Monarchical ordinal

Ordinal numbers or regnal numbers are used to distinguish among persons with the same name who held the same office. Most importantly, they are used to distinguish monarchs. An ordinal is the number placed after a monarch's regnal name to differentiate between a number of kings, queens or princes reigning the same territory with the same regnal name.

It is common to start counting either since the beginning of the monarchy, or since the beginning of a particular line of dynastic succession. For example, Boris III of Bulgaria and his son Simeon II were given their regnal numbers because the medieval rulers of the First and Second Bulgarian Empire were counted as well, although the Saxe-Coburg dynasty only dated back to 1887 and had only distant connections to the previous monarchies.^{[citation needed]} On the other hand, the kings of England were counted starting with the Norman Conquest. That is why the son of Henry III of England is counted as Edward I, even though there were three Edwards before the Conquest.

In any case, it is usual to count only the monarchs or heads of the family, and to number them sequentially up to the end of the dynasty.^{[citation needed]} Sometimes, such as in the case of the Swedish kings, mythical or semi-mythical persons are included.^{[citation needed]} A notable exception to this rule is the German House of Reuss. This family has the particularity that every male member during the last centuries was named Heinrich, and all of them - not only the head of the family - were numbered. While the member of the elder branch were numbered in order of birth until the extinction of the branch in 1927, the members of the younger line were (and still are) numbered in sequences which began and ended roughly as centuries began and ended. This explains why the current head of the Reuss family is called Heinrich IV, his son Heinrich XIV and his son Heinrich XXIX.^{[citation needed]}

Examples of monarchical ordinals

Monarchs with the same given name are distinguished by their ordinals:

• Kings Umberto I and Umberto II of Italy

• Empresses Catherine I and Catherine II of Russia

• Princes Rainier II and Rainier III of Monaco

• Popes Benedict XV and Benedict XVI

Ordinals may also apply where a ruler of one realm and a ruler of that realm's successor state share the same name:

• Elizabeth I of England and Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

Practice varies where monarchs go by two or more given names. For Swedish monarchs, the ordinal qualifies only the first name; for example, Carl XVI Gustaf, known as "Carl Gustaf", is the sixteenth Carl/Karl/Charles, but the second Carl Gustaf (after Charles X Gustav). By contrast, the Kingdom of Prussia was ruled in turn by Friedrich I, Friedrich Wilhelm I, Friedrich II, and Friedrich Wilhelm II; and later by Wilhelm I. Likewise Pope John Paul I, who chose his double name to honour predecessors John XXIII and Paul VI, and was succeeded by John Paul II.

History

Almost all monarchs and popes after mediaeval times have used ordinals. Ordinals are also retrospectively applied to earlier monarchs in most works of reference, at least as far as they are not easy to distinguish from each other by any other systematical means. In several cases, various sorts of "semi-regnal" members of dynasties are also numeraled, to facilitate their individuality in works of reference – in cases such as co-regents, crown princes, succession-conveying consorts, prime ministers and deputy monarchs. In the first centuries after the Middle Ages, the use was sometimes sporadic, but became established by the 18th century. In the past couple of centuries, European monarchs without an official ordinal have been rarities.

As a rule of thumb, medieval European monarchs did not use ordinals at their own time, and those who used were rarities and even their use was sporadic. Ordinals for monarchs before the 13th century are actually anachronisms, as are also ordinals for almost all later medieval monarchs.

Popes were apparently the first to assume official ordinals for their reigns, although this occurred only in last centuries of the Middle Ages. It is clear, from renumberings of Popes John XV–XIX and Popes Stephen II–IX, that as of the 11th century the Popes did not yet use established ordinals. The official, self-confirmed numbering of John XXI means that at latest from the 13th century the Popes did take official ordinals in their accession.

Emperor Frederick II, king Charles II of Naples and king Premislas II of Poland evidently used ordinals sometimes during their reign, whereas most of their contemporary monarchs did not. In the 14th century, Emperor Charles IV sometimes used that ordinal. Presumably, use of the ordinal of king Frederick III of Sicily also is contemporaneous. The British tradition of consistently and prevalently numbering monarchs dates back to Henry VIII and Mary I; however sporadic use occurred at least as early as the reign of Edward III.

The long history of the Papacy has led to difficulties in some cases. For example, Stephen was only Pope for three days before dying of apoplexy, and was never consecrated. Because not all list-makers count him as having been pope (as Stephen II), there has been some confusion in regard to later popes who chose the name Stephen. Later Stephens are sometimes numbered with parentheses, e.g., his immediate successor (in name) is denoted either Stephen (II) III, or Stephen II (III). The church did consider Stephen II a Pope until 1960, when he was removed from the list of Popes in 1961. Another example of this is that there has never been a Pope John XX.

Ordinals and the Acts of Union 1707

Main article: Style of the British sovereign

Beginning in 1603, when England and Scotland began to share a monarch but were still legally separate realms, their monarchs were numbered separately. The king who began the personal union was James VI of Scotland who was also James I of England, and his name is often written (especially in Scotland) as James VI and I. Similarly, his grandson is James VII and II. Mary II's ordinal relates to both Queen Mary I of England and Queen Mary I of Scotland; her co-sovereign husband is William III and II. Charles I and Charles II had a name not used before 1603.

After the realms were united with the Acts of Union 1707, separate numbers were not needed for the next five monarchs: Anne and the four Georges. However, when William IV acceded in 1830, he was not called William III in Scotland.^[2] Nor were Edward VII and Edward VIII known as Edward I and Edward II (or possibly II and III, if one counts the disputed reign of Edward Balliol) of Scotland. These kings all followed the numbering consistent with the English sequence of sovereigns (which, incidentally, was also the higher of the two numbers in all occurring cases). This was not without controversy in Scotland, however; for example, Edward VII's regnal number was occasionally omitted in Scotland, even by the established Church of Scotland, in deference to protests that the previous Edwards were English kings who had "been excluded from Scotland by battle".^[3]

The issue arose again with the accession of the current monarch, Elizabeth II, as Scotland has never before had a regnant Queen Elizabeth, the previous queen of that name having been queen of England only. In order to avoid controversy, it was suggested by Winston Churchill that, in the future, the higher of the two numerals from the English and Scottish sequences would always be used.^[4] So, theoretically, any future British King Edward would be given the number IX, even though there have only been two (or three) previous Edwards in Scotland, but any future King Robert would be given the number IV, even though he would be the first Robert to reign in England.

Many residents of Scotland were either unaware of or unhappy with this convention upon the accession of the present monarch in 1952, and made their feelings known. Objections were raised, and sustained, to the use of the Royal Cypher EIIR anywhere in Scotland, resulting in several violent incidents, including the destruction of one of the first new EIIR pillar boxes in Scotland, at Leith in late 1952. Since that time, the cipher used in Scotland on all government and Crown property and street furniture has carried no lettering, but simply the Crown of Scotland from the Honours of Scotland. A court case, MacCormick v Lord Advocate, contesting the style ‘Elizabeth II’ within Scotland, was lost in 1953.

As the Kingdom of Ireland was subordinate to the Kingdom of England, the English ordinals were used in Ireland even before the Acts of Union 1800.

"The first"

In some monarchies it is customary not to use an ordinal when there has been only one holder of that name. For example, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom will not be called Victoria I until there is a Victoria II. This tradition is applied in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway. It was also applied in most of the German monarchies and in the Hungarian. In Sweden, the practice is not consistent, as Sigismund and Adolf Frederick never have ordinals, whereas Frederick I often does.

Other monarchies do assign ordinals to monarchs who are the only ones of their name. This is a more recent invention and appears to be done for the first time when King Francis I of France issued testoons (silver coins) bearing the legend FRANCISCVS I DE. GR. FRANCORV. REX. This currently is the regular practice in Belgium, Spain and Monaco (at least for Prince Albert I, as Princess Louise Hippolyte, who reigned 150 years earlier, doesn't appear to have used an ordinal). It was also applied in Brazil, Italy, Mexico, Montenegro, Portugal (where, although this is the general rule, Kings Joseph and Luís are usually referred to as "Joseph I" and "Luís I", although there were no Joseph II, nor Luís II) and by the Papacy under Pope John Paul I. The ordinal for King Juan Carlos I of Spain is used in both Spanish and English, but he is sometimes simply called King Juan Carlos of Spain in English. In Russia, use of "The First" ordinal started with Paul I. Before him, neither Anna of Russia nor Elizabeth of Russia had the "I" ordinal.

The use of "The First" ordinal is also common to self-proclaimed ephemeral "kings" or "emperors", such as Dessalines, Christophe and Soulouque in Haiti, Iturbide in Mexico, Zog in Albania, Bokassa in Central African Republic, or the adventurer Boris Skossyreff in Andorra. In this case it is obvious that they want to emphasize the change of regime they pretend to introduce.

Pretenders

It is traditional amongst monarchists to continue to number their pretenders, even though they have never reigned. Hence, a supporter of the Comte de Paris would call him Henri VII, even though only four men named "Henri" have been King of France.

Non-consecutive ordinals may indicate dynastic claims for non-regnant monarchs. For example, after Louis XVI of France was executed during the French Revolution, legitimists consider him to have been succeeded by his young son, whom they called Louis XVII. Although the child died in prison a few years later and never reigned, his uncle, coming to the French throne in the Bourbon Restoration, took the name Louis XVIII in acknowledgement of his dynasty's rights. Similarly, when Emperor Napoleon I's regime collapsed, he abdicated in favour of his four-year-old son, who was proclaimed Napoleon II. The young emperor was deposed only weeks later by Napoleon's European rivals and was never recognized internationally; but when his first cousin Louis Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself Emperor in 1852, he declared himself Napoleon III of France in recognition of his predecessor.

Queens consort

While reigning monarchs use ordinals, ordinals are not used for royal consorts. So whereas King George V of the United Kingdom used an ordinal to distinguish him from other kings in the United Kingdoms called George, his wife, Queen Mary, had no ordinal.

The lack of an ordinal in the case of royal consorts complicates the recording of history, as there may be a number of consorts over time with the same name with no way to distinguish between them. For that reason, royal consorts after their deaths are recorded in history books and encyclopaedias through the use of their maiden name or, if from a noble family, its Royal House (dynastic name) or the name of the corresponding titled land.

References

1. ^ Croly, George (1830). The life and times of his late majesty, George the fourth. London: James Duncan. p. xlix. http://books.google.com/books?id=nY4vPbWbZq0C&pg=PR49. Retrieved 13 June 2010. 
2. ^ George Croly pointed out in 1830 he was William I, II, III, and IV: of Hanover, Ireland, Scotland, and England respectively^[1]
3. ^ Matthew, H. C. G. (September 2004; online edn. May 2006). "Edward VII (1841–1910)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press). doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32975. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/32975. Retrieved 24 June 2009  (Subscription required)
4. ^ Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons, 15 April 1953 column_start=199.