STYLE AND TITLE OF THE PRINCESS ROYAL

The title ‘Princess Royal’ is customarily given by the Sovereign to his or her eldest daughter, and it is purely honorary. It is the highest honour given to a female member of the Royal Family.

Although only the eldest daughter of the Sovereign can be Princess Royal, she does not automatically become so.

The Queen was never Princess Royal, as her aunt Princess Mary was already Princess Royal and remained so until her death in 1965.

The title was introduced in around 1642 by Charles I for his eldest daughter Princess Mary, who was born in 1631.

She later married William II of Orange, and her son William III reigned jointly with his wife Mary after the ‘Glorious Revolution’ of 1688.

The title of Princess Royal fell from use until the reign of George II, whose daughter Princess Anne was called Princess Royal.
 
Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter Princess Victoria was baptised as Princess Royal, but after her death in 1901 the style was not used until 1905, when Edward VII created Princess Louise, his eldest daughter, Princess Royal.
 
It has become established that the style belongs to no one by right, but is given entirely at the Sovereign’s discretion. It is held for life, and on the death of a Princess Royal the style is not inherited by any of her daughters.
 
Successive Princesses Royal:

Mary (eldest daughter of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France) 1631-60; styled Princess Royal c.1642.

Anne (eldest daughter of George II and Caroline of Brandenburg-Anspach) 1709-59; styled Princess Royal 1727.