Majesty
Majesty
Moorooka, Queensland
Category="Titles"Majesty is an English word rooting in the Latin Maiestas, meaning literally, Greatness. Over time the word became anglicised, the i becoming a j and the ending -as, being replaced with the English -y.Origin
Originally, during the Roman Republic, the word maiestas was the legal term for the supreme status and dignity of the state, to be respected above everything else. This was crucially defined by the existence of a specific crime, called laesa maiestatis, literally "Violated Majesty" (in English law Lese majesty, via the French Lèse-majesté), consisting of the violation of this supreme status. Various acts such as celebrating a party on a day of public mourning, contempt of the various rites of the state and disloyalty in word or act were punished as crimes against the majesty of the republic. However, later, under the Empire, it came to mean an offence against the dignity of the Emperor.Even paying for a service in a brothel with a coin bearing the portrait of the emporor could be punished as an act aganst this "maiestas".Western style monarch's address
After the fall of Rome, Majesty was used to describe a Monarch of the very highest rank - indeed, it was generally applied to God. The title was then also assumed by Monarchs of great powers (an attempt at self-praise and despite a supposed lower royal style as a King (or Queen), who would thus often be called "His (or Her) Royal Majesty." Eventually the title became enshrined in law, and it was thus that all of the Kings and Queens of Europe bear the title to this day. (The Monarchs of Principalites were considered lesser, so they generally did not take the title, opting for either His Royal Highness or His Serene Highness. On a similar note it is interesting that almost all rulers of princely states in the British Empire were denied the Majesty style, only being regognized as His Highness, a style commonly used for sons (and other relatives) of a Majesty.)In general, deceased monarchs are not referred to with the style of "Majesty." Sometimes a Queen Dowager is restyled Her Highness following the death of her husband, but more often these Queen dowagers retain the style of "Majesty" (e.g. Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was styled "Her Majesty" after the death of her husband).
Imperial monarch's address
In the case of Emperors and Empresses, the style "His (or Her) Imperial Majesty" is used instead, where there may be several monarchs (Kings or Queens) that are considered to be under the jurisdiction of the Emperor/Empress.Various modern uses
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