A Writer’s Guide to Addressing Pony Princesses, by Luna (A Pony Princess) · 9:46pm Oct 12th, 2014
I don’t mind, mostly-American fanfiction writers, really I don’t. I mean, nopony gets it right at home, either. Too little of the honorifics for me, far far too much for her. Thankfully, we are no longer in an era where failing to use the correct term was a whipping offense (one very selectively enforced). But it does make you look the teeniest bit foolish in front of your brethren who do live in aristocracies when you continue to get it wrong.
Let us begin with Exhibit A, the standard invitation to the Grand Galloping Gala. The things are so common, preserved as they tend to be by the “lucky” invitees long after the events in question, that I have no doubt that a significant number of you humans have actually seen one, or a copy of one, for yourselves:
Hear ye, hear ye! Her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce The Grand Galloping Gala, to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot, on...
...And there’s no reason to rehearse the rest.
Let’s break this down, shall we?
Her Highness. A princess is “Her Highness”. A prince is “His Highness”. That’s in the third person. If addressing one face to face, she is “Your Highness”. She is not Her Majesty. That is for kings and queens. It doesn’t matter that Celestia and I rule Equestria, it’s still “Highness”, not “Majesty”, got it?
Her Royal Highness. This word, “Royal”, is what distinguishes a ruling princess from a princess in waiting. The proper form of address is to use “Royal” before “Highness” the first time you are introduced to or speak to a reigning princess. It is not necessary to use the term afterwards. By the way, this means that you should not use “Royal” with Blueblood—that pony has more than enough airs as it is, so please don’t inflate his head any bigger than it already is. We have to live with the stallion, after all. Cadance is an interesting case: she currently doesn’t have a kingdom, making her just a “Her Highness”, but there is a very small probability that her kingdom could just rematerialize from the ice and arctic tundra one day, in which case she would become a “Her Royal Highness”, or even a “Her Imperial Majesty” (see below).
Her Grand Royal Highness. Don’t do this. “Grand”, “Magnificent”, “Chooser-of-Who-Lives-and-Who-Dies”? These are all suck-up terms. We will find creative ways to snub you if you insist on employing one. And now you know something about the pony who writes up the Grand Galloping Gala invitations that you did not know before.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s lay down a few additional rules:
First, if a reigning diarch tells you to call her by her first name and not by her title, you do what she says. It amazes me to no end when a loyal subject will do anything asked by her diarch, except treat her like a fellow pony.
Second, I’ve observed that your fiction frequently has cause to invent individuals with other titles, so let’s quickly cover the correct forms of address for them:
Queen: Her Majesty. This one I’ve never seen anybody mess up, even regarding the one that the Diarchy is not getting along with well right now. So kudos to you authors for that.
Emperor: His Imperial Majesty. Emperors tend to be rather touchy individuals in Equestrian history, considering that most of them pulled their titles out of thin air, and are then prone to lose them even more quickly, so it’s probably best for your health’s sake to never forget the “Imperial” part.
Duke: Your Grace. Equestria does not currently have any dukes, but they have had some in the past.
Countess, Earl, Baroness or Baron: My Lady or My Lord. All of those titles fell out of favor in the Thirty-Fifth Century, thanks to the Rubber Robber Baby Baroness Conspiracy. [Don’t ask. I would have come up with a much better title if I wasn’t...indisposed, at the time.]
God: Whatever He wants you to call Him today. We’ve only had the One so far. Nowadays, I call Him “The Eminently Imperial Collector of Pigeon Offerings”. I’ll correct the title whenever He asks me politely to do otherwise.
Finally, there is one last rule to observe: Unlike human nobles and monarchs/diarchs, Equestrian titles only apply within the borders of Equestria. While I reside here on Earth, I am “Luna”—no “Princess” or “Highness” required or suggested (or wanted, for that matter). During Celestia’s visits here, she is also merely “Celestia”. Of course, it goes without saying that an alicorn’s memory is very long, so just because one is not required to use a level of courtesy doesn’t mean that acting like a buffoon is a very wise move on one’s part.
I hope that the above advice will prove useful to you on your future writings of fictional adventures of I and my fellow ponies. Don’t let it dismay you if you happen to be visiting Equestria in the near future—like I said, the teeth of that particular statute were pulled shortly after Nightmare Moon’s banishment, when my sister learned how ponies had found ways to use it to exalt her at my expense.
I actually met the individual who called Celestia “Sunbutt” to her face in the royal court, and he’s actually still alive! A shame about that rash, though...the poor human hasn’t appeared in direct sunlight in nearly a year...
2528391 Of course, Luna. I would like to apologize for my previous obsessive use of "Majesty" and I will strive to cease it's use. Thank you for this guide.
No offense intended, but most of what you are talking about, so far as I am aware regards the English Crown/Monarchy. As such, it is rather specific and need not generally apply to fictional governments even fictional monarchies. It is merely convenient to do so when the desired hierarchy matches that of the specific government noted above and useful for conveying things to people who understand, even vaguely, that system. Granted that the 'grand' bit is just stupid. Unless the proper title is Grand Duke (in whatever reality that is...) so and so, but I digress
I see no reason for an Equestrian title to not have value outside it's border. A far better argument is that the parties in question probably don't have a reason to address a sentient pony with wings and a horn as anything other than their name (should they have found that out) or "you" or any number of pronoun or substitutes for names in conversations when you are unaware of someone's name (or if they even have one). -- Of course if the writer is working with our Earth where ponies from Equestria feature rather prominently in literary works it would make perfect sense for us to say Princess Luna or Princess Celestia, in all probability followed by the vocal equivalent of '???!!!' They'd probably get a sigh and minor tongue lashing about their being no reason to call them that, at least from Celestia.
P.S.
This is addressed in rather a silly manner.
2528407
I didn't mean you! I meant, those other...ugh. Alright, I may have meant you a little when I was writing this, but I really meant the writers. I like it when you call me Luna, without the honorifics.
And besides, calling me anything other than my name on Earth is illegal, in the most insignificant definition of "illegal" imaginable.
Well, this looks to be incredibly useful. Would you mind if I linked to this from my user page? I like to collect guides like these so people
don't have any excusescan easily find them.Thank for the information, Luna!
2528497
I'm writing it in-character as a my personal fanon version of Princess Luna....set in a world where Seasons Three and Four never happened.
Mostly I'm basing it off of how the princesses are called in the series, most specifically the invitation to the GGA from "Ticket Master".
And the part of about not addressing them outside of Equestria's borders is more fanon, so feel free to ignore it.
2528552
Yeah, go ahead. I hope all of the odd parts don't make it any less useful.
2529511
Err, okay, but that's kind of silly to put in a blog post. It's almost a story fragment the way you describe it. If it's meant as actual advice then what I said is perfectly applicable no matter how you wrote it.
"Your Highness!"
"My highness? What did I sit in something?"
-Animaniacs you scrub