What is the ranking system for royalty?

Question

Like how does the caste ladder system look? is it king, then prince, then duke, followed by earl, and then count to viscount? basically im trying to figure out how the ranking system (for any kingdom) works, as in what is the order of highest to lowest.

Answer 1

Your list includes both ROYAL and PEERAGE titles. A royal can also bear a peerage title which outranks a non-royal peerage title.

King/Queen regnant

Queen/Prince Consort (spouses of the monarch)

Prince/Princess with the heir apparent or heir presumptive heading the list

Each of these ROYAL titles can bear the royal form of a Peerage title--a prince can also be a duke,marquess,earl,viscount,

baron,but a royal one like the current

Prince of Wales,Charles who is:Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.

Non-Royal Peerage titles are next in precedence:

Duke/Duchess

Marquess/Marchioness

Earl/Countess

Viscount/Viscountess

Baron/Baroness

Answer 2

According to my "Debrett's Correct Form" there are five grades of peerage under the sovereign: Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron. Knights would come after that.

Answer 3

You are describing nobility as soon as you mention "earl".

There are a number of different systems, with royalty always above nobility.

In the UK:

The King/Queen and their consort

The Prince and Princess of Wales

Members of the Royal Family

Dukes (in order of creation)

Marquesses (same)

Earls (ditto)

Viscounts (see the pattern with the comments? ;-) )

Barons

Baronets, etc and other non-peers

In the UK as well the younger children and heirs of the above have specific placement.

In the Holy Roman Empire, the rank for sovereigns was as follows:

The Emperor and his consort

Kings

Archdukes (this title was invented to elevate the Habsburgs above dukes and used to be sovereign)

Grand Dukes

Dukes

Margraves (like Marquess)/Landgraves/Counts Palatine (Palsgraves)

Princes

Counts (like Earl)

Barons

The above is for sovereigns, there were no baronies per se but lordships. The nobility follows the same sort of ranking although grand duke and archduke weren't used by the nobility, etc.

In France:

The King and Queen

Members of the Royal Family (there was a complex system in place)

Princes (varying kings, foreign, royal, etc)

Dukes

Marquises (like Marquess)

Counts

Viscounts

Barons

Lords and other odd titles like "Vidame", etc

As you can see, there is no single set system and this made for diplomatic issues at time when calculating precedence between different countries.

Answer 4

An Earl IS a Count....and it varies a bit from country to country.  In some countries, for instance, the count is pretty high up there, and in some countries, he's pretty much at the bottom of the ladder.

Just go to wikipedia and search aristocracy in there.  You will get a complete list.

and there is no such thing as a "caste ladder system".  Castes are an Indian thing, and refer to something that you are ONLY born to, and can NOT cnange, you can't marry up or down from your caste, and it has to do with reincarnation and all...not aristocracy.

Answer 5

Pineapple22 is correct for Britain; other countries have different systems (e.g in the Russian aristocracy princes weren't members of the imperial family, just ordinary aristocrats; the German states have ranks such as Markgraf, Kurfurst and Freiherr which have no exact British equivalents). Note, however, that dukes, earls and the lie are aristocrats, not royalty. Different.