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Grand prince or great prince (feminine: grand princess or great princess) (; ; ; ; ) is a hereditary title, used either by certain monarchs or by members of certain monarchs' families.
Grand duke is the usual and established, though not literal, translation of these terms in English and , which do not normally use separate words for a "prince" who 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 George of Wales). Some Slavic (Królewicz), Germanic, Dutch, 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 branch of a dynasty) from grand duke (hereditary ruler ranking below a king). Some recent sources also use Archduke.
The title of grand prince was once used for the sovereign of a grand principality. The last pro forma grand principalities vanished in 1917 and 1918, the territories being united into other monarchies or becoming . 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and Finland had been for centuries under rulers of other, bigger monarchies, so that the title of grand prince was superseded by the titles "king" and "emperor" there. Ivan IV of Moscow in the 16th century was the last sovereign to reign whose highest title was velikiy knyaz, until he assumed the rank of Tsar. "Velikiy knyaz" is a Russian title that is often translated as "grand prince" because there are no better equivalents in European languages. When Ivan IV's pre-tsarist title is referred to in English, however, it is usually as grand duke.
Velikiy knyaz is also a Russian courtesy title for members of the family of the Russian tsar (from the 17th century), although the people who held this title were not sovereigns.
In the 1090s, Vukan became the veliki župan in Raška (Rascia). Stefan Nemanja expelled his brother Tihomir in 1168 and assumed the title of veliki župan, as described in the Charter of Hilandar (). A Latin document used mega iupanus for King Stefan the First-Crowned (). Afterwards, it was a high noble rank with notable holders such as Altoman Vojinović ( 1335–59).
The Holy Roman Empire ruling house of Habsburg instituted a similar Grand Principality in Transylvania ( Siebenburgen) in 1765.
After the Russian conquests, the title continued to be used by the Russian emperor in his role as ruler of Lithuania (1793–1918) and of autonomous Finland (1809–1917) as well. His titulary included, among other titles: "Grand Duke of Smolensk, Volynia, Podolia", "Lord and Grand Duke of Nizhni Novgorod, Chernigov" etc.
A more literal translation of the Russian title than grand duke would be great prince — especially in the pre-Petrine era — but the term is neither standard nor widely used in English. In German, however, a Russian Grand Duke was known as a Großfürst, in Swedish as a Storfurste and in Latin as Magnus Princeps.
Grand prince remained as a dynastic title for the senior members of the Romanov dynasty in Russia's imperial era. The title Velikiy Knyaz, its use finally formalized by Alexander III, then belonged to children and male-line grandchildren of the emperors of Russia. The daughters and paternal granddaughters of the emperors used a different version of the title (Великая Княжна, Velikaya Knyazhna) from females who obtained it as the consorts of Russian grand princes (Великие Княгини, Velikie Knyagini). In modern times a Russian Grand Duke or Grand Duchess is styled Imperial Highness.
The title grand prince was also used for the heir apparent to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
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