Big Royal Dig from Channel4.com

Royal Titles

The Duke and Duchess of
Windsor in May 1947
Photo: PA / EMPICS

The peerage stems from the Norman King's Court, where influential landowners and tenants were summoned to attend by the monarch using documents called Letters Patent. The peerage is made up of five main hereditary ranks of title and each holder can also be referred to as a Lord. As this moniker suggests; holders of these titles had the right to sit in the House of Lords and play their part in governing the land, but following the House of Lords Act of 1999 (which aimed to stave the influence of non-elected politicians) many lost their seats in Westminster.

A peerage title cannot be purchased, only inherited, and an heir can refuse their title if they feel it carries too much responsibility. Though different titles rank within a structure, some individual peerages may have more or less responsibility depending on their estates, assets and commitments.

It's generally accepted for an heir to use a courtesy title of a secondary rank until they inherit, so, for example, if Mick Aston was 15th The Earl of Timechester his son would carry the household title, and lesser rank, of Viscount Aston until he became the 16th Earl.

As titles are hereditary most aristocratic families have well established and recorded genealogies which can be traced back over hundreds of years and most have an estate which can be traced in ownership for equally as long. Just to complicate matters; an individual can hold multiple titles. For example: Prince Charles is the Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester and the Baron of Renfrew among over fifteen other titles and honours he holds.

The Duke

A duke is the first and highest rank under the monarch. According to Terrick Fitzhugh's Dictionary of Genealogy, the first dukes were kings, but as greater responsibility and administration had to be filtered down to reliable 'right hand men' the title of duke was gradually bestowed on powerful regional representatives. The title is usually attached to a county, such as the Duke of Cornwall and the wife of a duke is known as a duchess.

Household Name: Some believe that Prince Frederick was 'The Grand old Duke of York'. Son of nutty George III, he gained the questionable honour of having a nursery rhyme made up about him following his haphazard tactical decisions during the late 18th and early 19th century Napoleonic Wars. Some references suggest that the rhyme may actually belong to an earlier duke.

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