Princess
Who are They?
Princess is the title given to the Leader of a Provincial Senate.
Title: Etymology
There is a belief that the title given to the Leader of a Provincial Senate was originally “Provincess” but that some figurative princess decided she wanted to be an actual princess and removed some of the letters from her title. This is most likely nothing more than a rural myth or a fanciful embellishment to some Wanderers’ tale but, like all myths, perhaps there is a grain of truth in there somewhere.
Title: Usage and Alternatives
Although one might regard “Princess” as a feminine title, it is (or would be) applied to all such office holders regardless of gender; there are no alternative titles for this office.
When referring to a particular Princess, the title is prepended to their normally used given name, for example: Princess Victoria or Princess Trudi. In formal usage it, along with the name of the province they lead, would be appended to their given name, for example: Gertrude: Princess of Wessex. Usually, a Princess’s given name will be decorated with any other title they may hold, for example: Hana the Wanderer: Princess of Bohemia.
In common with all political titles, a Princess loses her title once she has left office. However, when referring to a former Princess in an historical context the title is generally used even where it is not particularly relevant. Where it is (or becomes) necessary to distinguish between individuals who had the same name, then full names are used in the title: <Given Name> <Family Name>: Princess of <Province> or even <Given Name> <Middle Name> <Family Name>: Princess of <Province>. It is not unknown for a Princess in office to change or assume a middle name in order to facilitate her unique historial identification. The concept of using ordinal numbers as identifiers (as might be the case with, say, royalty on Earth) is unknown on Calmarendi, so our Vicki is never going to be known as Princess Victoria the Fourth, for example.
Prerequisites
Age Qualification
The standard public office age qualification of twenty-one at the date of election applies to the role of Princess.
Gender
It is generally assumed that one must be female to assume the role of Princess but this is nowhere written down and is entirely unenforceable. There has, nevertheless, been no recorded instance of a Princess being elected who did not identify as female.
Route to Appointment
The usual processes, rules and regulations regarding the election of any Council Leader apply to the election of a Princess.
See: Commonalities of Government → Council Leadership
Tenure
The office of Princess has life tenure although all the normal conditions for early termination apply and it would be unusual for a Princess to remain in office into her dotage. After leaving office, an out-going Princess may opt to become an Honorary Provincial Senator as would be usual for an out-going council leader at any level.
Roles and Responsibilities
All the usual leader stuff except, of course, a Princess has no superior council to become a member of ex-officio. Each Princess is however, ex-officio, a member of the Board of the Great Western Railway, a position that some might argue is the most important role a Princess has.
On this latter point, some would argue that the position of Princess is utterly redundant without the onward representational role and, as with all tiers of governance, ceremonial representation of the Province falling within the remit of the Speaker makes this even more so. In evidence, we may look at the Province of Bohemia which, during the time Jennifer is on Calmarendi, appears to function perfectly well with an absentee Princess while Hana roams the land fulfilling her destiny as a Ranger and, before that, without a Princess at all while they waited for Hana to come of age.
Miscellaneous Benefits and Privileges
- An official residence. This can vary from the modest (albeit penthouse) apartment in a government office building afforded to the Princess of Victoria to the palatial splendour of Hampton Court occupied by the Princess of Eden.
- An official train - a home on wheels - one for each Princess, available for both official and private travel.
- A 90xx Princess Class Locomotive is named in honour of every new Princess. It will continue to carry that name for at least the lifetime of the person even after she has left office. Official GWR policy is that the locomotive will still continue to carry the name even if her namesake left office in disgrace or dishonour. Although it has not happened in recent times, public opinion has, in some such cases, manifested itself in a refusal by passengers to travel on any train she hauls, resulting in the locomotive being either relegated to freight duties (to which the class is unsuited) or quietly retired to await overhaul or rebuilding.
- A working, live steam, one-tenth scale replica of said locomotive is presented to each new Princess.
Ceremonies and Rituals
There is an Inauguration Ceremony which usually takes place a few days or weeks after the election of a new Princess but this is purely symbolic; a Princess assumes the full set of rights and responsibilities from the moment she is elected.
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