Style (manner of address)

A style of office, is a legal, official, or recognized title, in other words a term which by tradition or law precedes a reference to a person who holds a post, or which is used to refer 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.
Examples of styles
Law courts:
The Honorable (abbreviation Hon., oral address Your Honor) — Judges and Justices in the United States
His/Her Honour Judge X, (abbreviation HHJ X, oral address Your Honour); Circuit judges in England and Wales.
Lord/Lady X (abbreviation X LJ, referential His Lordship/Her Ladyship; oral address My Lord/Lady or Your Lordship/Your Ladyship); Judges of the High Court of Justice, High Court of Justiciary, Court of Session, House of Lords.
Diplomacy:
His Most Reverend Excellency (abbreviation Most Rev. Ex., oral address Your Excellency) –
His/Her 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
Religion:
His Holiness (abbreviation HH), Holy Father or Our Most Holy Lord, oral address Your Holiness, Holy Father or Our Most Holy Lord —
His Highness the Aga Khan (abbreviation HH the Aga Khan.), oral address Your Highness and then Sir — The Imam (spiritual leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims.
His Excellency or The Most Reverend (abbreviation The Most Rev.), oral address Your Excellency — Roman Catholic Archbishops and Bishops.
The Venerable (oral address Venerable Sir or Mr. Archdeacon) — Anglican Archdeacons
Mister (abbreviation Mr., oral address Mister) — Catholic Sulpician priests
Brother (abbreviation Br., oral address Brother) — Catholic members of religious orders under vows (both monastic and non-monastic) who are not priests
Sister (oral address Sister) - Catholic members of religious orders under vows (both monastic and non-monastic) who are not abbesses
Monarchies:
His/Her Imperial Majesty, (abbreviation HIM, oral address Your Imperial Majesty) — Emperors and Empresses. For example, formerly HIM The Shah of Iran.
His/Her Imperial and Royal Majesty (abbreviation HI&RM, oral address Your Imperial and Royal Majesty) — Emperors and Empresses who were simultaneously Kings and Queens, such as the German Emperor and Emperor of Austria.
His/Her Imperial Highness (abbreviation HIH, oral address Your Imperial Highness) — other members of an Imperial House.
His/Her High Well-born - knights and untitled noble persons in several European countries, and also barons in the Netherlands
His/Her Excellency (abbreviation HE, oral address Your Excellency) — Governors-General and British Colonial Governors.
The English style Serene Highness and even more Illustrious Highness goes back to an incorrect translation. These styles originally did not exist in English-speaking countries.
Republics:
His/Her Excellency (abbreviation HE, oral address Your Excellency) —Presidents of Republics
The President of the United States is officially referred to in the less formal manner of 'Mr President' or merely 'The President of the United States' as well as rarely 'The Honorable'. Nonetheless, in an international context the President of the USA is often addressed as His Excellency, as in official documentation, Presidents Abraham Lincoln and George Washington were referred to as 'Your Excellency/His Excellency' but this practice is all but tradition nowadays and usually referred to diplomats singularly as the President of the United States is both Head of Government and Head of State.
Academic:
Traditional forms of address at German-speaking universities:
His/Her Magnificence - rector (president) of a university
Most Learned Sir (Hochgelehrter Herr Professor) - a professor
Very Learned Sir (Sehr gelehrter Herr Doktor) - a doctor
Well Learned Sir (Wohlgelehrter Herr Magister) - a master
His/Her great honour - rector magnificus (president) of a university
The highly learned Sir/Madam - professor or dean of a faculty
The (noble) very learned Sir/Madam (De weledelzeergeleerde heer/vrouwe) - a doctor
Traditional forms of address at Italian-speaking universities:
Magnificent Rector - rector (president,chancellor) of a university
Very bright professor (chiarissimo professor)- a professor
Medicine:
Doctor - doctors, general practitioners
Mister/Ms. - surgeons (UK) after completion of MRCS
Commonwealth countries:
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.
Legislative bodies:
· The Honourable Member for — In the United Kingdom: Members of Parliament who are not Privy Counsellors when being referred to in the chamber of the House of Commons. Outside the House of Commons Members who are not entitled to another style or title are styled as, for example,
· Senator— in some Commonwealth countries' whose upper House is called the Senate.
Local government:
The Right Honourable — Lord Mayors of London, Cardiff, Belfast, York and Bristol (England and Wales and Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom); Lord Mayors of all state and territorial capital cities of Australia
The Worshipful — all other Mayors or other municipal governors
His/Her Worship (oral address Your Worship) — municipal leaders in Commonwealth Realms.
Australia:
His/Her Majesty - The King or Queen
His/Her Excellency - Governor-General and their spouse[2] and all state Governors (but not their wives/husbands)
The Honourable - Justices of the High Court of Australia, the Federal Court of Australia, the Family Court of Australia and state Supreme Courts
The Honourable - all current and former members of the Federal Executive Council and all current members of State.
United Kingdom:
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 Right Honourable (abbreviation The Rt Hon.) — Earl, Viscounts, Barons/Lords of Parliament and members of the Privy Council/Cabinet
The Right Honourable and Learned — as the previous explanation, but if the holder is also a Queen's Counsel
The Honourable (abbreviation The Hon.) — younger sons of Earls, all children of Viscounts and Barons/Lords of Parliament
The Much Honoured (abbreviation The Much Hon.) — Scottish Lairds and feudal Barons
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 Her Royal Highness (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 HRH The Princess Edward, Countess of Wessex (&c.) and automatically acquired a HRH, by virtue of her marriage to a royal prince who was the son of the British monarch; as only those males in the Royal Line of Succession receive Royal titles and styles unless there is special dispensation from the Monarch themself to give the son and their dependents special courtesy titles i.e. that of Viscount Severn for HRH The Earl of Wessex's son, Prince James; as the British Monarchy operates on the basis of a male primogeniture; i.e. one whereby the male always succeeds to the peerage or title. On this occasion, HRH Sophie, Countess of Wessex, shares all of the titles that her husband bears and the only difference being she exercises the female derivatives of these said titles. See article Sophie, Countess of Wessex#Titles, styles, honours and arms.
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, not be given courtesy titles or peerages, though they could have: the key point is that they did not automatically receive any.)
Styles and titles can terminate when a marriage is dissolved. Diana, Princess of Wales held the style Her Royal Highness or HRH during her marriage to HRH The Prince of Wales and the title Princess of Wales. Her marital status was indicated by the title Princess of Wales. When the couple divorced she lost her style but not her title, which had existed only by virtue of her marriage to the Prince of Wales: she became instead Diana, Princess of Wales, although she was still entitled to the style of "Lady" as the daughter of an earl; but because the princely title of Princess outweighed that of Lady she was known by the former and not the latter. Irrespective of the marriage she was a former royal princess and still held the title of Princess of Wales until her death.
The title Princess of Wales — not preceded by a definite article — indicated that she was a former Princess of Wales; when applied to the current Princess of Wales, the style includes a definite article (The Princess of Wales). If she had remarried then the style Princess of Wales would also have lapsed; similarly, because HRH The Prince of Wales has remarried to Camilla Parker-Bowles, she is officially HRH The Princess of Wales but because of the widespread use of the title and recognition of it by the British people formerly used by Diana, Princess of Wales; she uses the courtesy title on behalf of her husband's Duchy of Cornwall, and is known as HRH The Duchess of Cornwall although she is legally HRH The Princess of Wales
Whilst there was the option of giving the 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 give her the style; also there may have been a special ruling from The Queen allowing for Diana, Princess of Wales to be known as The Dowager Princess of Wales if and when Charles, Prince of Wales remarried as he later did. As a result, from the moment of her divorce until her death in 1997, Diana 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 but retained her ducal title of Duchess of York.
United States:
In general, all government officials in the U.S., particularly elected officials and judges, are styled "The Honorable" in formal circumstances, i.e. ("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 along the lines of a British peer ("Councilman Jones", "Chairwoman Smith"). Like the titles of life peers, many of these titles are retained for life.
· 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, although at present "Mr. Chief Justice" is still used to address the Chief Justice of the United States). Trial court judges may also be addressed as "Judge".
· In some municipalities (e.g., New York City and Chicago), mayors are addressed as "Your Honor" -- this may be a vestige of the fact that the mayor of New York City (and some others) were also magistrates of the court system. .
· Members of the House of Representatives, referred to as Members of Congress, are similarly styled The Honorable, sometimes with "M.C." after their names in certain circumstances, or else their simple title (that is, "The Honorable John Jones, M.C.", or "Representative John Jones", or "Congressman John Jones").
· In academic fields, it is customary to refer to those holding professorships as "Professor Jones". Lecturers and adjunct instructors may be referred to as "Dr. Jones" if they hold a doctorate.
Former styles:
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'For the styles of address to government officials in Imperial Russia,
The names of some offices are also titles, which are retained by the office holder for life. For example, former president Bill Clinton is still called 'President Clinton'. The same is true in Finland: e.g. the President of the Republic from 1994 to 2000, Martti Ahtisaari, retains the title "President", and is called "President Ahtisaari".
Styles and titles of deposed monarchs:
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.
Other parallel symbols:
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.
Curtsies have for many years been no longer obligatory when meeting members of the British Royal Family; indeed some royal highnesses positively hate being curtsied to Similarly, styles, though still used, are used less often. 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 chose 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. This style has been removed in the Republic of Ireland, where judges are addressed only as "Judge".
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.
Self-styled:
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.