Coronet

In other languages, this distinction is not made, and usually the same word for crown is used irrespective of rank (German: Krone, Dutch: Kroon, Swedish: Krona, French: Couronne, Italian: Corona, etc.)

A Coronet is another type of crown, but is reserved for the lower ranks of nobility like Marquesses and Marchionesses, Earls and Countesses, Barons and Baronesses, and some Lords and Ladies.

Similar depictions of crowns of rank (German: Rangkronen) are used in continental heraldry, but physical headgear has never been made to imitate them.

Traditionally, such headgear is used by nobles and by princes and princesses in their coats of arms, rather than by monarchs, for whom the word 'crown' is customarily reserved in English, while many languages have no such terminological distinction.

As a coronet shows the rank of the respective noble, in the German and Scandinavian languages there is also the term rangkrone (literally 'rank crown').

Such coronets were made according to regulations instituted by King Charles II in 1661, shortly after his return from exile in France (getting a taste for its lavish court style; Louis XIV started monumental work at Versailles that year).

Charles III opted against the use of coronets at his coronation in 2023, for both members of the Royal Family and peers, but he did not abolish the tradition.

[2] In the peerages of the United Kingdom, the design of a coronet shows the rank of its owner, as in German, French and various other heraldic traditions.

Some distinguished families held a title no higher than count or even baron, but were proud of their ancient origin.

As a result, the title of duc was actually, as well as nominally, at the top of the scale after the royal family and foreign princes, and a cut above all of the other nobility.

The Holy Roman Empire, and consequently its successor states (Austria, Germany and others), had a system very similar to that of the British, although the design varied.

Considering the religious nature of the Holy Roman Empire, one can say that, except for the short-lived Napoleonic states, no continental secular system of heraldry historically was so neatly regulated as under the British crown.

Still, there are often traditions (often connected to the Holy Roman Empire, e.g., those in Sweden, Denmark or Russia) that include the use of crown and coronets.