The Longest Title of a Spanish Monarch

Back in the days of kings and queens, rulers loved collecting fancy titles the way some people collect trading cards. They got them through family inheritance, winning battles, marrying into powerful families, or signing important deals. These title lists, called titulary, could get super long — longer than any Instagram bio you’ve ever seen.

Take Queen Isabella II, for example. Her official title wasn’t just “Queen of Spain.” Nope, it was a giant mouthful that went something like:

“Isabella II, by the Grace of God, Queen of Castile, León, Aragón, the Two Sicilies, Jerusalem, Navarre, Granada, Toledo, Valencia, Galicia, Majorca, Seville, Sardinia, Córdoba, Corsica, Murcia, Menorca, Jaén, the Algarves, Algeciras, Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, the East and West Indies, and the Islands and Mainland of the Ocean Sea… plus Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Burgundy, Brabant, Milan, and Aspurg; Countess of Habsburg, Flanders, Tyrol, and Barcelona; and Lady of Biscay and Molina.”

Isabella II

Imagine trying to fit that on a driver’s license—or just introducing yourself at a party. (“Hi, I’m Isabel II, Queen of… wait, hold on, I’m not done yet!”).

Still, this crazy-long list shows just how powerful Spain was in the 1800s. Their influence stretched across Europe and even faraway lands across the oceans, proving that titles weren’t just for show, they were a brag sheet of global power.