Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne
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The Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne are hereditary offices of the Papal Curia. They date from the early sixteenth century, and survived the reform of the Prefecture for the Pontifical Household in 1968. Today the only hereditary posts still in use at the Vatican are the Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne.
There are two posts, which are currently held by Prince Don Marco Torlonia, 6th Prince of Civitella-Cesi, and Prince Don Marcantonio Colonna, Prince and Duke of Paliano. The Colonna family have been Prince Assistants since 1710, though their papal princely title only dates from 1854. The Torlonia family were appointed in 1958 (their title dates from 1854 also), in succession to the Prince Orsini, who had been Prince Assistants from c.1735 to 1958.
