Excellency
Excellency is an honorific style given to certain high-level officers of a sovereign state, officials of an international organization, or members of an aristocracy.
For example, in the case of Australia, all ambassadors, high commissioners, state governors and the governor-general and their spouses are entitled to the use of Excellency.
For example, in Spain spouses or children of a born infante or infanta are addressed as Excellency, if not accorded a higher style.
Likewise, Count Carl Johan Bernadotte of Wisborg, who lost his succession rights to the Swedish throne and discontinued use of his royal titles in 1946 when he married the commoner Elin Kerstin Margaretha Wijkmark, was accorded the style.
In the subnational monarchy Sultanate of Sulu, senior nobility and holders of royal offices that are granted the title of Datu Sadja are referred to as His/Her Excellency.
[7] By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Ceremonial of 31 December 1930[8] the Holy See granted bishops of the Catholic Church the title of Most Reverend Excellency or Excellentia Reverendissima in Latin.
In the years following the First World War, the ambassadorial title of Excellency, previously given to nuncios, had already begun to be used by other Catholic bishops.
The instruction Ut sive sollicite of the Holy See's Secretariat of State, dated 28 March 1969, made the addition of Most Reverend optional,[9] sanctioning what had always been the practice, except possibly for the beginnings of letters and the like.
In Afghanistan the title Jalalat Mahab is used for Sardars, or Princes of the former Muhammadzai Dynasty, who are descendants of the Afghan King Sultan Mohammed Khan Telai.
In Bangladesh the president, prime minister, chief adviser,[10] the speaker of the Parliament and international diplomats are styled with His/Her Excellency.
In 1991, the Brazilian Presidential Office issued a composition manual to establish the appropriate usage of the Portuguese language for all government agencies.
His/Her Excellency, a custom dating from the ancient times wherein the Samrāt and Sāmrājñi (सम्राट, साम्राज्ञी/Emperor, Empress), Generals, Kings, Ambassadors were addressed.
However the Constitution makers[clarification needed] approved will discontinue "ancient era" styles of Mahāmahim.
Like many countries that once formed part of the Ottoman Empire, His/Her Excellency is used as the style for those with the title of Bey or Pasha.
Those styled this way include government ministers, senior military officers, and the husbands and children of Princesses.
[15] The style is also used for the executive officers of the Dutch royal court (great officers of the Royal House, hofmarschall, equerries), governors of the constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten), ambassadors (both foreign ambassadors in the Netherlands and Dutch ambassadors to other countries), judges of the International Court of Justice, and flag- and general officers of three-star rank and above (generals, lieutenant-generals, lieutenant-admirals, and vice-admirals).
Moreover, within the Catholic Church in the Netherlands, the (arch-)bishops and (pro-)nuntia are referred to as "His Most Reverend Excellency" (i.e. in Dutch as Zijne Hoogwaardige Excellentie).
After assuming office in June 2016, he ordered that the title, along with all honorifics, be dropped from official communications, events, and materials but instead, he be addressed only as "Mayor" since people are already used to calling him as such due to Duterte being the longest-serving mayor of Davao City and that his cabinet officials only be addressed as "Secretary".
[16] However, despite the prior unofficial abandonment, the president continues to be addressed as "Excellency" in formal correspondences and petitions, either verbally or written.
All other local and national government officials are styled "The Honorable"; both titles, however, may be glossed in Filipino as Ang Kagalang-galang.
[28] In the English language, the president and the vice-president, cabinet ministers, ambassadors, and some other high-ranking bureaucrats are addressed as Excellency.
In the United States, the form Excellency was commonly used for George Washington during his service as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and later when president of the United States, but it began to fall out of use with his successor John Adams, and today is sometimes replaced in direct address with the simple Mr. President or the Honorable.
Nevertheless, in the protocol of many foreign countries and United Nations, the president and the secretary of state are usually referred to as Excellency.
Diplomatic correspondence to President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War, as during the Trent Affair, for instance, frequently addressed him as Your Excellency.
The form Excellency was used for the governors of most of the original Thirteen Colonies, and the practice formally continued after independence.
[30] Though the U.S. president and U.S. ambassadors are traditionally accorded the style elsewhere, the U.S. government does not usually use Excellency for its own chiefs of missions, preferring Honorable instead.
