The Royal Family - Titles and Payroll

(Year 232, Spring) It takes quite some rules, traditions and routines to make the nation work well. One part of this is how the royal family is organized, including their titles and allowances. A system that might seem a bit overwhelming at first, but when we break it down a bit, most rules make perfect sense.

Below is a fresh family photo released right after the Crown Princess' 20th birthday last year. All of them are related somehow, but not necessarily a member of the Royal Family or the Royal House of Luxe-Hamper. You might wonder why the children were not joining, but at the moment the minors counted only 3 infants. 6 teenagers are featured, though.

Photo from the celebration of HRH Crown Princess Emireza's 20th birthday. Front: HRH Queen Venezia and HRM King Tarriot. Standing left to right: Baroness Suzi de Portefino, Prince Ace, Countess Bequeenie de Tredony, Prince Jerome, Lord Millaus de Luminosa, Prince Bazil, Baroness Amalia de Vert, Baron P. de Vert, Crown Princess Emireza, Princess Duella, Prince Cecil, Lord Nicham de Luminosa, Prince Marcuz, Princess Evendice, Prince Royal Blaise, and Prince Marquis.

Seeing Mazaloom's Monarch in light of the administration of a nation, the Monarch is head of the Royal Chamber, which according to our Institution is one of three chambers sharing the power. Because of this the royals did not exactly choose their position, just as much as they can not just decide that enough is enough - let's become plumbers instead! No, they happen to be one of those three major fundaments forming the platform of our community. The Royal Family is there to assist the Monarch and to serve the nation, but also to secure future heirs. Luckily for the Monarch, there is a bunch of individual persons who can help, but only some of them will get paid by being on the royal payroll.

The three chambers are People Chamber (lead by the President), the High Court (lead by the High Judge), and the Royal Chamber (lead by the Monarch). They must all agree on major community changes, or the changes can not be executed. Each of them can suggest the change, but mainly the President will do so. The Monarch will mainly issue Acts that mostly affect the large peerage/nobility. Internal matters will normally be voted only by the chamber that is affected.

In many ways the Royal Chamber represents the old Aristocracy, including the large peerage, lead by the Royal House. While the Monarch is the only royal person who is directly in charge, there is a much needed network assisting on community engagements and more. Most of them are distantly related, which occasionally raise critical voices, but those relations also make for a stronger network including the much needed support. Because of the relations, the size of the royal family varies over time. Just like with any House of the aristocracy, the earlier they start reproducing, the more generations will benefit from these privileges. Kings that married late in life left a rather limited number of royal descendants as the crown was passed down one line before the other lines managed to produce their next generation.

Here is the Royal Family tree.

Princes and Princesses

The title of Prince/Princess is a royal title defining the Royal Family. All princes and princesses are members of the Royal Family. There is an absolute cap after so and so many generations, a cap witch the Monarch can adjust. This varied over time. The current rule is that the title will be given only 2 generations after a Monarch, meaning a King/Queen's grandchildren is the last generation of princes/princesses. The rule will nornally adjust according to the total number of persons having a royal title. There is no need for hundred princes, right? HRM King Tarriot has only one brother, so the current family is not extreme when it comes to size.

Spouse of a Prince will normally get the Princess title.

Although a girl can indeed become the next Monarch, Princesses will not pass down the Prince/Princess title, neither to children nor spouse.

Hignesses

Royal titles are graded based on how many generations they are from a Monarch. To express this grade, Princes and Princesses are normally entitled Royal Highness, Highness, or they are just Prince/Princess with no grade of Highness. Royal Higness ranks above Duke in the large peerage. Higness ranks after Duke and before Count. Prince/Princess with no Highness will rank after Count.

The Highness titles come more or less automatically based on relations and generations - they drop one grade horizontally (spouse) as well as vertically (child). The grade is not restricted to descendants of the current Monarch, but can be stripped off by the current Monarch at any time. 30 years ago this happened to the "scandal Princesses", Princess Aleccandra and Princess Hortenzia, who borth lost their HH titles and are now just Princesses. They are still members of the Royal Family, but rarely involved with royal events, and therefore missing on the official photo above.

When a legit child is born into the Royal Family, the Monarch will normally announce the title within the child's first year.

Children of any Monarch are entitled HRH = His/Her Royal Highness. 

Grandsons of any Monarch are entitled HH = His Highness. Granddaughters will not be entitled Highness (children of the Crown Princess might be an exception to this rule.).

Spouses will normally rank one level under their husband, being entitled HH Princess or just Princess.

Confused? Thankfully, the Monarch will announce the correct title whenever there is a change.

Who are on the Royal Payroll?

You won't get paid allowance just because you are born into the Royal Family. Most royals will lead a regular career, not the least because their household will normally occupy a larger estate causing high bills to be paid. The clear difference is whether the person is expected to represent the Royal Family by community engagements and other public appearances. Such duties will be followed by additional costs regarding outfits, jewelry and travels, just to mention a few. In such cases the Monarch will normally offer them a small allowance to help with their extra costs.

However, even if a member of the Royal Family is not on the royal payroll, they might benefit from residing a property owned by the Mazaloom Royal Trust without being charged rent. The living costs might be high, though, resulting in some members turning down such an offer.

The level of allowance is suggested by the Monarch and decided by the Royal Chamber. The norm is that the regent's spouse and their children (all ranked Royal Highnesses) get 50% of what the Monarch gets. The Crown Prince/Princess gets 75%. Children normally get on the pay roll aged 25, but the CP might get some allowance aged 20. Next level (HH) get 25% of what the Monarch gets, but this rank is not always on the pay roll at all. Adjustments to what members are on the pay roll can be made every budget year.

Royal allowances usesd to be much higher, but over the recent years the Royal House clearly tried to restrict their budget, both individually and organizationally. Based on the current norm, this is what the Royal Family is entitled and what their current allowance is per active work day:

HRM King Tarriot
Civil name: Tarriot Baritom Ruphus Luxe-Hamper (64)
§2,000
There will often be additional benefits.

HRH Queen (Consort) Venezia
Civil name: Venezia Dorita (Mandrake) Luxe-Hamper (56)
Relation to King Tarriot: Spouse.
Baron Sacariaz de Tartosa is her brother, married to King Tarriot's cousin, Princess Aleccandra.
§1,000

HRH Crown Princess Emireza, Princess of Heighwood
Civil name: Emireza Maria Belle Luxe-Hamper (21)
Relation to King Tarriot: 1st child
Currently a boarding school student in Windenburg. Crown Prince/ss will get paid §1,500 from age 25 (Young Adult), but can get a smaller allowance from age 20.
§500

HRH Prince Bazil
Civil name: Bazillimus Ferdinand Baltazar Luxe-Hamper (19)
Relation to King Tarriot: 2nd child
Currently a boarding school student in Windenburg. He will get paid §1,000 from age 25.
§0

HRH Prince Cecil
Civil name: Cecil Sophus Charles Luxe-Hamper (17)
Relation to King Tarriot: 3rd child
Currently a boarding school student in Windenburg. He will get paid §1,000 from age 25.
§0

HRH Prince Marcuz
Civil name: Marcuz Horus Benedict Luxe-Hamper (17)
Relation to King Tarriot: 4th child
Currently a boarding school student in StrangerVille. He will get paid §1,000 from age 25.
§0

HRH Prince Royal Blaise
Civil name: Blaise Clemet Morris Luxe-Hamper (61)
Relation to King Tarriot: Brother
Resides in Britechester.
§1,000

HH Princess Duella
Civil name: Duella (Druemann) Luxe-Hamper (66)
Relation to King Tarriot: Brother's spouse
She is married to Prince Blaise. She is daughter of the late High Judge Marquis Druemann.
§0

HH Princess Evendice
Civil name: Evendice Delleira Luxe-Hamper (25)
Relation to King Tarriot: Niece (daughter of Prince Blaise and Princess Duella)
§0

HH Prince Marquis
Civil name: Marquis Bent Luxe-Hamper (23)
Relation to King Tarriot: Nephew
He is son of Prince Blaise and Princess Duella.
§0

HH Prince Jerome, the Count de Tredony
Civil name: Jerome August de (Luxe-Hamper) Luminosa (67)
Relation to King Tarriot: Cousin
Resides in Tartosa.
§500

Countess Bequeenie of Tredony
Civil name: Bequeenie (de Froux, de Luxe-Hamper) de Luminosa (64)
Relation to King Tarriot: Cousin's spouse.
She is the niece of late Nancy Landgraab ad was raised in Tartosa. She married to Prince Jerome, but turned down the Princess title because the Countess title ranks higher)
§0

HH Prince Ace, the Baron de Portefino
Civil name: Ace Fernando (Luxe-Hamper) Stench (55)
Relation to King Tarriot: Cousin
Resides in Del Sol Valley.
§500

Baroness Suzi de Portefino
Civil name: Suzy Stench (42)
Relation to King Tarriot: Cousin's spouse.
She married Prince Ace. Her Baroness title has not yet been formalized by Royal Court, and she was not (yet) offered the Princess title.
§0

In addition to the Royal Family, titles and payroll, the Royal House of Luxe-Hamper is something slightly different. Not all royal persons listed here are members of the Royal House! To be a member of a House, you must be born in descending line of the current Head of House, or (as a spouse) give birth to a legit member of the house. When there is a new Head of the House, your status might drop to a secondary member, and your children will no longer be included, because they will not be born as descendants of the current Head. Prince Ace married late in life, so despite descending from a former Head of House, and himself being a member of Royal House of Luxe-Hamper as well as the Royal Family, his wife Suzi and their son are not members, because they got involved after a different branch of this family had taken over the House of Luxe-Hamper leadership. If Prince Ace had been a direct descendant of King Tarriot, his children and their mother would have become members of the house, too.

Another person, who is often seen as a member of the Royal  family, but who is actually not, is Baroness Amalia de Vert (31). She is King Tarriot's half sister, they have common father but different mothers. However, it was the king's mother, Queen Evez, who held the top position of both the House and Family. When she died, the widower, former Prince Consort Clempus, stayed a central member of the House, but his new child Amalia (and his wife) were not subjects of these two organizations. Amalia Ellice was eventually "adopted" by her older half brother and raised at the Royal Palace, but was never granted a royal title. Many will recall her as the spoiled problem child, who got her current barony to make up for a lacking past. She moved to Tartosa and founded the House of Hoffstar. Neither her husband nor their two legit children have any royal privileges, despite being the grandchildren of a former Prince Consort.

This should pretty much conclude an overview of our current Royal Family including a few extras. But these are not the only that can be on the Royal Payroll! Also the 8 high nobility peers get paid allowances. They are currently five dukes and 3 counts. Let's save those details for a future article.