Worship (style)


His Worship or Her Worship is an honorific prefix for mayors, justices of the peace and magistrates in present or former Commonwealth realms. In spoken address, these officials are addressed as Your Worship or referred to as His Worship or Her Worship. In Australia all states now use Your Honour as the form of address for magistrates.

Etymology

The term worship implies that citizens give or attribute special worth or esteem to their first-citizen or mayor.

The Right Worshipful

The Right Worshipful is an honorific style of address for all lord mayors and mayors of specific cities including the original Cinque Ports. Some historic boroughs, such as Shrewsbury and Atcham in Shropshire, also address their mayors by this prefix. In India, the mayors of cities such as Bengaluru, Mysore and Chennai are addressed as Worshipful Mayor with robes and attire as for the Lord Mayor of the City of London. The style was done away with by the Government of Kerala and the mayors in Kerala are now referred to as Respected Mayor.
The style is also traditionally used for the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. In Australia, the lord mayors of Darwin, Northern Territory; Parramatta, New South Wales; Newcastle, New South Wales; and Wollongong, New South Wales are also styled thus.