A
Royal Duke is a
duke who is a member of the
British Royal Family, entitled to the
style of "His Royal Highness". The current Royal Dukedoms are, in order of precedence:
In detail
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). She also rules the
Channel Islands as
Duke of Normandy.
Past Royal Dukedoms include:
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, emphasizing the unity of the (then new) United Kingdom. Such Hanoverian Dukes were generally also given an Irish title.
The dukedoms of Albany and Cumberland 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. There was speculation that
Prince Edward would receive a dukedom such as Cambridge or Sussex upon his marriage in 1999, but instead he received the lesser title
Earl of Wessex. At the same time as his creation as Earl of Wessex, it was announced that Prince Edward will be created Duke of Edinburgh on the death of both of his parents as Prince Charles will succeed to the title on his father's death. The Dukedom of Edinburgh will become a non-royal dukedom with Prince Edward's descendants.
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 sometime in the 19th century. 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 sons of a Sovereign, the sons 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. However, as a duke, the second Duke of Connaught, a male-line great grandson of Queen Victoria, he was simply styled "His Grace".
The sovereign's eldest daughter is typically created
Princess Royal, and her marriage may create an interesting situation.
Princess Louise, daughter of
King Edward VII, married the
6th Earl of Fife in 1889; he was elevated to the title
Duke of Fife, and his wife was styled HRH The Duchess of Fife. The dukedom was a non-royal one and it continues today.
Princess Mary, daughter of
King George V, married Viscount Lascelles—who succeeded as the 6th Earl of Harewood—in 1922, retaining her HRH; there was no elevation to a dukedom.
Anne, Princess Royal, daughter of
Queen Elizabeth II, has taken no title for herself or either of her commoner husbands, though there is absolutely nothing to impede the Sovereign creating a title—almost certainly an earldom, as for
HRH Princess Margaret on her marriage to a commoner as
Earl of Snowdon in 1961—at any time.
Sons of the sovereign are usually granted a dukedom upon marriage. It is not known if Princes
William and
Harry will be created Dukes, and of which dukedoms, by the Sovereign. Queen Victoria made her some of her grandsons Royal Dukes. Queen Elizabeth II could choose to do the same.
Forms of Address
- Address: His Royal Highness The Duke of _____
- Speak to as: Your Royal Highness
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
heir apparent's coronet, and the current Dukes of Gloucester and of Kent, as grandsons of a Sovereign bear the corresponding coronet.
