countess:
(plural: ‘countesses‘; pronunciation: the letter ‘c’ is said with a ‘k’ sound)
Countess Walewska, mistress of Napoleon
the title given to the wife or widow of a ‘count’ in Europe (Britain not included);
the wife or widow of an ‘earl’ in England;
a woman of noble birth who holds the title in her own right,
Countess Launn De Lesseps, the ex-wife of Count Alex De Lesseps
Currently Countess Launn De Lesseps is in the news headlines because her husband, Count Alex De Lesseps, has asked for her divorce because he is seeing another woman a princess from Ethiopia.
The hierarchy of the British royalty is so complicated that one needs to learn by-heart which lady or whose wife in the royal family is a duchess, a countess or a princess!
As is the case with any noble titles in Europe, excluding Britain, the title of a countess is just a title which does not carry any legal rights or privileges but can be used in any social activities to give some glamour to the person who holds the title.
The list showing the order of the peerage, the order of social rank other than the true royal family, i.e. kings and queens, in Europe:
Male ________________ female
duke duchess
marquess/marquis marchioness
earl countess
count countess
viscount viscountess
baron baroness
baronet
*A ‘peer’, in this context, is a noble man of high social rank; and a ‘peeress’ is a noble woman of high social rank.
for an article on the title of Middleton, the wife of Prince William of Great Britain, please click here, and for an article on an ordinary woman becoming a countess after marrying a count (now divorced), please click here, and please click here to go to the countess’s website with a video.
