Prince

Lore & Background

The Latin word prīnceps became the usual title of the informal leader of the Roman senate, the princeps senatus. Emperor Augustus established the formal position of monarch on the basis of principate, not dominion, and granted his grandsons the title of princeps for a summer ruling task. Generically, prince refers to a member of a family that ruled by hereditary right or to non-reigning descendants. As a substantive title, a prince was a monarch of the lowest rank in post-Napoleonic Europe, e.g., Princes of Andorra, Monaco, Waldeck and Pyrmont. The title was also granted by popes and secular monarchs to heads of high-ranking families, e.g., the Princes de Beauvau-Craon, von Bismarck, Colonna. Heirs apparent in some monarchies use a specific princely title, e.g., Princes of Asturias, Orange, Wales. From the 17th century, heirs apparent of leading ducal families assumed a princely title by courtesy, e.g., princes de Bidache, Marcillac, Léon.

In Their Own Story

The studio lights hum a low amber glow. It is late, maybe past two in the morning, and the city outside the glass has gone quiet. Prince sits behind a wall of keyboards and a guitar that looks almost too big for his frame, eyes half-closed as he hums a bass line into a cassette. The engineer, a local kid who has known him since the high-school days, watches from the control room and thinks: *this is not how a debut should sound. This is how a statement should sound.* Prince opens his eyes, taps the mic stand twice, and says, 'Run it back. The third chorus needs to feel like the floor is falling.' The tape rolls. The room fills with a sound that is half church, half spaceship, and entirely, unapologetically his own.

Reader's Guide

The original but now less common use of the word was the application of the Latin word prīnceps from late Roman law. In this sense, a prince is a ruler of a territory that is sovereign or quasi-sovereign, such as the immediate states within the Holy Roman Empire. This is the Renaissance use found in Niccolò Machiavelli's Il Principe and in the United States Declaration of Independence. By the end of the medieval era, prince was borne by rulers of territories smaller than those of emperors and kings. Lords who exercised lawful authority over territories within a feudal hierarchy were also regarded as princes, especially if they held the rank of count or higher. In parts of the Holy Roman Empire where primogeniture did not prevail, all legitimate agnates had an equal right to hereditary titles. Gradual substitution of the title of Prinz for the monarch's title of Fürst occurred, and became customary for cadets in all German dynasties except Mecklenburg and Oldenburg. Both Prinz and Fürst are translated into English as 'prince', but they reflect different concepts.

Did You Know?

• The English word 'prince' derives from the Latin noun prīnceps, meaning 'the first, foremost, the chief, most distinguished, noble ruler'.
• Emperor Augustus granted his grandsons the title of princeps for a summer ruling task.
• In post-Napoleonic Europe, a prince was a monarch of the lowest rank, e.g., Princes of Monaco and Waldeck and Pyrmont.
• The title of prince was granted by popes and secular monarchs to heads of families such as von Bismarck and Colonna.
• Heirs apparent in some monarchies use a specific princely title, e.g., Prince of Wales in the U.K.