Editing Prince (section)

==Historical background==
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The [[Latin]] word {{Lang|la|prīnceps}} (older Latin *prīsmo-kaps, {{literally|the one who takes the first [place/position]}}), became the usual title of the informal leader of the [[Roman senate]] some centuries before the transition to [[Roman Empire|empire]], the ''[[princeps senatus]]''.

[[Emperor Augustus]] established the formal position of monarch on the basis of [[principate]], not [[Dominate|dominion]]. He also tasked his grandsons as summer rulers of the city when most of the government were on holiday in the country or attending religious rituals, and, for that task, granted them the title of princeps.

The title has generic and substantive meanings:
* Generically, ''prince'' refers to a member of a family that [[monarchy|ruled by hereditary right]] (such as the [[House of Sverre]] in [[Norway]]) or to non-reigning descendants, the title referring to sovereigns, former sovereigns' [[Lineal descendant|descendant]]s (Such as descendants of King [[Haakon V]]) or to [[cadet (genealogy)|cadets]] of a sovereign's family. The term may be broadly used of persons in various cultures, continents or eras. In Europe, it is the title legally borne by [[Dynasty#Dynasts|dynastic]] [[cadet (genealogy)|cadets]] in monarchies, and borne by courtesy by members of formerly reigning dynasties.
* As a [[substantive title]], a ''prince'' was a monarch of the lowest [[Nobility|rank]] in post-[[Napoléon I of France|Napoleon]]ic Europe, e.g. Princes of [[Andorra]], [[Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen]], [[Mingrelia]], [[Monaco]], [[Waldeck and Pyrmont]], [[Wallachia]], etc.
* Also substantively, the title was granted by [[pope]]s and secular monarchs to specific individuals and to the [[agnatic primogeniture|heads]] of some high-ranking European families who, however, never exercised dynastic sovereignty and whose cadets are not entitled to share the princely title, ''viz'' the Princes de Beauvau-Craon, von [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]], [[Colonna family|Colonna]], von [[Dohna-Schlobitten]], von Eulenburg, de Faucigny-Lucinge, von [[Lichnowsky]], von [[Pszczyna|Pless]], Ruffo di Calabria, (de [[Talleyrand]]) von [[Żagań|Sagan]], van [[Duke of Ursel|Ursel]], etc.
* Generically, cadets of some non-sovereign families whose head bears the non-dynastic title of prince (or, less commonly, [[duke]]) were sometimes also authorized to use the princely title, e.g. von Carolath-Beuthen, de [[House of Broglie|Broglie]], Demidoff di San Donato, [[Lieven]], de [[House of Merode|Merode]], [[House of Pignatelli|Pignatelli]], [[Radziwill]], von [[Wrede]], [[Prince Felix Yusupov|Yussopov]], etc.
* Substantively, the [[heir apparent|heirs apparent]] in some monarchies use a specific princely title associated with a territory within the monarch's [[realm]], e.g. the Princes of Asturias (Spain), Grão Pará (Brazil, formerly), Orange (Netherlands), Viana (Navarre, formerly), Wales (U.K.), etc.
* Substantively, it became the fashion from the 17th century for the [[heir apparent|heirs apparent]] of the leading [[duke|ducal]] families to assume a princely title, associated with a ''[[fief|seigneurie]]'' in the family's possession. These titles were borne by courtesy and preserved by tradition, not law, e.g. the ''princes de'', respectively, Bidache (Gramont), Marcillac (La Rochefoucauld), Tonnay-Charente (Mortemart), Poix (Noailles), Léon (Rohan-Chabot), etc.