Editing Regnal number (section)

==Examples of monarchical ordinals==

Monarchs with the same given name are distinguished by their ordinals:
* Kings [[Umberto I]] and [[Umberto II]] of [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]]
* Empresses [[Catherine I]] and [[Catherine II]] of [[Russian Empire|Russia]]
* Princes [[Rainier II, Lord of Monaco|Rainier II]] and [[Rainier III]] of [[Monaco]]
* [[Pope]]s [[Benedict XV]] and [[Benedict XVI]]

Ordinals may also apply where a ruler of one realm and a ruler of that realm's [[successor state]] share the same name:
* Queens [[Elizabeth I]] of England and [[Elizabeth II]] of the United Kingdom
* Kings [[Alfonso XI]] of Castile and [[Alfonso XII]] of Spain
* Kings [[Victor Emmanuel I]] of Sardinia and [[Victor Emmanuel II]] of Italy
* Kings [[Peter I of Serbia|Peter I]] of Serbia and [[Peter II of Yugoslavia|Peter II]] of Yugoslavia

=== Double names ===
Practice varies where monarchs go by two or more [[given name]]s. For [[Swedish monarchs]], the ordinal qualifies only the first name; for example, [[Gustav&nbsp;VI&nbsp;Adolf]], known as "Gustav Adolf", was the sixth Gustav/Gustaf, but the third Gustav Adolf.  By contrast, the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] was ruled in turn by [[Frederick I of Prussia|Friedrich&nbsp;I]], [[Frederick William I of Prussia|Friedrich&nbsp;Wilhelm&nbsp;I]], [[Frederick II of Prussia|Friedrich&nbsp;II]], and [[Frederick William II of Prussia|Friedrich&nbsp;Wilhelm&nbsp;II]]; and later by [[Wilhelm I of Prussia|Wilhelm&nbsp;I]].  Likewise [[Pope John Paul I]], who chose his double name to honour predecessors [[John XXIII]] and [[Paul VI]], and was succeeded by [[John Paul II]].

=== Ordinals for non-reigning royalty ===
In any case, it is usual to count only the monarchs or heads of the family, and to number them sequentially up to the end of the dynasty.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} A notable exception to this rule is the [[Germany|German]] [[House of Reuss]]. This family has the particularity that every male member during the last eight centuries was named Heinrich, and all of them, not only the head of the family, were numbered. While the members of the elder branch were numbered in order of birth until the extinction of the branch in 1927,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bradshaw |first=George|page=114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vGUDAAAAQAAJ&dq=reuss+numbering&pg=PA114 |title=Bradshaw's illustrated hand-book to Germany|edition=Issue 1 |date=1867 |language=en}}</ref> the members of the younger line were (and still are) numbered in sequences that began and ended roughly as centuries began and ended.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Meaney |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nj3kEAAAQBAJ&dq=reuss+heinrich+regnal+number&pg=PT285 |title=Granta 165: Deutschland |date=2023-11-23 |publisher=Granta |isbn=978-1-909889-60-6 |language=en}}</ref> This explains why the current (since 2012) head of the Reuss family is called Heinrich XIV, his late father Heinrich IV and his sons Heinrich XXIX and Heinrich V.

It is rare, but some German princely families number all males whether head of the family or not; for example, [[Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg]] was preceded as [[Prince of Pless]] by Hans Heinrich XI and succeeded by Hans Heinrich XVII; the ordinals XII, XIII, XIV, and XVI were borne by von Hochbergs who were not Prince of Pless. Similarly for the [[House of Reuss]], where all men were numbered Heinrichs and some were reigning Princes of [[Principality of Reuss-Gera|Reuss-Gera]] or [[Principality of Reuss-Greiz|Reuss-Greiz]].

[[Pretender]]s and rulers of formerly deposed dynasties are often given regnal numbers ''as if non-reigning pretenders had actually ruled''. For example [[Louis XVIII]] of France took a regnal number that implicitly asserts that [[Louis XVII]] had been king, though he never reigned; his pretendership was during the [[First French Republic]]. A similar case is that of [[Napoleon III]] whose regnal number implicitly asserts a ruling [[Napoleon II]]. Louis XVIII numbered his [[regnal year]] from the death of Louis XVII, something Napoleon III never did.