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A style used in addressing or referring to an ambassador or high commissioner (though today ‘ambassador/high commissioner’, sometimes prefixed by an indication of gender, is more common). When used referentially, it is prefixed by ‘his’ or ‘her’. Originally intended only for the ambassadors of crowned heads of state, in the nineteenth century its use as regards ambassadors became general. In the twentieth century ministers (sense 1) began to press for the style to be used with regard to them. It is for a receiving state to determine official usage within its jurisdiction, and practice varied. It was accorded to ministers in Latin American states (where the style ‘excellency’ was already distributed with a generous hand), and in Britain and some Commonwealth states, but South Africa resisted this instance of title creep (worrying, among other things, about the impact it might have on its domestic order of precedence). In the United States ministers were called ‘the honourable’, not ‘excellency’. High commissioners were accorded the style ‘excellency’ only after 1948, when it was decided that henceforth they would rank alongside ambassadors. With the general upgrading of legations to embassies at the middle of the century, the pressure for ministers to enjoy stylistic equality with ambassadors died a natural death. As already implied, high-ranking persons outside the world of diplomacy (sense 1), such as heads of state and government or government ministers, are also often accorded the style ‘excellency’. |
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