Leia Organa was a general and a Jedi Master at the time of her death, but when she was introduced in the first Star Wars, she was somehow both a princess and a senator. One of the three main characters of George Lucas’ original trilogy, the Freedom fighter and feminist icon appeared in a total of seven films in the Skywalker saga — including as a newborn in Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith. She wore many titles over the years, but she’s best known as Princess Leia from Alderaan.
This may be confusing to some as the character was explicitly revealed to be the Senator from Alderaan. She was the youngest senator elected from Alderaan and replaced her adopted father, Bail Organa. Despite her young age, Leia knew full well that Emperor Palpatine and his cohorts couldn’t be trusted. Like her father, she was fierce in openly criticizing Darth Sidious’ policies that were meant to oppress the people. While in the Senate, Leia also played a double life as a prominent member of the budding Rebellion at that time. Before she was caught at the beginning of the original Star Wars movie, she was active in the organization, providing secret help to other Rebels cells including the Ghost Crew as seen in Star Wars Rebels.
Given this, it’s curious why Leia was called Princess and not Senator like Bail. There’s a common misconception that her Royal title was inherited from her biological mother, Padmé Amidala, who served as a Queen of Naboo. But that’s not the case; instead, it came from her adoptive family in Alderaan. After his biological father, Anakin Skywalker’s full turn to the Dark side and Padmé death during childbirth, she was taken in by Bail and brought to Alderaan, while her twin, Luke was hidden in Tatooine. Leia was adopted into the Royal family of Alderaan by Bail, who’s also a prince consort aside from being a Senator and his wife, Queen Breha Organa. With this, the Skywalker daughter effectively became the Princess of Alderaan, hence why she’s called Princess Leia.
So why wasn’t Bail Organa called King since he’s married to the Queen? This may have something to do with the idea that he’s not the actual monarch in the relationship — the same idea applies to the British Royal Family, hence why Philip is called Prince and not King. Meanwhile, Leia, despite being adopted, could’ve succeeded her mother as the leader of the planet. As revealed in The Marvel comic book Princess Leia issue #1, some Alderaanians pushed for her to become the new queen even after Alderaan was destroyed in A New Hope.
Obviously, Leia could’ve used the title Senator instead of Princess in Star Wars, but since the title was relating to the Imperial Senate, it’s likely she’d rather be known by her family title. It’s worth noting that at this point, Bail had been more widely known as Senator Organa, and considering how the Empire essentially branded him as an enemy, Leia wanted to distance herself from that to be able to effectively carry out her endeavors.
