Forms of address in the United Kingdom

src: c8.alamy.com

Forms of address used in the United Kingdom are given below. For further information on Courtesy Titles see Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom.

Video Forms of address in the United Kingdom

Abbreviations

Several terms have been abbreviated in the table below. The forms used in the table are given first, followed by alternative acceptable abbreviations in parentheses.

• His/Her Majesty: HM
• His/Her Royal Highness: HRH
• His/Her Grace: HG
• The Noble: TN
• The Most Honourable: The Most Hon (The Most Honble)
• The Right Honourable: The Rt Hon (The Rt Honble)
• The Honourable: The Hon (The Honble)
• The Much Honoured: The Much Hon (The Much Hon'd)
• The Most Reverend: The Most Rev (The Most Revd or The Most Rev'd)
• The Right Reverend: The Rt Rev (The Rt Revd or The Rt Rev'd)
• The Very Reverend: The Very Rev (The Very Revd or The Very Rev'd)
• The Reverend: The Rev (The Revd or The Rev'd)
• The Venerable: The Ven (The Venble)

Maps Forms of address in the United Kingdom

Royalty

A formal announcement in The London Gazette reads: "The Queen has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm dated 31 December 2012 to declare that all the children of the eldest son of the Prince of Wales should have and enjoy the style, title and attribute of Royal Highness with the titular dignity of Prince or Princess prefixed to their Christian names or with such other titles of honour." This refers to any children of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

src: c8.alamy.com

Nobility

Peers, peeresses and non-peerage

Eldest sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of dukes, marquesses and earls

(Eldest sons of dukes, marquesses and earls use their father's most senior subsidiary title as courtesy titles: note the absence of "The" before the title. If applicable, eldest sons of courtesy marquesses or courtesy earls also use a subsidiary title from their (great) grandfather, which is lower ranking than the one used by their father. Eldest daughters do not have courtesy titles; all courtesy peeresses are wives of courtesy peers.)

Heirs-apparent and heirs-presumptive of Scottish peers

(Heirs-apparent and heirs-presumptive of Scottish peers use the titles "Master" and "Mistress"; these are substantive, not courtesy titles. If, however, the individual is the eldest son of a Duke, Marquess or Earl, then he uses the appropriate courtesy title, as noted above.)

Sons, grandsons and great-grandsons of peers

Daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughters of peers

(If a daughter of a peer or courtesy peer marries another peer or courtesy peer, she takes her husband's rank. If she marries anyone else, she keeps her rank and title, using her husband's surname instead of her maiden name.)

src: c8.alamy.com

Gentry and minor nobility

Baronets

Knights

Scottish Barons (non-peerage nobility)

Chiefs, chieftains and lairds

src: pbs.twimg.com

Clergy

Church of England

Similar styles are also applied to clergy of equivalent status in other religious organisations. The words clergy and cleric/clerk are derived from the proper term for bishops, priests and deacons still used in legal documents: Clerk in Holy Orders (e.g. "Vivienne Frances Faull, Clerk in Holy Orders").

The usage 'Lord' as applied to a bishop pre-dates the United Kingdom, and is a well-established convention. It is more usual to abbreviate Reverend (if at all) to Rev'd rather than Rev. Where a personal name is not used for a priest or deacon, the manner of address is Rev Mr etc., i.e. the Rev is used with the usual title. Without this title, the use of Rev with a surname should not be used in the United Kingdom for any ordained person, whether Anglican or not - it is a solecism. Catholic (and Anglo-Catholic) clergy favour Fr (Father) {or Mthr (Mother)}. For further details see Crockford's Guide to addressing the Clergy.

Clergy: 'introduce as Mr Pike or Father Pike according to his preference' (Debrett's Etiquette and Modern Manners 1981 pg230)

Church of Scotland

It should be noted that the Church of Scotland as a Presbyterian Church recognizes state-awarded titles only as courtesy. In court (Assembly, Presbytery and Session) one may only be addressed as Mr, Mrs, Miss, Dr, Prof, etc. depending on academic achievement. Thus ministers are correctly addressed as, for example Mr Smith or Mrs Smith unless they have a higher degree or academic appointment e.g. Dr Smith or Prof. Smith. It is 'infra dig' to use the title 'Rev' and even the use of 'the Rev Mr' requires sensitivity to official style.

src: c8.alamy.com

Judiciary

United Kingdom

England and Wales

Scotland

A judge's first name only forms part of their judicial style if, at the time of their appointment, there is a senior judge with the same or a similar surname. Thus, if there is a "Mr Justice Smith", subsequent judges will be "Mr Justice John Smith", "Mrs Justice Mary Smith", etc. a member of the Bar (but not a solicitor) addresses a Circuit Judge or higher, out of court, as "Judge".

• *whether the High Court Master is male or female.
• **Some Circuit Judges - for example, The Recorder of Liverpool or circuit judges sitting in the Central Criminal Court - are addressed in court as "My Lord" or "My Lady".

src: russiable.co.uk

Academics

The forms of address used for academics can, in most cases, be either formal or social.

src: i1.wp.com

See also

• United Kingdom order of precedence
• British nobility
• British honours system
• Peerage
• Gentry

src: c8.alamy.com

Notes

References

External links

• Styles of the members of the British royal family

Source of the article : Wikipedia