Prince

A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. Prince is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The female equivalent is a princess. The English word derives, via the French word prince, from the Latin noun prīnceps, from primus (first) and caput (head), meaning "the first, foremost, the chief, most distinguished, noble ruler, prince". In a related sense, now not commonly used, all more or less sovereign rulers over a state, including kings, were "princes", they were members of the princely class, in the language of international politics and diplomacy. Princes was thus a collective noun, that applied to the group of sovereign monarchs, even if they used another title, for example king or duke. Many of these were Princes of the Holy Roman Empire.

Historical background

The Latin word prīnceps (older Latin *prīsmo-kaps, lit. 'the one who takes the first [place/position]'), became the usual title of the informal leader of the Roman senate some centuries before the transition to empire, the princeps senatus. Emperor Augustus established the formal...