Crown Prince

A Crown Prince or Crown Princess stands first in line to succeed to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. In Europe, lineal succession[?] conventions (see for example Salic law) usually dictate that the eldest child (as in Sweden, Belgium) or the eldest son of the current monarch (United Kingdom, Spain, The Netherlands, etc) fills this role, but in Arab monarchies, for example, succession rules may differ and a Crown Prince may gain the title on merit, or because someone is not seen as a threat to the reign of the current monarch; in such cases a person granted the title may also lose it, with it being granted to another member of the Royal Family.

Compare Heir Apparent and Heir Presumptive.

Special titles often attach to a Crown Prince, such as:

• Dauphin (France)
• Prince of Asturias (Spain)
• Duke of Cornwall (England - automatically by birth to a reigning monarch, or by the accession to the throne of their parent)
• Duke of Rothesay (Scotland - held post 1707 by the heir to the British throne in Scotland)
• Prince of Wales (granted to their oldest son by the reigning British monarch)
• Prince of Orange (House of Orange-Nassau) (The Netherlands)
• Duke of Brabant[?] (Belgium)
• Duke of Calabria[?] (Kingdom of the Two Sicilies[?])
• Prince Imperial[?] (Napoleonic France)
• Prince of Piedmont[?] (House of Savoy) (Italy)
• Tsarevich[?] (Russia)