A Crown Prince or Crown Princess stands first in line to succeed to the throne in a royal or imperial monarchy. In Europe, lineal succession conventions (see for example Salic law) usually dictate that the eldest child (as in Sweden, Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands) or the eldest son of the current monarch (United Kingdom, Spain, etc) fills this role, but in Arab monarchies, for example, succession rules may differ and a Crown Prince may gain the title on merit, or because someone is not seen as a threat to the reign of the current monarch; in such cases a person granted the title may also lose it, with it being granted to another member of the Royal Family.
Compare Heir Apparent and Heir Presumptive.
It should however be noted that, although it is often used as a generic term for heir apparent, it is seldomly an official title in the European monarchies. Currently, only the heirs to the Scandinavian monarchies officially bear the title. Instead, many monarchies use special titles
- Dauphin (France)
- Prince of Asturias (Spain)
- Duke of Cornwall (England - automatically by birth to a reigning monarch, or by the accession to the throne of their parent)
- Duke of Rothesay (Scotland - held post 1707 by the heir to the British throne in Scotland)
- Duke of Braganza (title of the Portuguese heir after 1640 to present day)
- Prince of Wales (granted to their oldest son by the reigning British monarch)
- Prince of Orange (House of Orange-Nassau) (The Netherlands)
- Duke of Brabant (Belgium)
- Duke of Calabria (Kingdom of the Two Sicilies)
- Prince Imperial (Napoleonic France)
- Tsesarevich (Russia)
