A new Duke of Edinburgh

The announcement last Friday of the creation of the Earl of Wessex and Forfar as Duke of Rdinburgh was by no means unexpected, though deferred until his birthday, and eminently appropriate. An explanation of the relative time-lag is offered in an article from that day by Camilla Twominey in the Daily Telegraph, which may or may not be that accurate given the standard of so much reporting about the Royal Family even in the more erudite press, and which may be read at How the fall of Nicola Sturgeon played a part in whether Prince Edward was given the Duke of Edinburgh title

Later on in the day I read a fairly slight but inoffensive article by Christopher Howse about the creation and which can be read at Britain needs more hereditary dukes – the rank is becoming endangered

What shocked me was when I made the mistake of looking at the comments, which appeared to be filled with class hatred and bile.  Now I appreciate that open internet access can take readers to papers they might not otherwise read but if even some of the authors were Telegraph regulars I find it quite disturbing. In part I blame recent owners such as Conrad Black and the drradful Barclay brothers for attracting the wrong sort of readership. As a friend said to me the next day in such onlinr reading onr should not look below the bottom line.

This is the fifth creation of the dukedom since its creation in 1726 by King George I for his grandson Prince Frederick Lewis. Some years earlier the title of Duke of Gloucester had been proposed for the Prince as second in line to the throne but he had not been so created. In addition to the Edinburgh dukedom he was made Marquess of the Isle of Ely, Earl of Eltham, Viscount [of] Launceston and Baron [of ] Snaudon [Snowden]. The following year his father succeeded as King George II and in 1729 Frederick Lewis was created Prince of Wales, and the titles held with the other subsidiary ones of the heir apparent. There is a Wikipedia biography at Frederick, Prince of Wales

When Fredrick died in 1751 all his titles passed to his eldest son and heir who was almost immediately created Prince of Wales and became King George III in 1760.

In 1764 King George created his younger brother Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh with the subsidiary title of Earl of Connaught. Upon his death in 1805 the combined dukedom descended to his son, who later married the King’s daughter Princess Mary. They were childless and the title became extinct in 1834 upon the Duke’s death, although the Duchess lived on to 1857. There are Wikipedia biographies of the two Dukes at Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh

In 1866 Queen Victoria, who disliked the York ducal usually given to second sons of the monarch because of her “wicked uncles” created her second son Prince Alfred as Duke of Edinburgh and with the additional titles of Earl of Ulster and Earl of Kent. There is a Wikipedia biography at Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

In 1893 he succeeded his uncle as sovereign Duke of Saxe Coburg and Gotha. Whilst renouncing his seat in the House of Lords ( unlike his great uncle the King of Hanover in 1837 ) he retained the Edinburgh title. His son predeceseased him in 1899 and the death of the Duke in 1900 brought the end of the title. Had those events not happened Edinburgh much well have suffered the fate of two other royal ducal titles - those of Cumberland and Albany - in 1919 with their still unreversed forfeiture. Duke Alfred’s Romanov widow, H.I. and R.H. The Dowager Duchess of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, Duchess of Edinburgh died in 1920.

The fourth creation was in 1947 of Prince Philip  - then Lt. Philip Mountbatten - as Duke of Rdinbugh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron  Greenwich. The late Queen was Duchess of Edinburgh until her accession in 1952, but the title of Princess Elizabeth always preceded it. On the death of Prince Philip in 2021 his titles descended to the then Prince of Wales, and reverted to the Crown with his accession as King Charles III in 2022. 

This new, fifth, creation is unusual in being described as a life time grant rather than a hereditary one. In the later middle ages this was not unknown - King Henry V’s younger brothers, the Dukes of Clarence, Bedford and Gloucester, were life not hereditary grants, and as none left legitimate male offspring there was no occasion to amend or revise the grants. Since then most titles of nobility have been hereditary until the nineteenth century with the emergence of the Law Lords in 1876. That system was ended in 2009.

Along with this new grant is the elevation of the new Duke’s son, Viscount Severn, to his father’s Earldoms of Wessex and Forfar as the courtesy title of the heir, but with no expectation of inheritance of the Edinburgh Dukedom in the fullness of time

A friend drew my attention to Halsbury’s Laws of England which states in its latest that there are hereditary peerages which cannot be just for life ( thanks to the ruling over the Wensleydale barony in 1856 ) and life peerages created under the 1958 Act, and those can only be barons. This creation fits in with neither of these legal requirements. As my friend and I agreed we suspect further Letters Patent may be required.

In any case my loyal congratulations are offered to the new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh.