How does Equestrian Royalty work?

[Ranky64 31]

So a big factor in MLP:FiM is Royalty. We currently have some well-known members like Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Twilight. However I do have a question about how it goes around. Does it depend on relations?

 

Now three of our known alicorns are related. Celestia and Luna are sisters, so it's obvious why they are both royal. Princess Cadence is Celestia's niece, which could point to it, but it's been clarified she did something great enough to earn a princess title. And with Twilight just being a regular unicorn you would assume that to become royal you must make an impact, mostly on things like friendship and power. However there is a catch... Prince Blueblood.

 

What has he done? He's not an alicorn despite being royal, and he is apparently Celestia's nephew, but has he done anything? Is the reason he's a prince with a lot of respect from ponies just because he's related to "royal blood"? Also something with both him and Shining Armor is that despite being princes they're not alicorns. I could understand Blueblood but Shining Armor has done enough to probably have some wings.

 

Finally, will Cadence and Shining Armor's child be famous? Will it have a crowd cheering for no reason except that this baby is the descendant of an alicorn? Will a bunch of ponies become homeless since they must pay higher taxes to pay for the kids new castle? Will he be like Prince George the spoiled butt of Engla- I meant "your highness" (sorry I really hate Prince George, he doesn't deserve to be a billionaire  :=: )

 

So that's just my question. I hope you can help me with it.

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,803]

As far as I know Cadence is the adopted niece of Celestia. I think. She had to earn the princess-alicorn thing just like Twilight did. With Blue-blood, he could actually be blood related to Celestia hence his title but we know nothing of male alicorns in the show. As far as we know, they don't even exist. Then there is the thing with the new baby...that throws some wrenches into the mix as well. 

[Neon Proxy 294]

Yeah I agree with Kyoshi, Prince Blueblood is prince by title only, he appears to have not done anything to earn the alicorn powers. As for Shining Armour, well maybe he needs to do a little more to earn it, but he has come to be prince through marriage and I don't think that should mean he automatically gets to be an alicorn. It needs to be earned still. Twilights journey has been a very long one and I, just imo, don't think Shining Armour has done quite as much. As for the baby, well I still need to gather my thoughts on that one, lol! ^.~

Edited February 2, 2016 by Neon Proxy

[Riganthor 484]

it is an interesting question you ask there but the show doesn't give us enough information to be sure how it works. As far as we know only female's are rulers (so it's a matriarchy) and if they have blood relatives they are considered a prince even though their sister isn't a queen. As for the baby, well only time will tell how and what his role will be in equestria.

[Ranky64 31]

Yeah I agree with Kyoshi, Prince Blueblood is prince by title only, he appears to have not done anything to earn the alicorn powers. As for Shining Armour, well maybe he needs to do a little more to earn it, but he has come to be prince through marriage and I don't think that should mean he automatically gets to be an alicorn. It needs to be earned still. Twilights journey has been a very long one and I, just imo, don't think Shining Armour has done quite as much. As for the baby, well I still need to gather my thoughts on that one, lol! ^.~

 

You are quite right. However wouldn't Prince Blueblood have done something to earn the title other than his relation to Celestia? Rarity mentions in 'The Ticket Master' that since he's a prince it would be a royal wedding, assuming he is rich. If he really is just some guy that acts posh, where does he exactly get the privileges like guards, castles, that stuff. I don't think Celestia would agree with spoiling someone over their bloodline. This is why I think it's possible that he done something to at least get the "Prince" in his name.

[Vixor 80]

Alicornhood doesn't seem to automatically come with the title, even if it turns out that it's possible for one to be born an alicorn. Blueblood isn't an alicorn because he probably inherited his title, and one popular theory mind you is that he's something like the descendant of Princess Platinum, or something along those lines. Shining Armor is a prince consort, and while he's definitely in a good position to earn alicornhood, given his good nature and leadership skills, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say he's not quite there yet, though the specific requirements are vague and such. Though, he doesn't exactly get a lot of screentime, and neither does Celestia, which is a shame IMO.

 

And I keep having to repeat this and other related things, but there's simply not a chance that alicorns are restricted by gender. It's a merit based position, is earned by being a good, benevolent leader and such, and it would be utterly illogical and highly insulting for the genitals of the individual in question to somehow matter in that equation. I see no reason whatsoever for gender to matter there, and while Hasbro may not feature one in the show due to them being convinced it wouldn't sell toys as well, I don't see any justification for the belief that they don't exist.

 

it is an interesting question you ask there but the show doesn't give us enough information to be sure how it works. As far as we know only female's are rulers (so it's a matriarchy) and if they have blood relatives they are considered a prince even though their sister isn't a queen. As for the baby, well only time will tell how and what his role will be in equestria.

 

Equestria is not a matriarchy, nor a patriarchy, and there's never been any real evidence to support the notion that it's somehow a matriarchy/patriarchy. Everything in the show points towards it being egalitarian with gender, with no one gender being portrayed as advantaged or dominant, and both genders have been portrayed as equally capable, and so on. There are plenty of socially and economically influential ponies of both genders, and while our exposure to government related ponies has been extremely limited, we have seen politicians and such of both genders too. 

 

Equestria just very clearly has a level of gender equality surpassing even our own, and to be honest  explaining this to people over and over is pretty exhausting, so I've streamlined this post a little more than usual, kind of. The show may feature more of a focus on female characters overall, screen-time wise, but you better believe it's never portrayed them as superior, nor has it portrayed them as living in a society where one gender is dominant or advantaged. Bah, I should probably just go take a nap for now and get some rest.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Vixor

[WriteCodes46 178]

I could understand Blueblood but Shining Armor has done enough to probably have some wings.

The only important things Shining has ever done are being an accessory to the heroes (and a villain).

[Unikitty 1,212]

"Before The Best Night Ever aired, Lauren Faust stated that Celestia's nephew had no name in the show and that he's the "great great great great great great great great great great great (and probably even more greats) nephew on Celestia's and Luna's mother's side, about 52 times removed, roughly speaking." "

    - http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Prince_Blueblood

 

This is the closest information we have to insight on nobility and their relation to the Alicorn Princesses. If still true to canon, it would support the notion that nobility is related to bloodlines more so than a title obtained by anypony with enough bits. The recent confirmation of a royal baby proves that at the very least a pony who becomes an alicorn can have alicorn offspring, cementing the idea that alicorns themselves can procreate. It would then be clear that the nobility would have stemmed from direct lineage to alicorns.

That and that the quote above also recognises that Celestia and Luna were likely born as any other pony would be.

 

 

Alicornhood doesn't seem to automatically come with the title, even if it turns out that it's possible for one to be born an alicorn. Blueblood isn't an alicorn because he probably inherited his title, and one popular theory mind you is that he's something like the descendant of Princess Platinum, or something along those lines. Shining Armor is a prince consort, and while he's definitely in a good position to earn alicornhood, given his good nature and leadership skills, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say he's not quite there yet, though the specific requirements are vague and such. Though, he doesn't exactly get a lot of screentime, and neither does Celestia, which is a shame IMO.

 

And I keep having to repeat this and other related things, but there's simply not a chance that alicorns are restricted by gender. It's a merit based position, is earned by being a good, benevolent leader and such, and it would be utterly illogical and highly insulting for the genitals of the individual in question to somehow matter in that equation. I see no reason whatsoever for gender to matter there, and while Hasbro may not feature one in the show due to them being convinced it wouldn't sell toys as well, I don't see any justification for the belief that they don't exist.

 

 

Equestria is not a matriarchy, nor a patriarchy, and there's never been any real evidence to support the notion that it's somehow a matriarchy/patriarchy. Everything in the show points towards it being egalitarian with gender, with no one gender being portrayed as advantaged or dominant, and both genders have been portrayed as equally capable, and so on. There are plenty of socially and economically influential ponies of both genders, and while our exposure to government related ponies has been extremely limited, we have seen politicians and such of both genders too. 

 

Equestria just very clearly has a level of gender equality surpassing even our own, and to be honest  explaining this to people over and over is pretty exhausting, so I've streamlined this post a little more than usual, kind of. The show may feature more of a focus on female characters overall, screen-time wise, but you better believe it's never portrayed them as superior, nor has it portrayed them as living in a society where one gender is dominant or advantaged. Bah, I should probably just go take a nap for now and get some rest.

 

 

I think you need to chill out a little, buddy.   Nobodies making these wild claims you describe. Technically the current ruling status of Equestria is a matriarchy, defined as "a system of society or government ruled by a woman or women". Though it would likely more be defined as a monarchy than it would anything else.

[Vixor 80]

"Before The Best Night Ever aired, Lauren Faust stated that Celestia's nephew had no name in the show and that he's the "great great great great great great great great great great great (and probably even more greats) nephew on Celestia's and Luna's mother's side, about 52 times removed, roughly speaking." "

    - http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Prince_Blueblood

 

This is the closest information we have to insight on nobility and their relation to the Alicorn Princesses. If still true to canon, it would support the notion that nobility is related to bloodlines more so than a title obtained by anypony with enough bits. The recent confirmation of a royal baby proves that at the very least a pony who becomes an alicorn can have alicorn offspring, cementing the idea that alicorns themselves can procreate. It would then be clear that the nobility would have stemmed from direct lineage to alicorns.

That and that the quote above also recognises that Celestia and Luna were likely born as any other pony would be.

 

 

 

 

I think you need to chill out a little, buddy.   Nobodies making these wild claims you describe. Technically the current ruling status of Equestria is a matriarchy, defined as "a system of society or government ruled by a woman or women". Though it would likely more be defined as a monarchy than it would anything else.

 

Technically, one of the definitions of 'matriarchy' is indeed simply that the head of state happens to be female, so if you really want to get a bit pedantic, you could potentially refer to the top levels of their government as a sort of matriarchy, since the current alicorns in power are female. Though, the significance of that particular definition is minimal, as it basically just points out the genitals of the current reigning head of state, and referring to Equestria's government as a matriarchy based off of it wouldn't really carry any more weight than calling the UK a matriarchy because it has a queen. And again, I see no reason to believe alicornhood is restricted by gender, especially when it's earned by merit, but we'll refrain from having another paragraph about that topic here.

 

But yeah, I stand by my points. Equestria is very clearly gender-egalitarian, and not a matriarchy or patriarchy, regardless of what technicalities in definition you want to scrape out of the dictionary to refer to their government specifically. Equestria's society is not ruled or dominated by one gender, that's for sure, and while the current heads of state are female, I don't find that this constitutes a matriarchy any more than again, the UK having a queen does

 

You get the idea, I'm not the best at wording it, so bear with me as I try to explain this stuff. I've never found the 'head of state' definition of a matriarchy/patriarchy to be very meaningful, as a matriarchy/patriarchy is supposed to be a system where one gender dominates/is advantaged or something along those lines, but the 'head of state' definition that you're suggesting on the other hand is basically nothing more than pointing out the genitals of whoever happens to be at the top at any given moment, meaning that under that definition, any government with a king would automatically be considered patriarchal, and one with a queen automatically matriarchal, irregardless of any other things you would normally consider. If you were to refer to the UK's government as a matriarchy based on that definition, you wouldn't technically be wrong if you want to pedantic about it, based on that definition you pulled up, but you wouldn't exactly be making a very meaningful point either, and you'd probably be shouted down in favor of far more relevant definitions of the word.

 

Equestria's current heads of state happen to be female, but there's certainly no merit to any claims that it's government is dominated/the domain any one gender or anything along those lines. And indeed, while I again stress that our exposure to government related ponies other than the princesses and princes and a few others is extremely limited, even when counting the comics, we have seen government ponies of both genders.

 

And I do apologize though if I come off as perhaps a bit more aggressive than necessary, but I'm afraid I've been arguing with people about many of these very topics for a long time, and it's hard not to get a little snappy at this point. It can get exhausting sometimes, especially when I fret a bit too much about the exact way I word my arguments. So yeah, I really should just go and take that nap now.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Vixor

[BlinkZ 1,151]

Hmm yeah princ blueblood is pretty vague, i mean he not a chld of one of the princess.  i mean some people use Aunt Celstia but evne that dosn't make sens unles he wsa adopted..it just so vague.

on the way royality works, i think while Celestia and the others are on top so to speak, ther erae other brancs of the govermen tha handle other things.  Sure if an issue get big enough they have to get the princess aprroval but stuff lik educaiton and such are delt by other brnacs that of course eventaul report back to them.

I know Twilight is 'Princess of Freindship" and that givs her privilage to command but uh..other hten saving the day for the sake of plot what else DOES she do? I mean we saw her work to the bone in Princess Spike so she dose do things

[Unikitty 1,212]

Technically, one of the definitions of 'matriarchy' is indeed simply that the head of state happens to be female, so if you really want to get a bit pedantic, you could potentially refer to the top levels of their government as a sort of matriarchy, since the current alicorns in power are female. Though, the significance of that particular definition is minimal, as it basically just points out the genitals of the current reigning head of state, and referring to Equestria's government as a matriarchy based off of it wouldn't really carry any more weight than calling the UK a matriarchy because it has a queen. And again, I see no reason to believe alicornhood is restricted by gender, especially when it's earned by merit, but we'll refrain from having another paragraph about that topic here.

 

But yeah, I stand by my points. Equestria is very clearly gender-egalitarian, and not a matriarchy or patriarchy, regardless of what technicalities in definition you want to scrape out of the dictionary to refer to their government specifically. Equestria's society is not ruled or dominated by one gender, that's for sure, and while the current heads of state are female, I don't find that this constitutes a matriarchy any more than again, the UK having a queen does

 

You get the idea, I'm not the best at wording it, so bear with me as I try to explain this stuff. I've never found the 'head of state' definition of a matriarchy/patriarchy to be very meaningful, as a matriarchy/patriarchy is supposed to be a system where one gender dominates/is advantaged or something along those lines, but the 'head of state' definition that you're suggesting on the other hand is basically nothing more than pointing out the genitals of whoever happens to be at the top at any given moment, meaning that under that definition, any government with a king would automatically be considered patriarchal, and one with a queen automatically matriarchal, irregardless of any other things you would normally consider. If you were to refer to the UK's government as a matriarchy based on that definition, you wouldn't technically be wrong if you want to pedantic about it, based on that definition you pulled up, but you wouldn't exactly be making a very meaningful point either, and you'd probably be shouted down in favor of far more relevant definitions of the word.

 

Equestria's current heads of state happen to be female, but there's certainly no merit to any claims that it's government is dominated/the domain any one gender or anything along those lines. And indeed, while I again stress that our exposure to government related ponies other than the princesses and princes and a few others is extremely limited, even when counting the comics, we have seen government ponies of both genders.

 

And I do apologize though if I come off as perhaps a bit more aggressive than necessary, but I'm afraid I've been arguing with people about many of these very topics for a long time, and it's hard not to get a little snappy at this point. It can get exhausting sometimes, especially when I fret a bit too much about the exact way I word my arguments. So yeah, I really should just go and take that nap now.

 

 

Throwing around the word pedantic isn't going to make you seem any better. Regardless of where you draw the line, Equestrian royalty would still be considered a matriarchy. I don't disagree that it's highly likely both male and females have equal rights and likely equal political influence, this doesn't change that by definition Equestria would be a matriarchy. Primarily it would be considered a monarchy as it seems pretty clear that Celestia and Luna have inherited the throne and it's unlikely that they have any form of political democracy. Otherwise surely they'd not have been in rule for over a thousand years.

This isn't cherry-picking, nor is it pedantic. This is how it's written. There's nothing wrong with the fact that it's a matriarchy, and there's nothing to say it could never stop being one. It's a matriarchy in the sense that Equestria has spent a long time being ruled by females. You can consider the matriarchal title to be a sort of sub-definition beneath the title of monarchy, but you can't claim that it's not at all a matriarchy.

[cider float 2,538]

So a big factor in MLP:FiM is Royalty. We currently have some well-known members like Celestia, Luna, Cadence and Twilight. However I do have a question about how it goes around. Does it depend on relations?

 

Now three of our known alicorns are related. Celestia and Luna are sisters, so it's obvious why they are both royal. Princess Cadence is Celestia's niece, which could point to it, but it's been clarified she did something great enough to earn a princess title. And with Twilight just being a regular unicorn you would assume that to become royal you must make an impact, mostly on things like friendship and power. However there is a catch... Prince Blueblood.

 

What has he done? He's not an alicorn despite being royal, and he is apparently Celestia's nephew, but has he done anything? Is the reason he's a prince with a lot of respect from ponies just because he's related to "royal blood"? Also something with both him and Shining Armor is that despite being princes they're not alicorns. I could understand Blueblood but Shining Armor has done enough to probably have some wings.

 

Finally, will Cadence and Shining Armor's child be famous? Will it have a crowd cheering for no reason except that this baby is the descendant of an alicorn? Will a bunch of ponies become homeless since they must pay higher taxes to pay for the kids new castle? Will he be like Prince George the spoiled butt of Engla- I meant "your highness" (sorry I really hate Prince George, he doesn't deserve to be a billionaire  :=: )

 

So that's just my question. I hope you can help me with it.

Nahh they just get kids and bronies to pay for that castle sponsored by Hasbro.

[Ranky64 31]

I think another big problem with this is how even though Celestia would hate spoiling someone over their bloodline (as I said above) most of her relatives are living a royal life. Prince Blueblood has been shown as just some posh rude guy, yet he has so much money and a Prince title. There are probably so many other much nicer ponies in Equestria that could be a prince/princess yet it's this dude that's hogging all the respect from everypony.

 

If this is the real case then Celestia's kinda putting her dumb selfish relative over better stallions and mares.

[Vixor 80]

Throwing around the word pedantic isn't going to make you seem any better. Regardless of where you draw the line, Equestrian royalty would still be considered a matriarchy. I don't disagree that it's highly likely both male and females have equal rights and likely equal political influence, this doesn't change that by definition Equestria would be a matriarchy. Primarily it would be considered a monarchy as it seems pretty clear that Celestia and Luna have inherited the throne and it's unlikely that they have any form of political democracy. Otherwise surely they'd not have been in rule for over a thousand years.

This isn't cherry-picking, nor is it pedantic. This is how it's written. There's nothing wrong with the fact that it's a matriarchy, and there's nothing to say it could never stop being one. It's a matriarchy in the sense that Equestria has spent a long time being ruled by females. You can consider the matriarchal title to be a sort of sub-definition beneath the title of monarchy, but you can't claim that it's not at all a matriarchy.

 

Bah, pretty late response, unfortunately, but I was a bit preoccupied and admittedly a little lazy to write up another response immediately.

 

Anyway, yeah, you can refer to the top levels of their government as a sort of matriarchy, if you really want to use that particular definition. Though, I will also stress that, while you can technically call their government a matriarchy of sorts since the current alicorns are female, you can't call their society a matriarchy, as it's not dominated by either gender, and ultimately both are equally influential, have equal rights, and have an equal lack of any real gender roles, and so on. I still don't feel that calling a government a matriarchy just because it's present head is female is very significant, among other things that could possibly be said about it, but whatever, I've already commented enough on that for now I think.

 

And I dunno, the princesses and princes are like a monarchy, but I do think they have a mix of monarchy and democracy or something, because they DO have politicians, mayors, etc. The royalty aren't exactly elected, but maybe everybody else in the government is. At the very least, we know they have democratic institutions at the local level. And, obscure detail to point out, but I remember in the Smile! song even, there was a mare and stallion with Mayor Mare who seemed to be government ponies, and together with her they had cutie marks based on the three branches of the US government.

 

Either way, I'm still quite sure that Equestria is gender-egalitarian and I'm still firmly standing behind all the other stuff I said, but I don't feel like there's much else to be said right now, so perhaps it's about time to end the discussion. And again, sorry for the late reply, but I've been stressed lately.

Edited February 12, 2016 by Vixor

[Twilight Sparkle ✨ 8,528]

It looks like we're conflating a few concepts here: being royalty, being an alicorn, and being a head of state. They can overlap but based on what we've seen in the show so far, they're not mutually dependent (ie. you don't need to be all three or nothing).

 

How Equestria's royal family came to be

 

In the real world, one can be born into royalty, marry into it, or forcefully displace the ruling family. I suppose it would be possible for a monarch to appoint someone as royalty at their own whimsy, too, though I'm not aware of specific historical cases of this. In Equestria, however, we have two known cases of royal appointments (without a blood or marital relationship) in Twilight and Cadance.

 

The Journal of the Two Sisters tells us that the leaders of Equestria's three founding tribes - Star Swirl and Clover the Clever, Smart Cookie, and Private Pansy - appointed the two sisters to become their rulers. They were appointed and coronated as absolute diarchs, as far as I can tell, so they're the beginning of Equestria's royal family.

 

What does being an alicorn have to do with running the country?

 

Celestia and Luna were blank-flank alicorns at the time and the journal specifically refers to "the alicorns" as the race that raised and educated them. The journal doesn't go into more detail about where the rest of the alicorn race is, unfortunately, but this is very strong evidence that natural alicorns exist. Royal status was ascribed to Celestia and Luna by their tribal predecessors, and we are told that part of the reason they were selected to run Equestria is because they are a physiological combination of earth, pegasus, and unicorn ponies - this supposedly qualifies them to look out for and relate to every race's needs.

 

This leaves us with Equestria's heads of state being meritocratically appointed - Cadance and Twilight were later appointed by the current rulers. The heads of state being alicorns appears to be by convention moreso than necessity - my headcanon is that Celestia likes the founders' logic for having alicorns as leaders and at some point learned or created a spell to genetically modify a living pony into an alicorn and grow their missing appendages. Twilight didn't "naturally" ascend - Celestia chose her to - and genes are probably involved, too, as Cadance was not a natural alicorn but is now giving birth to one.

 

So, a few key conclusions:

• alicorns are a natural, if rare, pony race
• incumbent heads of state appoint new heads to join them
• one can join Equestria's royal family by being appointed a head of state (no marriage or blood relationship necessary!)
• Celestia likes the nation's uppermost leaders to be alicorns
• Celestia may secretly be a mad scientist who enjoys genetic experiments on sentient creatures

What about Prince Blueblood and Shining Armour?

 

Just because Equestria's royal rulers were appointed doesn't mean that one couldn't marry or be born into the royal family, either. They don't have to be mutually exclusive ways of becoming royalty. The "Prince" or "Princess" title appears to be ceremonial as Shining Armour and Blueblood are both princes but neither is known to have significant political power. The actual rulers are known by their names and the region they're responsible for (or cultural concept, in Twilight's case).

 

Shining Armour's case for becoming a prince is easy: he married his way in.

 

Blueblood I'm less sure about. I know he's thought to be a distant relative of Celestia's but if he's not a direct descendant of Celestia, I have a hard time imagining he's royal solely because of blood ties. Celestia and Luna were the only founding members of Equestria's royal family and we have no reason to believe either of them has ever married or had children. He hasn't been appointed as a head of state, so that leaves us with nobility as a possible explanation - in the sense that he runs a small-ish region of land in service of the crown and gets an official title for it. It could be that Equestria throws around "prince" and "princess" as titles for anyone in either the nobility or royalty. I'll have to do more thinking on this one.

 

Alicornhood doesn't seem to automatically come with the title, even if it turns out that it's possible for one to be born an alicorn. Blueblood isn't an alicorn because he probably inherited his title, and one popular theory mind you is that he's something like the descendant of Princess Platinum, or something along those lines. Shining Armor is a prince consort, and while he's definitely in a good position to earn alicornhood, given his good nature and leadership skills, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say he's not quite there yet, though the specific requirements are vague and such. Though, he doesn't exactly get a lot of screentime, and neither does Celestia, which is a shame IMO.

It's tangential to this thread but since you mention having previously made your point about whether we can call Equestria a matriarchy, do you happen to have a link to one of your prior posts on the matter? That can save you some writing and energy when the topic comes up elsewhere with a different group of users (and I'm interested in reading it, too).

"Before The Best Night Ever aired, Lauren Faust stated that Celestia's nephew had no name in the show and that he's the "great great great great great great great great great great great (and probably even more greats) nephew on Celestia's and Luna's mother's side, about 52 times removed, roughly speaking." "

- http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Prince_Blueblood

 

This is the closest information we have to insight on nobility and their relation to the Alicorn Princesses. If still true to canon, it would support the notion that nobility is related to bloodlines more so than a title obtained by anypony with enough bits. The recent confirmation of a royal baby proves that at the very least a pony who becomes an alicorn can have alicorn offspring, cementing the idea that alicorns themselves can procreate. It would then be clear that the nobility would have stemmed from direct lineage to alicorns.

That and that the quote above also recognises that Celestia and Luna were likely born as any other pony would be.

See the first part of my post for evidence that alicorns are a natural race. The issue here is that Celestia's and Luna's parents were not royalty, so it seems strange to consider a blood relationship through their parents or ancestors a reason to recognize someone as royalty a thousand years later. I don't have a great alternative explanation right now, however.

[cider float 2,538]

Has to do with being related or married to a princess. Shining Armor is also a prince without a doubt since his wife and sister are princesses there's no way out of him from the royal court.

[Perfect Alicorn 19]

Cadence was never originally intended to be an Alicorn, so she really shouldn't be. It's a complete mess.