The current, legal usage of the style in the German-speaking countries is confined to the
Princely Family of Liechtenstein, the entirety of which bears the treatment. The German term is , a translation of the
Latin . This is usually translated into English as
Serene Highness, however, it would be more literal to translate it as
superior to, above, beyond or greater than illustrious, as it is an augmentation of ("
Illustrious Highness"), which was accorded to
immediate counts () of the
Holy Roman Empire and by
mediatised counts of the
German Confederation and the
German Empire. The 1911 edition of the
Encyclopædia Britannica wryly observes that a perfectly logical English version might be "Your Transparency". In 1375, Emperor
Charles IV bestowed the nobiliary style upon the seven
Prince-electors designated by the
Golden Bull of 1356. As from 1664, Emperor
Leopold I vested all
Imperial Princes with the title, it became so common that the Electors like the
Archdukes of
Austria began to use the superlative address . In the German Empire, the style of
Serene Highness was usually held by princes of lower rank than those who were entitled to
Highness (exceptions were the
Wettin cadets of the
Ernestine duchies),
Grand Ducal Highness,
Royal Highness, and
Imperial Highness. Therefore, if a woman entitled to the treatment of
Royal Highness married a man who was addressed only as
Serene Highness, the woman usually retained her pre-marital style. In 1905, Emperor
Franz Joseph I of Austria granted the style of to members of virtually every family which had held the title of prince in the former Holy Roman Empire, even if the family had never exercised
sovereignty. In the
German and
Austrian empires of the 19th and 20th centuries, the style
Serene Highness was also officially borne by: •
Cadet branches of the sovereign
Ernestine dukes (i.e.,
Saxe-Altenburg,
Saxe-Meiningen,
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha); • Reigning of the small German
realms which survived the collapse of the
Holy Roman Empire; •
Hohenzollern (yielded sovereignty to Hohenzollern kinsman, the
King of Prussia, in 1848) •
Lippe •
Reuss •
Schaumburg-Lippe •
Schwarzburg •
Waldeck and Pyrmont •
Mediatised princes (e.g.,
Fürstenberg,
Hohenlohe,
Leiningen,
Thurn und Taxis) and
dukes (e.g.,
Ratibor), and perhaps their family members; •
Morganatic princes, descended from reigning dynasties; • Other non-reigning princes of the
German nobility, but not (always) their cadets (e.g.,
Bismarck,
Carolath-Beuthen,
Pless,
Wrede). By tradition, is still attributed to the princely dynasties which were sovereign until 1917 or had been mediatised under the
Austro-Hungarian Empire and
German Confederation in 1815, although the usage has been unofficial since 1918. N.B. The highest form of (adjective) was '''''' (absolutely most serene), which was reserved only to the Emperor in his style of address: ==Hungary==