Facts About People Around the World

Kings and queens are not just characters in fairy tales. There are more than four dozen reigning monarchs in the world today. Spain, Morocco, Lesotho, Nepal, and the Netherlands are a few countries that still have royalty. These people of royal blood are the children of the children (and back and back) of former kings and queens.

Kings and Queens

They are the descendants of royal parents. A reigning king makes his wife a queen. A reigning queen makes her husband a prince.

Princes and Princesses

These titles are reserved for the children of kings and queens, the husbands of reigning queens, and for the grandchildren who are descended through the sons of kings or queens.

Nobility

These are the descendants of powerful and wealthy landowners who passed their titles on to their children and grandchildren. From top to bottom, here is the order of British nobility as well as the terms of address. (Note that counts are European, but not British.)

What Was So Great about Catherine the Great?

Catherine II, or Catherine the Great, was the empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. During her reign, she built schools and hospitals, promoted the education of women, and allowed religious tolerance. She extended the borders of Russia by acquiring much of Poland. Many artists, teachers, and scientists moved to Russia because of the freedom of ideas she promoted.

Who was the Victoria of Victorian?

Queen Victoria ruled the British Empire for close to 64 years, longer than any other British monarch. She became queen in 1837, when her uncle King William IV died without an heir. During her reign, the British colonial empire was the richest in the world, owning one-fourth of the world’s land and ruling more than one-fourth of the world’s people.