Editing Regnal number (section)

=="The first" {{anchor|The first}} ==
{{or section|date=January 2023}}
In some monarchies it is customary not to use an ordinal when there has been only one holder of that name. For example, [[Queen Victoria]] will not be called ''Victoria I'' unless there is a Victoria II. This tradition is applied in the [[United Kingdom]], [[Belgium]], [[Luxembourg]], [[Norway]] and the [[Netherlands]]. It was also applied in most of the former [[List of German monarchs|German monarchies]] and in [[List of rulers of Hungary|Hungary]].

In Sweden and in the Vatican City State, the practice is not consistent. In Sweden, [[Sigismund of Sweden|Sigismund]] and [[Adolf Frederick of Sweden|Adolf Frederick]] never have ordinals, whereas [[Frederick I of Sweden|Frederick I]] often does. In the Vatican, [[John Paul I]] used an ordinal, but [[Pope Francis|Francis]] refused to have one added to his name.

Other monarchies assign ordinals to monarchs even if they are the only ones of their name. This is a more recent invention and ''appears'' to have been done for the first time when [[Francis I of France]] issued testoons (silver coins) bearing the legend FRANCISCVS I DE. GR. FRANCORV. REX. This currently is the regular practice in [[Spain]] and [[Monaco]] (at least for Prince Albert I, as Princess Louise Hippolyte, who reigned 150 years earlier, does not appear to have used an ordinal). It was also applied in [[Brazil]], [[Greece]], [[Italy]], [[Mexico]], [[Montenegro]], [[Portugal]] (where Kings [[Joseph I of Portugal|Joseph]], [[Luís I of Portugal|Louis]] and [[Carlos I of Portugal|Charles]] are usually referred to as "Joseph I", "Louis I" and "Charles I" although there has not yet been any Joseph II, Louis II or Charles II, but Kings [[Denis of Portugal|Denis]], [[Edward, King of Portugal|Edward]], [[Sebastian of Portugal|Sebastian]] and [[Henry, King of Portugal|Henry]] are usually referred without the ordinal). The ordinal for King [[Juan Carlos I of Spain]] is used in both [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and English, but he is sometimes simply called King Juan Carlos of Spain in English. In [[Russia]], use of "The First" ordinal started with [[Paul I of Russia]]. Before him, neither [[Anna of Russia]] nor [[Elizabeth of Russia]] had the "I" ordinal. In [[Ethiopia]], Emperor [[Haile Selassie]] used the "I" ordinal ({{langx |gez|ቀዳማዊ}}, ''qädamawi'') although previous Ethiopian monarchs had not used it, and they are not referred as "the first" unless there were successors of the same name.

The Catholic [[papacy]] used the ordinal I under [[Pope John Paul I]], but early popes who are the only ones to have reigned under a certain name are not referred to as "the first" (for instance, Peter the Apostle; his immediate successor, [[Pope Linus]], as well as [[Pope Anacletus]], are referred to without an ordinal). The most recent, [[Pope Francis]] (2013–2025), declined the use of an ordinal, but his Orthodox counterpart, [[Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople]], uses one, as does [[Aram I]], the [[catholicos]] of the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]].

In [[Austrian Empire|Austria]], Emperors [[Francis I of Austria|Francis]], [[Ferdinand I of Austria|Ferdinand]], [[Francis Joseph I of Austria|Francis Joseph]] and [[Charles I of Austria|Charles]] all styled themselves as "the first" although all were the only Emperors of Austria with those names. Three of those names were previously the names of Austrian Archdukes (the Archduchy of Austria was a state within the Holy Roman and the Austrian Empires), which makes three of these emperors Francis II, Ferdinand V, and Charles IV in their capacity as Archdukes. Francis Joseph was the first Austrian Archduke of that name.

The use of "The First" ordinal is also common to self-proclaimed ephemeral "kings" or "emperors", such as [[Napoleon|Napoleon I]] in [[France]]; [[Jean-Jacques Dessalines|Dessalines]], [[Henri Christophe|Christophe]] and [[Faustin I of Haiti|Soulouque]] in [[Haiti]]; [[Agustín de Iturbide|Iturbide]] in [[Mexico]]; [[Zog of Albania|Zog]] in [[Albania]]; [[Jean-Bédel Bokassa|Bokassa]] in the [[Central African Empire]]; [[Boris Skossyreff|Skossyreff]] in [[Andorra]]; [[Theodore of Corsica|Theodore]] in [[Corsica]]; and [[Emperor Norton|"Emperor" Norton]] in [[San Francisco]]. In those cases, they wanted to emphasize the change of regime they introduced or attempted to introduce.