Princess Royal is a title customarily (but not automatically) awarded by British monarchs to their eldest daughters. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been seven Princesses Royal in history; the title is not inherited, and there can be only one holder of it at any one time. Princess Anne became The Princess Royal in 1987.
The title Princess Royal came into existence when Queen Henrietta Maria (1609–1669), daughter of Henry IV, King of France, and wife of King Charles I (1600–1649), wanted to imitate the way the eldest daughter of the King of France was styled "Madame Royale".
The title is held for life, even if the holder outlives her parent the monarch, and there is only ever one Princess Royal at a time. Upon the death of a Princess Royal, the style is not inherited by any of her daughters; instead, if the monarch parent of the late Princess Royal has also died, the new monarch may bestow it upon his or her own eldest daughter. Thus, Princess Louise was granted the style of Princess Royal by her father King Edward VII in 1905; she retained it until her death in 1931, more than twenty years into the reign of her brother King George V. Only upon Louise's death did the title become available for George's own daughter, Princess Mary, who was granted the title in 1932, retaining it until her death in 1965. Because Mary outlived not only her father but also her brother King George VI, the title was never available during George VI's reign to be granted to his elder daughter Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II), though she would otherwise have been eligible to hold it.
List of title holders
The following is a complete list of women formally styled Princess Royal:
{| class="wikitable"
! Order
! Princess Royal and period of tenure
! Portrait
! Coat of arms
! Born
! Tenure
! Marriages
! Died
|-
|1
|Princess Mary<br>1642–1660
|100px
|frameless|116x116px
|4 November 1631, St. James's Palace, London; daughter of King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria
|
|2 May 1641William II, Prince of Orange (1 son)
|24 December 1660, Whitehall Palace, London
|-
|2
|Princess Anne<br>1727–1759
|100px
|frameless|79x79px
|2 November 1709, Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover; daughter of King George II and Queen Caroline
|
|25 March 1734William IV of Orange (3 children)
|12 January 1759, The Hague, Netherlands
|-
|3
|Princess Charlotte<br>1789–1828
|100px
|frameless|81x81px
|29 September 1766, Buckingham House, London; daughter of King George III and Queen Charlotte
|
|18 May 1797Frederick I of Württemberg (1 daughter)
|5 October 1828, Ludwigsburg Palace, Baden-Württemberg
|-
|4
|Princess Victoria<br>1841–1901
|100px
|frameless|81x81px
|21 November 1840, Buckingham Palace, London; daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
|
|25 January 1858 Frederick III, German Emperor (8 children)
|5 August 1901, Schloss Friedrichshof, Hesse
|-
|5
|Princess Louise<br>1905–1931
|100px
|frameless|80x80px
|20 February 1867, Marlborough House, London; daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra
|
|27 July 1889Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife (3 children)
|4 January 1931, Portman Square, London
|-
|6
|Princess Mary<br>1932–1965
|100px
|frameless|82x82px
|25 April 1897, York Cottage, Sandringham; daughter of King George V and Queen Mary
|
|28 February 1922Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood (2 sons)
|28 March 1965, Harewood House, West Yorkshire
|-
|- scope="row" style="background:#9F9"
| rowspan="2" |7
| rowspan="2" |Princess Anne<br>1987–present
| rowspan="2" |100px
|frameless|82x82px
| rowspan="2" |15 August 1950, Clarence House, London; daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip
|
|14 November 1973Mark Phillips (2 children)—12 December 1992Sir Timothy Laurence
| rowspan="2" |—now
|-
|}
In fiction
- In the House of M alternate universe of Marvel Comics, Betsy Braddock is the elder twin sister of the British King and bears the title Princess Royal.
- The novel The Lady Royal, by Molly Costain Haycraft, is a fictionalized account of the life of Isabella de Coucy. According to the narrative, Isabella was titled the Princess Royal and then later given the more 'adult' title of the Lady Royal by her parents. This is a fabrication; although Isabella, as the eldest daughter of Edward III, enjoyed the special privileges that came with her rank, she could not have been titled the Princess Royal because the title was not used in England until long after her death. The title of "the Lady Royal" has never existed.