Princes of The Holy Roman Empire - Honorary Title

Honorary Title

The honorary status of prince of the Holy Roman Empire might be granted to certain individuals. These individuals included:

• Rulers of states of the Empire who did not hold an individual seat in the princely chamber of the Imperial Diet, but held a seat as a count and shared with other counts in the one vote exercised by each of the four regional comital councils or Grafenbanken.
• Sovereigns outside the Empire, such as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta). The Prince of Piombino) was another example.
• Nobles allowed to bear the princely title, but who had neither a vote nor a seat in the Imperial Diet, individual or shared, such as the House of Kinsky. This included nobles who lacked immediacy, but who were allowed, motu proprio, by the Emperor to enjoy the title and rank of prince of an Imperial state. Although this courtesy tended to become hereditary for families, the right to princely status was called Personalist (personal) and could be revoked by the Emperor.
• Foreigners of note, such as the Princes of Belmonte, the Princes Chigi, the Princes Orsini, the Princes Orloff, the Princes Potemkin, Lubomirski, or Radziwill, or the Dukes of Marlborough
• Subjects of the Empire who were given a princely title by an Emperor, but who held no territory or sovereignty at all. This status was occasionally granted to the morganatic wives of electoral and immediate families, allowing them to share in the husband/father's princely title, but not his princely rank and privileges.