Pope Francis’s inauguration mass in Rome today was a good opportunity to observe one of the intricacies of papal etiquette, namely what is known as le privilège du blanc (the privilege of white).
Women are generally expected to wear black in the presence of the Pope, although not all follow this guideline (for instance, Queen Margrethe wore grey last time she visited the Vatican). But since an unknown date there has been an exception made for the wives of Catholic kings, who have been allowed to wear white in the Pope’s presence.
In former days, this included the Empress of Austria-Hungary as well as the queens of France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Bavaria, Belgium and Poland (but apparently not the Queen of Saxony, probably because the country did not share the royal family’s Catholic faith), but after the disapperance of most European monarchies the privilege of white today extends only to the Queens of Belgium and Spain, the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and female captains regent (i.e. heads of state) of San Marino.
Other female members of royal families (except Italian princesses, I believe) and Catholic wives of Protestant monarchs (such as Máxima of the Netherlands will be when her husband ascends the Dutch throne on 30 April) do not have the privilege, which also does not extend to the wives of sovereign princes. Or at least it did not do so until recently.
While her mother-in-law, Princess Grace, always wore black when meeting popes, Princess Charlène of Monaco wore white when she and Sovereign Prince Albert II were received in an audience by Pope Benedict XVI on 12 January this year. The Vatican Press Office subsequently stated that “in accordance with prescribed ceremonial of the Vatican for Catholic sovereigns, the princess was allowed to dress in white”.
However, Princess Charlène wore black at the inauguration today, and the Princess of Liechtenstein was not present, so it seems unclear whether the privilege has really been extended to the wives of Catholic sovereign princes. The Queen of Spain was also absent, but the Queen of the Belgians and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg both wore white.
However, it might also be noted that there have been occasions when ladies enjoying the le privilège du blanc have chosen not to make use of it, the most recent example I can think of being the late Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, who wore black the last time she and Grand Duke Jean were received by Pope John Paul II before the Grand Duke’s abdication in 2000.
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Does the privilege extend to Catholic female monarchs?
ReplyDeleteI would think it does. The most recent example would be Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, but the only photo I could find of her with a pope right now showed her dressed in black when John Paul II visited Luxembourg in 1985. But then she was obviously no longer monarch and they were not in the Vatican.
DeleteThanks! I suppose the question has not often arisen, given that most of the Catholic monarchies you mentioned followed Salic or semi-Salic succession laws.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. But there would be some other examples: Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde of Luxembourg and Queen Isabel II of Spain, for instance. But I am not sure when this point of etiquette was introduced, and it might be that not all got it at the same time. For instance I recall a photo of the Belgian royal family in the Vatican in 1930, where Queen Elisabeth is dressed in black.
DeleteVery interesting post! After looking at the pictures, i wondered why two ladies wore white and others did not. Thanks for clearing this up:)
ReplyDeleteEmpress Zita also wore black on an audience with Pope John Paul II... whether because of her widowhood, etiquette of the Roman Curia or expired privilege on account of not being the wife of a reigning catholic monarch any longer one couldn't say.
ReplyDeleteThe wives of the pretenders to the thrones of France, Portugal, etc. have not been afforded the privilege.
Does anyone have images or reports of the privilege extending to all Italian Princesses? For the Papal Coronation of Pius XII in 1939, the then Crown Princess Maria Jose of Italy did wear white - but wonder if it was because she was due to be queen-consort of Italy as wife of the Crown Prince or because the privilege extended to all the other principessas?
Thanks for adding the information about ex-Empress Zita. I believe she always wore black after the death of her husband in 1922, so I think that explains her choice when meeting the Pope.
DeleteMore difficult to explain is that there is a photo of the Belgian royal family in the Vatican for the 1930 wedding of Princess Marie José to Prince Umberto, and not only Princess Astrid, but also Queen Elisabeth wears black.
I see that the Wikipedia article on this topic has now been rather extensively updated, and it says that the current Princess of Naples wore white for a papal audience in 2003, which I suppose can be explained by her being the wife of the pretender to the Italian throne. But it also says that Princess Maria wore white in 1939, Marie José in 1930, Giovanna in 1929 and Maria in 1929. (Due to the conflict between the Papacy and the Italian royal family, which was only solved in 1929, I would imagine that the Savoys did not enjoy the privilege before that date).