Princess

This article is about the noble title. For the singer Desiree Heslop, who is using the stage name "Princess", see Desiree Heslop.

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The term prince is from the Latin princeps, meaning principal citizen. From this, princess may have originally applied to any person belonging to a principal citizen, literally "prince's".{{dubious}} Most often, the term has been used for the consort of a prince, or her daughters, women whose station in life depended on their relationship to a prince and who could be disowned and stripped of the title if he so chose.

Related Topics:
Prince - Princeps - Principal - Consort - Daughters

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As women have slowly gained more autonomy through European history, the title of princess has become simply the feminine equivalent of prince and does not necessarily imply being controlled or owned by a prince. In some cases then, a princess is the female hereditary head of state of a province or other significant area in her own right. The ancient meaning applies in Europe still to the extent that a female commoner who marries a prince will almost always become a princess, but a male commoner who marries a princess will almost never become a prince. The implication is that if the man held the equivalent masculine title, he would have rank over his wife without the necessary pedigree. For an example of when "princess" still indicates essential slavery to a prince, see the book Princess, about life amongst the wives of the Saudi royal family.

Related Topics:
Women - Feminine - Female - Head of state - Commoner - Pedigree - Slavery - Saudi - Royal family

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In many of Europe's royal families, a king would grant his heirs actual or theoretical principalities to train them for future kingship or to give them social rank. This practice has led over time to many people thinking that "prince" and "princess" are titles reserved for the immediate family of a king or queen. In fact, most princesses in history were not immediate members of a royal family.

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Widely used as a term of endearment, "Princess" has also devolved in mostly American usage to mean any woman of exceptional popularity, such as the "princesses" of high school prom courts and beauty pagents. It is from this usage that the relatively new slang term of "princess" connotes a pampered and selfish girl or young person. The term was used in this last way to describe a character played by actress Molly Ringwald in the adolescent film The Breakfast Club, and Target stores now carry T-shirts with the word "Princess" for people who want to advertise themselves as demanding of attention or luxury.

Related Topics:
Prom - Slang - Molly Ringwald - The Breakfast Club - Target - T-shirts - Luxury

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Historical princesses include:

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• Princess Caraboo, actually a British woman of modest means who for a while passed herself off as an exotic island princess
• Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales
• Grace Kelly, wife of Prince Rainier of Monaco
• Kaiulani of Hawaii
• Many French, Italian and Russian princesses posed as models for Elisabeth Vigée Lebrun, most of them not being otherwise noteworthy
• Marie Therese de Savoie Carignan, Princesse de Lamballe, companion to Marie Antoinette, Queen of France
• Sayyida Salme of Zanzibar
• Xenia Yusupov, a political figure shortly before the Russian Revolution

Present day princesses include:

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• Belgium: Mathilde, Elisabeth, Astrid, Luisa Maria, Maria Laura, Laetitia Maria, Claire and Louise
• British Commonwealth: Anne, Beatrice, Eugenie, Camilla, Sophie, Alexandra, Katharine, Marie-Christine and Birgitte. Marie Chantal, who lives in London, claims the title of princess through her marriage to Prince Pavlos, who comes from a line of Greek kings.
• Burundi: Esther Kamatari, an emigré of 35 years, who is returning to Burundi to campaign as a potential president
• Denmark: Mary, Alexandra, Benedikte and Elisabeth
• Germany: Gloria von Thurn und Taxis, mother of the World's youngest billionaire
• Japan: Masako, Aiko, Kiko,Kako, Mako, Sayako, Hanako, Yuriko, Nobuko, Akiko, Yohko, Hisako, Tsuguko, Noriko and Ayako.
• Jordan: Basma bint Talal, an international advocate for children and women
• Liechtenstein: Sophie, Marie, Tatjana, and Angela
• Monaco: Antoinette, Caroline, and Stéphanie
• Morocco: Lalla Salma, Lalla Asma, Lalla Hasna, and Lalla Meryem
• Netherlands: Maxima, Catharina-Amalia, Alexia, Laurentien, Mabel, Margriet, Marilene, Annette and Anita.
• Norway: Mette-Marit, Ingrid Alexandra, Martha Louise, Ragnhild and Astrid
• South Africa: Winfred "Dolly" Zulu, a political figure, and Zenani Mandela Dlamini, an heiress of former President Nelson Mandela
• Spain: Letizia, Elena, Cristina, Pilar and Margarita
• Sweden: Victoria, Madeleine, Margaretha, Birgitta, Désirée and Christina
• Uganda: Elizabeth Bagaaya Akiiki of Toro kingdom, who was the nation's first female lawyer, a former top model for couturiers, and a former minister and ambassador in the government of Idi Amin

Fictional princesses include:

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• Anya Smith- Oscar winning role for Audrey Hepburn in the film Roman Holiday
• Ariel from the Disney film The Little Mermaid
• Aurora, the Sleeping Beauty
• Diana of the Amazons, better known as Wonder Woman
• Jasmine from the Disney film Aladdin
• Leia Organa of Alderaan
• Lasaraleen Tarkheena from the Chronicles of Narnia
• Ororo, better known as Storm of the X-Men
• Ozma, ruler of the land of Oz
• Snow White
• Princess Zelda, namesake character from the popular Nintendo video game
• Princess Peach, of the Super Mario universe