
, oral address Your Grace
) — Anglican Archbishops of Canterbury and York
*The Most Reverend (abbreviation The Most Rev.
, oral address Your Grace
) — Anglican Archbishop of Wales; Anglican Archbishops of Armagh and of Dublin (the current Archbishop of Armagh is styled The Most Reverend and Right Honourable because he is also a life peer)
*The Most Reverend (abbreviation The Most Rev.
/Rev.
, oral address Father
) — The Leader of "The People of the Aten"
*The Most Reverend (abbreviation The Most Rev.
, oral address My Lord
) — Anglican Bishop of Meath and Kildare
*The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Monsignor (abbreviation The Rt Rev. and Rt Hon. Mgr
, oral address Monsignor
, or according to personal preference) — Prelate of Honour who is also a Privy Councillor (The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Monsignor Graham Leonard KCVO; a former Anglican bishop, Mgr Leonard has let it be known that the pope addresses him as a bishop)
*The Right Reverend and Right Honourable (abbreviation The Rt Rev. and Rt Hon.
, oral address Bishop
) — Anglican Bishop of London
*The Right Reverend (abbreviation The Rt Rev.
, oral address Bishop
) — other Anglican Bishops
*The Right Reverend (abbreviation The Rt Rev.
, oral address Reverend
) — Moderator of the United Church of Canada
*The Right Reverend Father (abbreviation The Rt. Rev. Fr.
, oral address Father
) — Eastern Orthodox archimandrites
*The Right Reverend (abbreviation The Rt. Rev.
, oral address Father
or Father Abbot
)— Roman Catholic abbots
*The Very Reverend (abbreviation The Very Rev.
, oral address Father
) — Roman Catholic vicars general, judicial vicars, judges, rectors of seminaries, vicars forane, episcopal vicars, general superiors of religious orders of priests, provincial superiors, priors of monasteries or friaries
*The Very Reverend Father (abbreviation The Very Rev. Fr.
, oral address Father
) — Eastern Orthodox archpriests
*The Very Reverend (abbreviation The Very Rev.
, oral address Very Reverend Sir
or Mr Dean
) — Anglican Deans of Cathedrals and Seminaries
*The Reverend Monsignor (abbreviation The Rev. Msgr.
, oral address Monsignor
) — Roman Catholic Church protonotaries apostolic, honorary prelates, chaplains of his holiness
*The Venerable (oral address Venerable Sir
or Mr. Archdeacon
) — Anglican Archdeacons
*The Reverend and Right Honourable (abbreviation The Revd and Rt Hon.
) — Protestant ordained ministers who are members of the Privy Council (Dr Ian Paisley)
*The Reverend the Honourable (not
"and Honourable") (abbreviation The Rev. the Hon.
, oral address according to ecclesiastical or other status) — ordained son of an earl, viscount, or baron, or ordained daughter of a viscount or baron (unless also a privy councillor or peer)
*The Reverend (abbreviation The Rev.
, or, occasionally, The Rev'd.
) — Protestant ordained ministers (common variants include Pastor
, Parson
, Vicar
, or simply Reverend
(although the latter is technically an adjective, its use as an appositive has become widely acceptable; see: The Reverend) )
*The Reverend Canon (abbreviation The Rev. Canon
, oral address Canon
) — Anglican Canons
*The Reverend Doctor (abbreviation The Rev. Dr.
, oral address Father
or Doctor
) — priests with a Doctorate in Theology
*The Reverend Father (abbreviation The Rev. Fr.
, oral address Father
) — Catholic (and many Anglican) priests
*The Reverend Mother (abbreviation The Rev. Mo.
, oral address Mother
) — Abbesses (also, many female Anglican priests)
*The Reverend Mister (abbreviation The Rev. Mr.
, oral address Deacon
) — Catholic transitional deacons, i.e. those preparing for priesthood (similar situations and modifications apply to Anglican deacons as in The Rev. Fr.
, above)
*Mister (abbreviation Mr.
, oral address often Deacon
) — Roman Catholic permanent deacons
*Mister (abbreviation Mr.
, oral address often Mister
) — Roman Catholic seminarians and scholastics (members preparing for priesthood) of some
religious orders (notably, Jesuits)
*Brother (abbreviation Br.
, oral address Brother'') —
Roman Catholic members of religious orders under vows (both monastic and non-monastic) who are not priests
In monarchies
*His/Her
Imperial Majesty (abbreviation
HIM, oral address
Your Imperial Majesty) — Emperors and Empresses
*His/Her
Majesty (abbreviation
HM, oral address
Your Majesty) —
Kings,
Queens and Sultans
*His/Her
Imperial Highness (abbreviation
HIH, oral address
Your Imperial Highness) — other members of an Imperial House
*His/Her
Imperial and Royal Highness (abbreviation
HI&RH, oral address
Your Imperial and Royal Highness) —
Archdukes of the
Habsburg family, the German Crown Prince and German Crown Princess
*His/Her
Royal Highness (abbreviation
HRH, oral address
Your Royal Highness) — other members of a
Royal House, reigning grand dukes, members of some grand ducal houses, some
princes consort*His/Her
Grand Ducal Highness (abbrevation
HGDH, oral address
Your Grand Ducal Highness) — junior members of some grand ducal houses
*His/Her
Highness (abbreviation
HH, oral address,
Your Highness) — reigning dukes and members of reigning ducal houses, members of some grand ducal houses, junior members of some royal houses, emirs and sheikhs
*His/Her
Ducal Serene Highness (abbreviation
HDSH, oral address,
Your Ducal Serene Highness — members of some ducal houses
*His/Her
Serene Highness (abbreviation
HSH, oral address
Your Serene Highness) — sovereign or
mediatized Fürst ("Prince") and his family
*His/Her
Illustrious Highness (abbreviation
HIllH, oral address
Your Illustrious Highness) — sovereign or
mediatized Count and his family
*His/Her
Excellency (abbreviation
HE, oral address
Your Excellency) —
Governors-GeneralThe English style Serene Highness and even more Illustrious Highness goes back to a wrong translation. These styles originally did not exist in English spoken countries.
His/Her Serene Highness = German: Seine/Ihre Durchlaucht;His/Her Illustrious Highness = German: Seine/Ihre Erlaucht; Italian: Sua Illustrissima; Spanish: Su IllustrÃsima
In republics
*His/Her
Excellency (abbreviation
HE, oral address
Your Excellency) —
Presidents.
*The
President of the United States is officially forbidden to use the style "His/Her Excellency"; instead
The Honorable or more commonly
"Mr President" are used. Nonetheless, in an international context the President of the USA is often addressed as
His Excellency.
*The custom in
France is to call office-holders acting within their official capacity "Mr" (
Monsieur) or "Ms" (
Madame) followed by the name of their offices. Thus, the President of the Republic is "Mr President" or "Mr President of the Republic" if a male, "Ms..." if a female; this may occasionally lead to situations when there are presidents of various bodies. Styles such as "excellency" or similar are not used, except for talking about foreign dignitaries.
Commonwealth Prime Ministers are usually addressed just as
Prime Minister, but the form of address
Mr. Prime Minister is also often used in certain countries. "Mr. Prime Minister" remains a common form of address in international diplomacy, "Prime Minister" alone remains more common within domestic politics.
*The Most Noble
or His Grace (oral address
Your Grace) —
Dukes. Occasionally the
Archbishop of Canterbury, the
Archbishop of York and other Archbishops are also styled His Grace.
*The Most Honourable (abbreviation
The Most Hon.) —
Marquesses
*The Right Honourable (abbreviation
The Rt Hon.) —
Earls,
Viscounts,
Barons and members of the
Privy Council*The Honourable (abbreviation
The Hon.) — younger sons of Earls, all children of Viscounts and Barons
In legislative bodies
*The Right Honourable Member for... — British (and some Commonwealth countries') MPs who are
Privy Counsellors, some
Commonwealth Realm prime ministers
*The Honourable Member for... — British MPs who are not Privy Counsellors, Australian members of the
Federal Executive Council, members of the
Queen's Privy Council for Canada.
Local government
*The Right Honourable —
Lord Mayors of
London,
Cardiff,
Belfast,
York and
Bristol (
England and Wales in the
United Kingdom);
Lord Provosts of
Edinburgh and
Glasgow (
Scotland in the
United Kingdom); and (rarely used nowadays) Lord Mayors of all state and territorial capital cities of
Australia*The Right Worshipful — all other
Lord Mayors and
Mayors of
cities and the original
Cinque Ports (
United Kingdom), and (rarely used nowadays) Lord Mayors of certain large cities of
Australia*The Worshipful — all other Mayors or other municipal governors (
United Kingdom and generally Commonwealth)
*His/Her Worship (oral address
Your Worship) — municipal leaders in
Commonwealth Realms.
In Canada
*The Right Honourable — current and former prime ministers, governors general, chief justices of Canada, and eminent Canadians
*His/Her Excellency — current governor general and viceregal consort
*His/Her Honour — provincial lieutenant governors and viceregal consorts
*His/Her Honour Judge N. — judges of provincial courts and formerly judges of district or county courts
*The Honourable — Members of Queen's Privy Council for Canada (including federal ministers and provincial and territorial premiers)
*The Honourable Mr/Madam Justice N. — justices of superior courts
*The honourable member for ... — all MPs
*His/Her Worship (oral address Your Worship) â€" municipal leaders.
In Australia
*His/Her Excellency -
Governor-General and all state Governors
*The Honourable - Justices of the
High Court of Australia*The Honourable - all Ministers who are current members of State and Federal
Executive Councils
Styles existing through marriage
Styles can be acquired through marriage, though traditionally this applies more to wives of office-holders than to husbands. Thus, in the
United Kingdom,
The Princess Royal is styled HRH, her husband,
Timothy Laurence, has no style and there would have to be a special arrangement to give him one. In contrast, when
Sophie Rhys-Jones married
Prince Edward, she became
Princess Edward, the Countess of Wessex and automatically acquired an HRH, by virtue of her marriage to a royal prince.
This gender differentiation continues into the next generation in traditional royal families. Thus, while the sons of
The Prince of Wales and the daughters of
The Duke of York have HRH styles, the children of The Princess Royal have no styles. (She requested that they, like her husband, be given no courtesy titles or peerages, though they could have been: the key point is that they did not automatically receive any.)
Styles can terminate when a marriage is dissolved. The late
Diana, Princess of Wales held the style
Her Royal Highness or
HRH during her marriage to HRH The Prince of Wales. Her marital status was indicated by the title
Princess of Wales. When the couple divorced, she retained her title, but lost the style, which had existed only by virtue of her marriage to a royal prince: she became instead
Lady Diana Mountbatten-Windsor, Princess of Wales, reverting to the style "Lady" as the daughter of an Earl. While there was the option of awarding an
HRH style to Diana, Princess of Wales in her
personal capacity (which could be justified, given that she was the mother of a future king), it was decided not to award her the style. As a result, from the moment of her divorce until her death, she ceased to hold any royal style, though out of courtesy or ignorance many people still applied the style 'HRH' to her. Similarly, when
Sarah, Duchess of York was divorced from her husband, HRH The Duke of York, she too lost her HRH style.
In 1936,
Wallis Simpson was not given the HRH style by
King George VI when she married his brother, the former
King Edward VIII, by then known as HRH The Duke of Windsor. There was no precedent for a divorced woman marrying a member of the royal family and it was feared that, if the couple divorced (she had already divorced two husbands) she would lose the style but could conceivably still try to use it anyway, undermining its status.
The names of some offices are also
titles, which are retained by the office holder for life. For example, in Finland, the
President of the Republic from 1994 to 2000,
Martti Ahtisaari, retains the title "
President", and is called "President Ahtisaari", in contrast to the current President of the Republic Tarja Halonen.
*His/Her Illustrious Excellency- The President of the Philippines. This is a throwback to Spanish colonial practice when the Royal Governor General of the Philippines used the same title. The full title of the current Philippine President is "Her Illustrious Excellency, The Right Honourable the President for the Republic of the Philippines,
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo".
*His/Her Excellency- Governors of Philippine Provinces. The full title of a Philippine Governor is "His/Her Excellency, The Honourable the Governor for the Province of X".
*His/Her Honour- Lieutenant Governors of Provinces. The full title of a Philippine Lieutenant Governor is "His/Her Honour, The Honourable the Lieutenant Governor for the Province of X".
*Sir/Madame- The Presidential or Gubernatorial Consort has no constitutional title, but it is common custom to address the Consort with these titles. The titles "Don" and "Doña" are used occasionally.
In general, all government officials in the U.S., particularly elected officials and judges, are styled "The Honorable," in formal circumstances ("The Honorable Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York"). They are generally addressed as "Mister" or "Madam" and their title ("Mr. President," "Madam Mayor") or simply by name and title ("Councilman Jones," "Chairwoman Smith").
*Judges are all, in general, addressed as "Your Honor," or "His/Her Honor," or else as "Judge Smith" or "Justice Jones" (the form, "Mr. Justice Jones" for members of the Supreme Court of the United States is considered archaic and is no longer used by the court).
*Occasionally, as in New York City, mayors are addressed as "Your Honor" -- this may be a vestige of the fact that the mayor of New York City (and some others) are also technically magistrates of the court system.
*His/Her Excellency (oral address Excellency, Your Excellency) was customarily used of governors of states in general, though this has given way to the generic "honorable" for the most part, except in such states as the
Commonwealth of Virginia, the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and of the states of
Connecticut,
Maine, and
New Hampshire which retain the older form.
*Members of the House of Representatives, referred to as Members of Congress, are similarly styled The Honorable, sometimes with "M.C." after their namesin certain circumstances, or else their simple title (that is, "The Honorable John Jones, M.C.," or "Representative John Jones," or "Congressman John Jones"). Senators similarly are "The Honorable" or "Senator Smith." On the actual floor of the houses during debate, members commonly refer to one another as The Distinguished Gentleman/Gentlewoman (of "from such-and-such a state" - "As my friend, the distinguished gentleman from Ohio just said..."). In the Senate, it is customary to refer to colleagues as the junior or senior senator from a state ("I disagree with my dear friend, the junior senator from Ohio...").
Irish Taoisigh (prime ministers) are addressed singularly as
Taoiseach. Other Irish politicians tend to be addressed by their titles alone, for example "Thank you, Minister" or "Good afternoon, Senator," though "Mr." or "Madam" may also sometimes be used as a prefix, as in the United States.
All former monarchies had styles, some, as in the Bourbon monarchy of France, extremely complicated depending on the status of the office or office-holder.
Otto von Habsburg, who was Crown Prince of
Austria-Hungary (1916-1918), had the style 'His Imperial and Royal Highness'. He was last addressed as such by church figures during the funeral of his late mother, Empress-Queen
Zita of Austria-Hungary in 1989, although the use of these styles has been prohibited in Austria since
1920.[
1]
General tradition indicates that where a monarch has been deposed but has not abdicated, they retain the use of their style and title for the duration of their lifetime, but both die with them. Hence Greece's deposed king is still technically
His Majesty King Constantine II of the Hellenes, as a
personal title, not a constitutional office, since the abolition of the monarchy by the Hellenic Republic in 1974. Similarly, until his death the last King of Italy,
King Umberto II, was technically entitled to be called
His Majesty the King of Italy or
Your Majesty. In contrast, the
ex-King Michael I of Romania, who abdicated his throne in 1947, technically lost the use of his title, though out of politeness, he may still be called
His Majesty King Michael or
Your Majesty.
While this rule is generally observed, and indeed some exiled monarchs are allowed diplomatic passports by their former state, other states take offence at the use of such titles. The current Hellenic Republic has long challenged King Constantine's right to use his title; in 1981, the then Greek President
Constantine Karamanlis declined to attend the wedding of the Prince of Wales when it was revealed that Greece's deposed monarch, a friend of the Prince, had been referred to as 'King' in his invitation. However, King Constanine now travels in and out of Greece without any problems, on a Danish royal passport (as "King Constantine of Greece"), and has done so several times in the past few years. Because of the
Schengen agreements the Greek government cannot refuse him entry.
Styles were often among the range of symbols that surrounded figures of high office. Everything from the manner of address to the behaviour of a person on meeting that personage was surrounded by traditional symbols. Monarchs were to be bowed to by men and curtsied to by women. Senior clergy, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church, were to have their rings (the symbol of their authority) kissed by lay persons while they were on bended knee, while cardinals in an act of homage at the papal coronation were meant to kiss the feet of the Supreme Pontiff, the
Pope.
Many of these traditions have lapsed or been partially abandoned. At his inauguration as pope in 1978 (itself the abandonment of the traditional millennium-old papal coronation),
Pope John Paul II himself kissed cardinals on the cheeks, rather than follow the traditional method of homage of having his feet kissed. Curtsies have for many years been no longer obligatory when meeting members of the British Royal Family; indeed some royals positively hate being curtsied to. One described the experience of a row of curtsying women, bobbing up and down, as leaving them 'sea-sick'. (Curiously, Americans seem more attached to the curtsying to British royalty than most British people.)
Similarly, styles, though still used, are used less often. The current
President of Ireland,
Mary McAleese, is usually referred to as
President Mary McAleese, not
President McAleese, as had been the form used for the first six presidents, from President Hyde to President Hillery.
Tony Blair asked initially to be called
Tony. In a break with tradition, though as the second in line to the throne and a son of a royal prince, Prince William of Wales formally has a HRH style, he chose while at university not to use it. The United States has become one of the most informal countries in the world, with styles such as
Excellency now largely abandoned or ignored, even by those who legally have them. First names, or even
nicknames, are often widely used among politicians in the US, even in formal situations (as an extreme example, President
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter choose to take the Oath of Office using his nickname). One notable exception involves judges: a judge of any court is almost invariably addressed as "Your Honor" while presiding over his or her court, and often at other times as well.
However, styles are still widely used in formal documents and correspondence between heads of state, such as in a
Letter of Credence accrediting an ambassador from one head of state to another.
The term
self-styled roughly means awarding a
style to yourself, often without adequate justification or authority. However, often people style themselves with
titles, rather than true
styles.
*
Honorifics*
Royal and noble styles*
suffix (name)*
Title*
Use of courtesy titles and honorifics in professional writing*
Forms of Address for use orally and in correpondence (UK Crown Office)*
Table of titles to be used in Canada (Canadian Heritage)*
Forms of Address from Infoplease
1 Though Republic of Ireland does not possess a Privy Council, the style is still used. The
Lord Mayor of Dublin is still styled the Right Honourable, as previous lord mayors of Dublin were
ex-officio members of the former
Irish Privy Council until its abolition in 1922.
