Imperial and Royal

The phrase Imperial and Royal (German: kaiserlich und königlich, pronounced [ˈkaɪzɐlɪç ʔʊnt ˈkøːnɪklɪç])[a] refers to the court/government of the Habsburgs in a broader historical perspective.

During that period, it indicated that the Habsburg monarch reigned simultaneously as the Kaiser (Emperor of Austria) and as the König (King of Hungary), while the two territories were joined in a real union (akin to a two-state federation in this instance).

The name "Imperial-Royal Army" was used from 1745, as "Royal" referred to the Apostolic Kingdom of Hungary, which was not part of the Holy Roman Empire, but under Habsburg rule.

[5] After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the Hungarians insisted on the und ('and'), not the hyphen, in all usage in line with the new autonomous status of the kingdom within the Habsburg lands.

Use of the phrase Kaiserlich und königlich was decreed in a letter written by the Emperor on October 17, 1889[6] for the military, the navy and the institutions shared by both parts of the empire.