Royal Dukedoms

A Royal Duke is a duke who is a member of the British Royal Family, entitled to the style of "His Royal Highness". Royal Dukedoms are the highest titles in the British roll of peerage. They are titles created for royal princes, sons and male line grandsons of the British monarch, either upon reaching their majority or marriage. The titles can be inherited but cease to be 'royal' once they pass beyond the grandsons of the monarch. As with any dukedom, once the title becomes extinct, it may subsequently be recreated by the reigning monarch at the time.

Current (extant) Royal Dukedoms

The current Royal Dukedoms, held as principal titles, in order of precedence, are:

• Duke of Edinburgh, held by Prince Philip, husband of Elizabeth II
• Duke of York, held by Prince Andrew, son of Elizabeth II
• Duke of Cambridge, held by Prince William, grandson of Elizabeth II
• Duke of Gloucester, held by Prince Richard, grandson of George V
• Duke of Kent, held by Prince Edward, grandson of George V.

The following dukedoms are currently held as secondary titles by members of the Royal family:

• Duke of Cornwall is a secondary title of the Prince of Wales in England, currently held by Prince Charles.
• Duke of Rothesay is a secondary title of the Prince of Wales in Scotland, currently held by Prince Charles.

With the exceptions of the dukedoms of Cornwall and Rothesay (which can only be held by the eldest son of the Sovereign), these dukedoms are hereditary according to the Letters Patent that created them, which contain the standard remainder "heirs male of his body". The British monarch also holds, and is entitled to the revenues of, the Duchy of Lancaster, and within the borders of the County Palatine of Lancashire is by tradition saluted as "The Duke of Lancaster" (even when the monarch is a Queen regnant, she does not use the title Duchess). However, legally the monarch is not the substantive Duke of Lancaster. The situation is similar in the Channel Islands, where the monarch is addressed as Duke of Normandy, but only in accordance with tradition. He or she does not hold the official title of Duke of Normandy.

Past (extinct) Royal Dukedoms

The following past Royal Dukedoms are vacant, except those depicted in italics, which are suspended dukedoms, and those in parentheses, which were once royal but have now been re-created as non-royal dukedoms.

• Albany
• Albemarle
• Avondale (only in combination with another dukedom)
• (Bedford)
• Clarence
• Connaught (only in combination with another dukedom)
• Cumberland
• Hereford
• Kendal
• Ross
• St Andrews (only in combination with another dukedom)
• (Somerset)
• Strathearn (only in combination with another dukedom)
• Sussex
• Teviotdale (only in combination with another dukedom)
• Windsor

Dukedoms created for the sons of George II

• Duke of Edinburgh, created for Prince Frederick, eldest son of George II and father of George III.
• Duke of Cumberland, created for Prince William second son of George II. He died unmarried and without issue.

Dukedoms created for the sons of George III

King George III had seven sons who survived to adulthood. His eldest son, later George IV was created Prince of Wales. Royal dukedoms were created for the six younger sons.

• Duke of York, for Prince Frederick, who died without legitimate male heirs.
• Duke of Clarence, and Duke of St Andrews for Prince William, later William IV. He gave his name to Clarence House.
• Duke of Kent, for Prince Edward, father of Queen Victoria
• Duke of Cumberland, for Prince Ernest, later King of Hanover
• Duke of Sussex, for Prince Augustus, who died without legitimate male heirs
• Duke of Cambridge, for Prince Adolphus.

The Hanoverians occasionally combined two territorial designations into a single royal dukedom — for example, the Duke of York and Albany. Other combinations included Gloucester and Edinburgh, Cumberland and Strathearn, Clarence and St Andrews, Kent and Strathearn, Cumberland and Teviotdale, Connaught and Strathearn and Clarence and Avondale. The idea was often to combine an English title with a Scottish one, emphasising the unity of the (then new) United Kingdom. Such Hanoverian dukes were generally also given an Irish subsidiary title.

Dukedoms created for the sons of Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria had four sons, the eldest of whom was the Prince of Wales and future Edward VII. Royal Dukedoms were created for her three younger sons.

• Duke of Edinburgh, created for Queen Victoria’s second son Prince Alfred in 1866. Prince Alfred died without a surviving male heir in 1900.
• Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, created for Queen Victoria’s third son, Prince Arthur, in 1874. The title was inherited by his grandson Alastair who died unmarried.
• Duke of Albany, created for Queen Victoria’s fourth son, Prince Leopold, in 1881. The title was inherited by Leopold’s posthumous son Charles in 1884, and formally removed in 1919 after Charles had taken the German side in World War I.

Dukedoms created for the House of Windsor

In addition to the current Royal Dukedoms, the following dukedoms were created for Princes of the House of Windsor.

• Duke of Clarence and Avondale, created for Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of Edward VII, who died unmarried and without issue.
• Duke of York, created for Prince George, later King George V, second son of Edward VII.
• Duke of Windsor, created for Edward VIII after his abdication.

Suspended dukedoms

The dukedoms of Albany and Cumberland-and-Teviotdale are not vacant but were suspended in 1919, as their holders were also reigning German rulers when Britain was at war with Germany in World War I; there still exist heirs to these titles who could apply for their restoration.

The senior male line heir of the last Duke of Albany is Prince Hubertus of Saxe Coburg Gotha.

The senior male line heir of the last Duke of Cumberland is Prince Ernst August of Hanover, estranged husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco.

Royal status of dukedoms

In the United Kingdom, there is nothing about a particular dukedom that makes it "royal". Rather, these peerages are called Royal Dukedoms because they are held by a member of the royal family who is entitled to the style Royal Highness. Although the term Royal Duke therefore has no official meaning per se, the category "Duke of the Blood Royal" was acknowledged as a rank conferring special precedence at court in the unrevoked 20th clause of the Lord Chamberlain's order of 1520. This decree accorded precedence to any peer related by blood to the Sovereign above all others of the same degree within the peerage. The order did not apply within Parliament, nor did it grant precedence above the Archbishop of Canterbury or other Great Officers of State such as is now enjoyed by royal dukes. But it placed junior Dukes of the Blood Royal above the most senior non-royal duke, junior Earls of the Blood Royal above the most senior non-royal earl, etc. It did not matter how distantly related to the monarch the peers might be (presumably they ranked among each other in order of succession to the Crown). Although legally "time does not run against the King", so that the 1520 order is theoretically still in effect, in fact the "Blood Royal" clause seems to have fallen into desuetude in 1917 when George V. limited the style of Royal Highness to children and male-line grandchildren of the Sovereign. Thus peers of the Blood Royal who are not grandchildren of a Sovereign no longer enjoy precedence above other peers.

Under the 20 November 1917, Letters Patent of King George V, the titular dignity of Prince or Princess and the style Royal Highness are restricted to the legitimate children of a Sovereign, the children of a Sovereign's sons, and the eldest living son of the eldest son of a Prince of Wales. For example, when the current Duke of Gloucester and Duke of Kent are succeeded by their eldest sons, the Earl of Ulster and the Earl of St. Andrews, respectively, those peerages (or rather, the 1928 and 1934 creations of them) will cease to be royal dukedoms, instead the title holders will become ordinary Dukes. The third dukes of Gloucester and Kent will each be styled "His Grace" because as great-grandsons of George V, they are not Princes and are not styled HRH. Similarly, upon the death of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught (1850–1942) (the third son of Queen Victoria), his only male-line grandson, Alastair Arthur Windsor, Earl of MacDuff (1914–43), briefly succeeded to his peerages and was styled "His Grace". Before the 1917 changes, his style and title was His Highness Prince Alastair of Connaught.

Forms of Address

• Address: His Royal Highness The Duke of (x)
• Speak to as: Your Royal Highness
• After: Sir

Coronet

While non-royal dukes are entitled to a coronet of eight strawberry leaves, to bear at a coronation and on his coat of arms, royal dukes are entitled to princely coronets (four crosses patée alternating with four strawberry leaves). The coronets of the royal family are dictated by letters patent. The Duke of York bears by letters patent, and the Duke of Edinburgh was granted in 1947 use of, the coronet of a child of the Sovereign (four crosses patée alternating with four fleurs-de-lis), while the Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay has use of the Prince of Wales Coronet, the Duke of Cambridge the coronet of a child of the heir-apparent and the current Dukes of Gloucester and of Kent, as grandsons of a Sovereign bear the corresponding coronet.

At coronations, apart from the differentiation in Princely coronets to ducal coronets, a Royal Duke also bears six rows of black dots in the ermine, as opposed to four rows of dots for a duke.

• 
  Coronet of the Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay
• 
  Coronet of the Duke of Cambridge
• 
  Coronet of the Dukes of Edinburgh and of York
• 
  Coronet of the Dukes of Gloucester and of Kent

See also

• Princess Royal