Serene Highness - German-speaking Lands

German-speaking Lands

The current, legal usage of the style in the German-speaking countries is confined to the Princely Family of Liechtenstein, the entirety of which bears the treatment.

The German term is Durchlaucht, a translation of the Latin (su)perillustris. This is usually translated into English as Serene Highness, however, it would be more literal to translate it as superior to, above, beyond or greater than illustrious, as it is an augmentation of Erlaucht ("illustrious"), which was borne by immediate counts (Reichsgrafen) of the Holy Roman Empire and, mediatised, of the German Confederation and the German Empire. More humorously, the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica suggested another perfectly logical English version, "Your Transparency", based on a literal translation of German "durch", which can also mean "through", or "more thoroughly", and "-laucht", as in "Erlaucht" (illustrious), meaning radiant—in other words, something that lets light through: something transparent.

In 1375 Emperor Charles IV bestowed the nobiliary style Durchlauchtig upon the seven Prince-electors designated by the Golden Bull of 1356. As from 1664 Emperor Leopold I vested all Imperial Princes with the title, it became so common that the Electors like the Archdukes of Austria began to use the comparative address Durchlauchtigst. In the German Empire, the style of Serene Highness was usually held by princes of lower rank than those who were entitled to Highness (exceptions were the Wettin cadets of the Ernestine duchies), Grand Ducal Highness, Royal Highness, and Imperial Highness. Therefore, if a woman entitled to the treatment of Royal Highness married a man who was addressed only as Serene Highness, the woman usually retained her pre-marital style.

In 1905 Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria granted the style of Durchlaucht to members of virtually every family which had held the title of prince in the former Holy Roman Empire, even if the family had never exercised sovereignty.

In the German and Austrian empires of the 19th and 20th centuries, the style Serene Highness was also officially borne by:

• Cadet branches of the sovereign Ernestine dukes (i.e., Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Meiningen, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha);
• Reigning Fürsten of the small German realms which survived the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire;:
  • Hohenzollern (yielded sovereignty to Hohenzollern kinsman, the King of Prussia, in 1848)
  • Lippe
  • Reuss
  • Schaumburg-Lippe
  • Schwarzburg (now extinct)
  • Waldeck and Pyrmont
• Mediatised princes and dukes (e.g., Ratibor), and, eventually, their family members;
• Morganatic princes, descended from reigning dynasties;
• Other non-reigning princes of the German nobility, but not (always) their cadets (e.g. the Princes von Bismarck, Carolath-Beuthen, Pless, Wrede).

By tradition, Durchlaucht is still attributed to the princely dynasties which were sovereign until 1917 or had been mediatised under the Austro-Hungarian Empire and German Confederation in 1815, although the usage has been unofficial since 1918.