Grand prince

The title grand prince or great prince (Latin: magnus princeps, Greek: megas archon) ranked in honour below king and emperor and above a sovereign prince.

Grand duke is the usual and established, though not literal, translation of these terms in English and Romance languages, which do not normally use separate words for a "prince" who reigns as a monarch (e.g. Albert II, Prince of Monaco) and a "prince" who does not reign, but belongs to a monarch's family (e.g. Prince William, Duke of Cambridge). German, Dutch, Slavic and Scandinavian languages do use separate words to express this concept, and in those languages grand prince is understood as a distinct title (for a cadet of a dynasty) from grand duke (hereditary ruler ranking below a king).

The title of grand prince was once used for the sovereign of a "grand principality". The last titular grand principalities vanished in 1917 and 1918, the territories being united into other monarchies or becoming republics. Already at that stage, the grand principalities of Lithuania, Transylvania and Finland had been for centuries under rulers of other, bigger monarchies, so that the title of grand prince was superseded by a royal title (king/tsar) or an imperial one (emperor). The last sovereign to reign whose highest title was grand prince was Ivan IV of Moscow in the 16th century, until he assumed the rank of Tsar of Russia. When Ivan IV's pre-tsarist title is referred to in English, however, it is usually as grand duke.

Grand Princess

Grand Princess is a Grand-class cruise ship owned by Princess Cruises. Built in 1998 by Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani in Monfalcone, Italy, with hull number 5956, at a cost of approximately US$450 million. She was the largest and most expensive passenger ship ever built at the time. Grand Princess was the flagship in the Princess Cruises fleet until the new Royal Princess took that title in June 2013.

Overview

Grand Princess was the first of the ''Grand''-class ships, and has a different decor scheme to her sister ships, using darker woods, and the interior decor is more similar to the smaller Sun-class ships. The cabin layout is also marginally different in the arrangement of the bathroom and the walk-in wardrobe. At a recent refit, the Movies under the Stars feature was added. When Grand Princess was launched, she featured in the Princess Cruises brochures as a "Sun" class ship; it was only with the subsequent launch of Golden Princess that the "Grand class" appeared in brochures.