Titular King
As titular or Titularkönigin not reigning monarchs are called. These are either the spouses ( royal consort ) of a ruling king or queen or rulers of a kingdom administered by a regent or only formally existing. Analogous to these, there are titles such as titular duke and titular landgrave .
A similar historical development led to the titular bishops of the Roman Catholic and the Orthodox Church , who are, however, actively reassigned in order to fill corresponding positions in the church hierarchy.
Prince consort as titular king
A king consort or prince consort is the spouse of a ruling queen , and a king consort is the wife of a ruling king. Since he does not rule himself, he is not the sovereign of this country. The distinction between king and queen is necessary because the ruling monarch is supposed to be superior to the spouse in terms of protocol.
In the event of a necessary reign , a king consort bears the title of king-regent.
In some European countries the prince consort was given the title of king when a male child was produced, for example in Portugal to Ferdinand II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha or in Spain to Franz d'Assisi Maria Ferdinand at the wedding .
Even Queen Victoria is said to have intended her husband Albert, Prince Consort to King Consort to make, which was met with opposition from the Parliament. In 1857 he received the title of Prince Consort .
Since kings are superior to queens in terms of protocol, consorts of reigning queens do not become kings and currently have the title of prince. The husband of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain also has the title of Duke of Edinburgh . The husband of the Danish Queen Margarethe II , Prince Henrik , who died in 2018 , held the title of Prince Consort until 2016, in the official English translation Royal Consort . He has repeatedly called for more protocol equality in the royal family and brought the title of king consort into play.
Rule by regents
In the High Middle Ages in particular , the situation often arose that the king of a kingdom determined by succession was already ruling in another, distant kingdom / duchy and could not move into the (newly) inherited kingdom. In this case, a regent, usually a relative from the respective local line, took over de facto rule. A well-known example is the Kingdom of Jerusalem , which was ruled by titular kings in Europe and local rulers for over half of its real existence.
Formal kingdoms
In the case of kingdoms that are only formally existing but no longer under the rule of the previous ruling house, the noble who claims the throne but can no longer enforce it is called the titular king (see e.g. Kingdom of Jerusalem , Kingdom of Thessaloniki ). The elevation of Lukas Fugger by Emperor Maximilian to the title of titular king of Atlantis was probably mocking .
Individual evidence
- ^ Unclear what Prince Henrik wants (Danish), Berlingske, October 16, 2015.