Does the Saud dynasty go in for this kind of thing? You’d think at least Abdul Aziz or Faisal would have earned some kind of distinction.
In the local English-language press, he is His Majesty the King on first reference and HM the King on subsequent references. Sometimes his name is included, sometimes not. The Thais generally refer to him as “the king.”
Yes, but that’s self-bestowed, same as El Generalísimo.
Franco was proclaimed Generalísimo by the Junta de Burgos in October 1936. It was an official title, not an epithet, and it was not self-bestowed.
Mott the Hoople?
I don’t think it counts, since he actually took this as his official last name when it was decided that Turks should now have last names.
Now all we need is someone to tell us that in Bavarian slang “the Mad” really means “the madly awesome”. 
I never knew that. Very interesting.
I’m going to argue that Gandhi doesn’t qualify. “Mahatma” is an honorific, not an epithet. That is, it falls more into the category of things like “His Majesty” or “The Right Reverend” than things like “The Great”.
It’s an epithet and an honorific. However, “His Majesty” and “The Right Reverend” are applied to holders of a particular title. Gandhi, Phule and other people accorded the appelation were not.
Well, there is the English slang phrase “mad skills”. You may have something there.
Konrad Adenauer was called Der Alte.
Regards,
Shodan
Epithets that I believe the OP is referring to are closely related to the practice of awarding Victory titles. There is a list of monarchs by their nicknames here on Wikipedia. However, I’m not sure who is the most recent.
I would add to that that no one here considers him a “statesman,” as any Thai king is constitutionally barred from politics. It’s been like that ever since the 1932 revolution.
It doesn’t quite fit the OP but Margaret Thatcher became widely known as The Iron Lady during her days as British Prime Minister.
(She was also known as TINA, an acronym for ‘There Is No Alternative’, and by lots of other names among her detractors, but these aren’t really relevant to GQ.)
Beat me to it, and it certainly qualifies under **Malthus **'s criteria above, viz:
(a) descriptive of some quality of the particular person; and
(b) given to that person by other people - not a self-chosen title.
CA has quite a few:
Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown.
The Governator.
Jesse “Big Daddy” Unruh.
Doesn’t that epithet pre-date her election as PM? Wasn’t it given to her in the 70s by the Russians?
Well, first of all these two claims aren’t necessarily incompatible, since she was elected PM in 1979.
Wikipedia says that the term ‘Iron Lady’ has been used to describe various strong women, not just Thatcher, and also suggests that the Russians first referred to Thatcher in this way in 1976. I confess that I was a bit surprised when I read this. Just from memory, I would have said Maggie only became known in this way after becoming PM. Guess I was wrong.
Pretty much every female head of government gets the “Iron Lady” sobriquet. Thatcher, Meir, Gandhi… Angela Merkel’s already getting it, too (eiserne Mädchen).