What is Royalty — Definition, Power and Privileges 2. What is Nobility — Definition, Position, Ranks 3. The word royalty refers to people of royal status or blood. Thus, this usually means the royal family — the immediate family of a king or queen, as well as their extended family.
Royals have a claim to the throne. The idea of royalty was very popular in the past as countries and regions were ruled by kings or queens. In the past, royalty was the most powerful group of people in a country.
However, in the modern world, only a few countries have monarchs and royalty as various forms of governments have replaced the monarchy.
The British royal family is perhaps most famous in the world. Figure 1: Queen Elizabeth II. A person can become royal, either through birth or marriage. For example, Prince William is a royalty since he was born into a royal family. In Russia and Austria, the title archduke is an indication of royal blood, and is used instead of prince. A prince or princess would typically be referred to as "your royal highness. A duke , from the Latin dux another word for a military leader , is the ruler of a dukedom or duchy.
If the dukedom is an independent country, its leader may be called a grand duke. Originally all English dukes were of royal blood. When sons of kings came of age they were typically given the title duke. Now a duke is the highest rank of English nobility. A duke would typically be addressed as "your grace," as would an archbishop.
Three titles hold a pretty similar stature, although they are somewhat different. An earl is at the head of a county. In most European countries this title is instead known as a count. Earl comes from an old English word, eorl, which had a similar meaning. A marquess is effectively the earl of an important border county also known as a march.
Since securing the border was such an important job, the rank of marquess is often considered superior to earl or count. The term margrave has a basically identical meaning, from the German "markgraf," as opposed to the French "marquis".
That leaves the two lowest ranks of the peerage, viscount , and baron. A viscount from the phrase vice-count is immediately below an earl. They were originally administrators and judges who ruled over specific regions of a county, hence the name. A baron is the lowest level. Barons were the basic building block of feudal land ownership; holding land in barony meant that they acted on the king's behalf to own a chunk of land. Barons are not actually called barons, but are rather called Lord or Lady.
In the past, the idea of royalty was quite common as most regions were ruled by kings and queens. These kings and queens belong to royalty. When observing the modern world one notices that the concept of royalty is slowly fading away.
This is mainly due to the emergence of various forms of governments that have replaced the position of royalty. Royalty is not something that an individual can achieve. It is an ascribed status. A person has to be born to such a family in order to be royalty. This goes on from one generation to another. When the king dies, his heir will come to the throne. If we were to provide a modern example of royalty, Queen Elizabeth the second and Prince of Wales can be considered fine examples of the British royalty.
It is important to highlight that royalty exists in many other countries, although royalty now does not have supreme power as they did in the past. Nobility can simply be understood as aristocracy. The people who are considered as nobles belong to the highest class and have hereditary titles.
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