PRINCE, PRINCERS, in polity, a person invested with the supreme command of a state, and independent of any superior.
PRINCE likewise denotes a person who is a sovereign in his own territories, yet holds of some other as his superior. Such are the princes of Germany, who, though absolute in their respective principalities, are bound to the emperor in certain services.
PRINCE also denotes the issue of princes, or those of the royal family. In France, before the Revolution, they were called "princes of the blood," and during the short continuance of the constitution of 1791, "French princes." In England the king's children are called "sons and daughters of England;" the eldest son is created Prince of Wales; the cadets are created dukes or earls, as the king pleases; and the title of all the children is "royal highness."