Imperial Majesty (His/Her Imperial Majesty, abbreviated as HIM) is a style used by Emperors and Empresses. The style is used to distinguish the status of an emperor/empress from that of a king/queen, who are simply styled Majesty (HM) or Royal Majesty (HRM). In the International Protocol, holders of this style outrank any others although the holders of the style sometimes voluntarily follow after religious leaders with the style of his holiness.
Today the style is used by the Emperor and Empress of Japan (in Japanese: 陛下, heika) and also by the exiled Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran.
Famous quotes containing the words imperial and/or majesty:
“Fair tresses man’s imperial race ensnare,
And beauty draws us with a single hair.”
—Alexander Pope (1688–1744)
“There was about all the Romans a heroic tone peculiar to ancient life. Their virtues were great and noble, and these virtues made them great and noble. They possessed a natural majesty that was not put on and taken off at pleasure, as was that of certain eastern monarchs when they put on or took off their garments of Tyrian dye. It is hoped that this is not wholly lost from the world, although the sense of earthly vanity inculcated by Christianity may have swallowed it up in humility.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)