Your Highness?

I saw this show last night about British Royalty and I have a question that they didn't answer in it; Who decided to call royal people "Your Highness"? Isn't that a strange thing to call someone? I'm sure it has to do with putting them above 'ordinary' people. It just sounds funny.

When I was younger we had a friend we called 'highness' but it wasn't because he was royalty. It was because he always seemed to be high on something. Obviously, I'm sure the royal family isn't called highness for the same reason. Well, who knows about that Prince Harry guy. He seems to like to cut loose a bit.

I think I'd get annoyed if someone was calling me highness. That just seems like a weird thing to say. "Hey there Highness!" That seems pretty close to "Hey there Hiney!" Can't they just say Prince or Princess or Queen? OK, Prince was taken by a much more famous guy. Maybe that wouldn't work so well. Oh, and Princess these days is a bit of an insult whether it's a male or female being addressed. Ok. Hmm... and calling someone a Queen can get you into trouble too. Maybe I'm seeing a trend here. Maybe being called "Your Highness" isn't actually a compliment? Maybe it's one of those snide things they say and then snicker after.

I think they should just call them cool things like "Charles the Cheater", "Harry the Wilder" or "Michael the Boring". How about "Your Stuffiness" for the Queen? She seems a bit of a drag to hang with.

I think it's obvious that I don't get the whole royal family idea. It's also more obvious that I'll never be invited to dinner at the royal palace. I guess they call me "YB the Uninvited". Oh well. ;)