While it is new in Sweden that five of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia’s grandchildren no longer have the status of Royal Highness, it is more common in other places in Europe.
We are taking a look at the other royal grandchildren without the Royal Highness status or titles.
Denmark:
We don’t have to look far beyond the shores of Sweden to find another royal family where some grandchildren of the monarch do not hold the Royal Highness status. In Denmark, the children of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary are all HRHs. However, the children of Queen Margrethe’s younger son, Prince Joachim are only styled as Highness, but they do hold prince/princess titles. Prince Nikolai, Prince Felix, Prince Henrik, and Princess Athena are all His/Her Highness.
Embed from Getty ImagesNetherlands:
In the Netherlands, the children of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima (Princesses Amalia, Alexia and Ariane) all hold the HRH status and title of princess.
Their first cousins – the children of Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien and the late Prince Friso and Princess Mabel – were all born while their grandmother, Queen (now Princess) Beatrix was on the Dutch throne. Even though they were the grandchildren of the reigning monarch, none were given the title of prince/princess or style of HRH. They do, however, each hold the title of count/countess.
Embed from Getty ImagesNorway:
King Harald of Norway’s grandchildren by Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit (Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus) both hold the title of prince/princess. However, only Ingrid Alexandra is an HRH as she is the future monarch. Her younger brother only holds the style of Highness, as does his paternal aunt, Princess Märtha Louise and paternal great-aunt, Princess Astrid. Unlike Märtha Louise and Astrid, Sverre Magnus has been HH since birth.
The children of Märtha Louise (King Harald and Queen Sonja’s elder child) do not hold any royal styles or titles.
Embed from Getty ImagesSpain:
King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía only have two grandchildren with titles and royal styles: HRH Princess Leonor and HRH Infanta Sofía – the children of the reigning King Felipe and Queen Letizia.
Embed from Getty ImagesJuan Carlos and Sofía’s grandchildren through their two older children, Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina, do not hold royal titles or styles. They are known as His/Her Excellency and Don/Doña NAME.
Embed from Getty ImagesUnited Kingdom:
Her Majesty The Queen’s two grandchildren through her daughter, Princess Anne, do not hold titles as they are descendants in the female line. Her two grandchildren through her youngest child, Prince Edward (Lady Louise and James, Viscount Severn) could have held the HRH style with the title of prince/princess, but Prince Edward and his wife, Sophie elected for their children to be styled as the children of an earl – meaning they do not hold royal titles.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe children of the Prince of Wales (Princes William and Harry) and Prince Andrew (Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie) hold the style of HRH and prince/princess, as do all three children of Prince William and his wife, Catherine (Princes George and Louis and Princess Charlotte). The only child of Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan (Archie) does not hold a royal title or style of HRH. The style of prince/princess and HRH only extends down to the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. Archie could have used his father’s subsidiary title Earl of Dumbarton as a courtesy, but his parents chose for him to be a private citizen. However, under the Letters Patent, when the Prince of Wales ascends the throne, Archie could be promoted to HRH Prince Archie as the grandchild of the monarch in the male line.
