Themiclesian royal family

The Themiclesian royal family (公室, qweng-stit) consists of the male-line descendants of Themiclesian monarchs that do not have independent households. Those that are part of independent households are classified under the royal clans (公生, qweng-sring).

Etymology

The term qweng-stit is written with two Mengja

Definitions

Strictly speaking, the category which best encompasses the word "royal family" in the Casaterran sense is kong-kra. Yet due to stronger familial ties in Themiclesian culture, the kong-kra effectively functions as a unit of the kong-tsok, the extended clan of royal descent. The distinction of various kra (households) was once geographic, since each branch household was likely to be assigned to a new seat, and even remoter in history they could also have been assigned to specific productive tasks, such as horse-keeping or farming. There is also the term kong-stjit (公室), which is accepted to be synonymous with gwênh-kwal (縣官). This word is roughly comparable to the body politic of the crown in Casaterran political philosophy, using the royal house as a metaphor of public institutions. Compare the phrase kong-stjit-kugh (公室告), "suit at royal house", meaning offences in which public authority comes to bear; cp. Casaterran public law, versus private law.

Royal family styles

The current system of regulating styles of the royal family, called Princely Styles (王號, wyang-hoh), dates from 1849 and replaced an older custom introduced in the 12th century. While the system resembles one of appanage, none of the styles are substantive and are granted by courtesy to a reigning monarch's (substantive) title.

Anyone who is a legitimate descendant of a reigning monarch through the male line, up to the fifth generation away (his children counting as the first), is entitled to the style of Prince (王, wyang). A legitimate child of the reigning monarch's or the Crown Prince's body is entitled to the more senior style of Grand Prince (大王, da-wyang). Additionally, the Crown Prince's heir apparent's further heir apparent is also entitled to Grand Prince; this person would be the reigning monarch's most senior great-grandchild. A person who is a legitimate grandchild of a reigning monarch (or a child through a concubine, though impossible today) may be called a Prince of the Blood (親王, tsin-wyang) in like fashion.

It should be noted that the more senior styles of imperial princes are considered social styles and, as far as being members of the royal family is concerned, carry no legal significance. A child of the sovereign will first be granted the style of Prince and subsequently be elevated to the station of Grand Prince, as the case may be, by a simple ordinance to address them as such. For example, when Grand Princess Swar's birth was gazetted a few days afterwards noting her title as Princess Swar (選王); when she turned seven, the sovereign elevated her style to Grand Princess Swar (選大王) on the gazette. A similar declaration is not made for the title of Prince of the Blood; this is done incidentally on letterheads and usually starts when the prince comes of age.

A Grand Prince takes precedence over a Prince and a Prince of the Blood in the order of precedence. Amongst the Grand Princes, the most senior is the Crown Prince's heir apparent, followed by further heir apparents in turn. The first heir apparent is called the Imperial Grand Prince (公大王, qweng-da-wyang), and his heir apparent in turn is the Heir Grand Prince (孫大王, sun-da-wyang). Upon the birth of Prince Rem in 2004, as the reigning monarch's great-great-grandchild, he obtained the new title of Great Heir Grand Prince (曾孫大王, pseng-sun-da-wyang); upon the passing of the monarch in 2016 and his father's succession as reigning monarch, Prince Rem directly became the Crown Prince without going through the intermediate titles.

The Crown Prince himself is not formally given a princely title but is socially called "The Grand Prince" (大王, da-wyang).

Other than those in the direct line of succession, the princely title will come with a description before it, which is approved by the reigning monarch on the advice of the Privy Council. Currently, there are three Grand Princes in Themiclesia:

• Grand Prince Nam-kyung (南宮大王, b. 1938), who is the eldest child and daughter of Emperor Qrirq.
• Grand Prince Ngwyat (月大王, b. 2007), eldest daughter of the Reigning Emperor.
• Grand Prince Swar (選大王, b. 2010), second daughter of the Reigning Emperor.

While the Royal Family once had hundreds of titled princes, it has contracted dramatically in the 20th. Despite his unprecedented reign, Emperor Qrirq (r. 1922 – 2016) issued only two children, while the lines from former monarchs gradually passed beyond the fifth generation from their reigning ancestors and thus dropped out of the Family, which now consists of three Grand Princes and eleven Princes. While the right to succeed does not depend on having a princely title, descent being only considered, the Family has seen a shortage of members carrying out various public functions, even during the last years of Emperor Qrirq's reign. This is a pressing consideration for the Family as the princes are all nearing what would be an appropriate age for retirement, while their children would not be part of the Family and the Grand Princesses are too young to work independently.

Royal styles

Main article: Titles of the Themiclesian monarch

Succession

The Themiclesian throne follows the rule of absolute primogeniture, which replaced male primogeniture in 2003. The change did alter the order of succession, though in more remote branches and not within the direct line that is expected to inherit the crown.

Legitimacy

Only legitimate children, born of the mother joined to the father by the Rite of Arrival (適), are permitted to inherit the throne. This excludes the children born of the monarch's other consorts and lovers, even if the mother holds a recognized position at court. The Themiclesian rule is different from many other Hemithean monarchies, in which children born of concubines and servants may inherit the throne based on their proximity in blood to their reigning father and in preference to legitimate brothers, cousins, and other collateral lines.

This rule became slightly controversial after Emperor Grui died unexpectedly at the age of 30, with a widely-acknowledged but illegitimate younger brother and a pregnancy by the Empress Hum-dar. A vocal segment of the population called for postponing the succession until Hum-dar's delivery, in the hopes that the child might be a boy, who may have a claim as the popular emperor's successor. The alternative was the 6-year-old Lord Tak-min, who by descent was a distant fourth cousin to Emperor Grui. However, jurists said that, in the law, the throne must pass to whoever the heir is at the time of the Emperor's death, and the Emperess's pregnancy cannot be recognized as an heir. With this option ruled out, there were also calls for the Emperor's half-brother to take the throne, though this came to nothing.

Official work

Pre-1886

Male members of the royal family were automatically eligible to be appointed into the civil service until the Great Reform of 1886 entirely abolished automatic eligibility in pursuit of a more professional and modern bureaucracy with fewer aristocratic overtones.

In brief, the eligibility (資, sqni) of a person is the highest class they could be appointed to, e.g. a person of the 2nd class could be appointed to anything including and under the 2nd class; however, one cannot be appointed directly to that class and must instead rise through the classes from their initial apointment (元任, mghwan-nem), which is at least four classes below their eligibility. Thus, a person eligible to the 2nd class must begin their career at the 6th class or, most often, even lower. The actual initial appointment is determined by the opinion of the Civil Service Department (尚書吏𧅝), which tests and interviews appointees who have already been granted eligibility, as well as the availability of offices at the time of appointment.

Before the Reform, the ranks to which imperial princes were automatically eligible depended on their proximity to their ruling ancestor:

• Legitimate children (by the empress-consort)—5th class
• Illegitimate children—6th class
• Grandchildren—7th class
• Great-grandchildren—8th class
• Great-great-grandchildren—9th class

Starting in the Dzei dynasty when the system above formalized, it became customary to refer to imperial princes, even in official literature, according to their initial appointment class. Thus, an emperor's legitimate children (even daughters not actually eligible to serve in office) are referred to as "5th-class prince" (五品王, ngo-prem-wyang); the illegitimate children and grandchildren were 6th-class and 7th-class princes of the blood (六品親王, ryok-prem-tsin-wyang; 七品親王, tsin-prem-tsin-wyang). Further descendants of an emperor were 8th-class and 9th-class princes respectively (八品王, prat-prem-wyang; 九品王, kyu-prem-wyang). Note that these refer only to the classes of their original offices and not their princely titles: princely titles do not have class designations.

Given the royal family's ability to identify and provide for descendants, in most historical periods there was a considerable number of princes in the bureaucracy. Some estimates place the number at several hundred in the 8th through 10th centuries. However, princes' prospects were not always good, and in fact top positions within the bureaucracy were usually within the control of the non-royal baronage and rarely passed to royal princes. In practice, only the 5th-class princes and 6th-class princes of the blood, i.e. an emperor's children, could expect to be appointed to desirable positions where promotion was likely; minor officials in the provinces and townships rarely are promoted for any reason into key positions.

Post-1886

On the occasion of Emperor Men's death in 1885, royals lost their automatic access to appointments through the eligibility system under the Reform Act of 1886; the alternative, as envisioned by Lord L'wang-men, was for royal grandchildren to be created baronets as they came of age, so that they could enter society and seek useful employment at their own initiative. A previous plan to create princes as barons in Parliament had been abandoned after the parties agreed it gave royal princes too much influence and exposed them to Parliamentary partisanship. At the end, royal grandchildren also did not receive automatic baronetcies on the grounds that they would effectively be receiving titles without any recognizable public contribution.

In 1889, the royal family agreed with a new plan from the incoming Conservative government. On the basis of their proximity to their ruling ancestors, princes received entitlements in the form of a stipend, a one-time settlement payment, or a combination of both; choosing a stipend results in the rest of the entitlement being regarded as a loan to the treasury accruing interest. With this entitlement, princes would be allowed to make investments, but only through an agent sworn to the secrecy of the true identity of the client. In practice, the agent was often a fifth-generation imperial descendant without royal status but are still known to and trusted by royalty.

The settlement of 1889 was often bemoaned by royals believing the influence of the royal family had been betrayed and voluntarily signed away by their patriarch, Emperor Gwai; in their parlance, the emperor was often maligned as Emperor Mwai or "the emperor of destruction".

Peerage

No member of the royal family is automatically entitled to a peerage; however, grants are historically common.

Female peers were, at one point, more common than male ones, since their titles could not be inherited by children through their husbands. Customarily, the eldest son of the monarch is granted a peerage, though exceptions have existed, to enable them to participate in court politics. Where a peerage is granted, the royal is assumed to have established his own household, and the peerage granted is typically a baronetcy, the lower of two grades of peers in Themiclesia. The name of the household usually, but not always, becomes the title of the peer. Hence, if Prince Rem should become Baron Rem (商君, rem-ghwa).

Management

Administration

The ceremonial governor of the royal family is the Comptroller of the House (宗正, tsung-tjêngh), who is typically a close member of the household that holds an ordinary peerage. Since ordinary peerages are only granted for public service, the Comptroller tends to be a member of the royal family that is familiar to the government, or at least governance in general. Administratively, an official is appointed to manage each household under the broader royal family. A member of the extended royal family may only marry or divorce with the permission of the Comptroller. Indirectly, this gives the modern government considerable power over the family.

Finances

Historically, non-titled members of the royal house do not have statutory income. They reside at one of several palaces and have small staffs assigned to them, through the Privy Treasury.

Family tree

The following is the family tree of all reigning monarch since Emperor ’Ei, who reigned from 1763 to 1821. Over his 59-year reign, he sired four legitimate princes from whom over 80 people are now alive in in the line of succession. The royal family only maintains accurate genealogical records for legitimate descendants up to ’Ei's grandfather, Gwits-men (r. 1632 – 1689), whose progeny now includes at least 300 people alive now.

• 1. Emperor ’Ei (b. 1744, r. 1763 – Mar. 1821)
  • Grand Princess Ku-rum
  • Crown Prince Pran (公子反, 1767 – 1820)
    • 2. Prince Ker-num (公子根臨廟, b. 1819, r. Mar. 1821)
  • 3. Emperor Krang (影廟, b. 1772, r. Apr. 1821 – 1825)
  • 4. Emperor Ngarh (獻廟, b. 1774, r. 1825 – 1849)
    • 5. Emperor Tang (璋廟, b. 1800, r. 1849 – 1857)
    • Grand Prince Ghwra-sngrar (華山大王, 1804 – 1833)
      • 6. Emperor Men (玟廟, b. 1823, r. 1857 – 1875)
        • 7. Emperor Gwai (龢廟, b. 1859, r. 1875 – 1906)
      • 8. Emperor Lem (藤廟, b. 1838, r. 1906 – 1910)
    • Grand Prince Grir (圓大王, b. 1811
      • 9. Emperor Qlek (式廟, b. 1837, r. 1910 – 1912)
      • 10. Emperor Qhwing (觪廟, b. 1840, r. 1912 – 1913)
      • Prince Pek-sngrar (北山王 1840 – 1902)
        • Prince Tung-ning (冬年王 1865 – 1898)
          • 11. Emperor Grul (懷廟, b. 1889 r. 1913 – 1921)
            • Grand Princess Kats (股大王, 1912 – 2000)
  • Grand Prince Rang (良大王, 1780 – 1852)
    • Prince Nu-men (瑙紋王 1805 – 1857)
      • Prince Dzi (蔡王, 1829 – 1870)
      • Prince Tup-mer (對海王, 1834 – 1900)
        • Princess Ter (貞王, 1855 – 1940)
        • Princess Ta-kit (都計王, 1860 – 1877)
        • Prince Gwen (袞王, 1860 – 1905)
          • Princess Tak-put (襗般王, 1884 – 1934)
          • Prince Neng (仍王, 1887 – 1920)
            • 12. Emperor Q'rirq (顯廟, b. 1918, r. 1923 – 2016)
              • Crown Prince Qhruh (公子孝, 1937 – 2014)
                • Grand Princess Lwang (同大王, b. 1966)
                • Crown Prince Tam (談公大王, 1967 – 2008)
                  • 13. Reigning Sovereign (今上, b. 1989, r. 2016)
              • Grand Princess Nem-kung (南宮大王, b. 1939)
          • Prince Ding (城王, 1890 – 1992)
            • Prince Sin-ding (新城王, 1913 – 1997)
      • Prince Gwrin (權王, 1840 – 1882)
      • Princess Ten-tyat (珍王, 1841 – 1913)
        • Prince Lak (奪王, 1866 – 1930)
          • Prince Tung (董王, 1890 – 1971)
  • Grand Princess Dzi (柴大王, 1781 – 1840)
  • Grand Princess Krak (客大王, 1782 – 1833)

See also

• Themiclesia