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Big Royal Dig

Royal Titles

The Viscount

Baroness Thatcher is applauded as the ex-prime minister takes her seat during a Veterans luncheon in 2005
Baroness Thatcher is
applauded as the ex-prime
minister takes her seat
during a Veterans
luncheon in 2005.
Photo: PA / EMPICS
In the According to Terrick Fitzhugh's Dictionary of Genealogy, the Normans introduced the title of viscount for their county sheriffs. This influential position included presiding over courts and regional taxation together with responsibility for order. The viscount is the fourth ranking title of the peerage and the wife of a viscount is known as a viscountess.

Household Name: Viscount Linley is the son of Princess Margaret. He is more commonly known as David Linley and has gained a reputation as an imaginative and forward thinking designer of furniture and upholstery with several high status London outlets to his name.

The Baron

The baron is the fifth and lowest of the peerage titles. Together with the earl it is one of the oldest ranks with roots in the Anglo-Saxon period. Barons were originally manorial land tenants who administered areas on behalf of a king and paid for the privilege of position by providing fighting men and knights for the monarch.

Household Name: The 'Iron Lady' Baroness Margaret Thatcher, who was British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990, was awarded a Barony in 1992 as a Life Peer (see below) enabling her to enter the House of Lords.

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