Duke of Edinburgh

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the title. For the current holder, see Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh. For the holder from 1947 to 2021, see Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. For other uses, see Duke of Edinburgh (disambiguation).

Dukedom of Edinburgh
Arms of Prince Edward, Duke of Edinburgh
Creation date10 March 2023 (announced)[1]
3 April 2023 (Letters Patent)[2]
CreationFourth
Created byCharles III
PeeragePeerage of the United Kingdom
First holderPrince Frederick
(first creation; 1726)
Present holderPrince Edward
Subsidiary titlesEarl of Wessex
Earl of Forfar
Viscount Severn
StatusExtant

Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, is a substantive title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produce any revenue for the title-holder.

The current holder,

Philip Mountbatten, on the day of his marriage to then-Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II. Upon Philip's death, the title was inherited by Charles and held by him until Elizabeth died and Charles became king, at which time the title reverted to the Crown
.

1726 creation

Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707–1751) was the first Duke of Edinburgh, from 1726 until his death.

The title was first created in the

merged in the Crown and ceased to exist.[3]

1866 creation

Queen Victoria re-created the title, this time in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, on 24 May 1866 for her second son Prince Alfred, instead of Duke of York, the traditional title of the second son of the monarch. The subsidiary titles of the dukedom were Earl of Kent and Earl of Ulster, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.[7] When Alfred became the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1893, he retained his British titles. His only son that survived birth, Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, committed suicide in 1899, so the Dukedom of Edinburgh and subsidiary titles became extinct upon the elder Alfred's death in 1900.[3]

1947 creation

The title was created for a third time on 19 November 1947 by King

prince of the United Kingdom.[11]

Upon Philip's death on 9 April 2021, his eldest son,

merged in the Crown and ceased to exist.[13]

2023 creation

It was announced in 1999, at the time of

Prince Andrew, his older brother.[15]

Prince Philip died in April 2021. His dukedom was inherited by his eldest son, Prince Charles, who was to give it to Edward upon becoming king according to Philip's wish. Edward, who had by then dropped to the 14th place in the line of succession because of births of those higher in line, said in June that him getting such a prestigious title was "a pipe dream of my father’s".

Prince Harry and daughter-in-law Meghan quit royal duties.[15]

It was suggested in November 2022, shortly after Charles III ascended the throne, that Buckingham Palace was considering saving the dukedom for the new king's granddaughter Princess Charlotte of Wales in recognition of her high place in the line of succession and her being the first female member of the royal family whose place in the line of succession cannot be superseded by a younger brother.[15]

The dukedom was bestowed on Prince Edward on the occasion of his 59th birthday on 10 March 2023.

Prince William, to confer it on one of his children. According to Camilla Tominey of The Daily Telegraph, there had been concerns regarding the effect that “giv(ing) the Edinburgh dukedom to someone descending fast down the royal ranking” would have on the Scottish independence debate. She proposes that “the prospect of Scottish independence now looking less likely” in the light of Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation made the conferral less of a risk.[15]

Dukes of Edinburgh

First creation, 1726

Also:

Baron Snowdon
.

Duke Portrait Birth Marriage(s) Death
Prince Frederick
House of Hanover
1726–1751
also: Prince of Wales (1728), Duke of Cornwall (1727, created 1337), Duke of Rothesay (1727, created 1469) 		Prince Frederick 1 February 1707
Leineschloss, Hanover
son of King George II and Queen Caroline 		Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
17 April 1736
9 children 		31 March 1751
Leicester House, Leicester Square, London
aged 44
Prince George
House of Hanover
1751–1760
also: Prince of Wales (1751) 		Prince George 4 June 1738
Norfolk House, London
son of Prince Frederick and Princess Augusta
Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

8 September 1761
15 children 		29 January 1820
Windsor Castle, Windsor
aged 81
Prince George succeeded as George III in 1760 upon his
merged in the Crown
.

Second creation, 1866

Also: Earl of Kent and Earl of Ulster.

Duke Portrait Birth Marriage(s) Death
Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
(1893) 		Prince Alfred 6 August 1844
Prince Albert
 Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
23 January 1874
6 children 		30 July 1900
Schloss Rosenau, Coburg
aged 55
Prince Alfred and Grand Duchess Maria had two sons, one stillborn, one who predeceased him; and all his titles became extinct on his death.

Third creation, 1947

Also: Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich.

Duke Portrait Birth Marriage(s) Death
Prince Philip
Mountbatten family/House of Glücksburg
(by birth)
1947–2021
 Prince Philip 10 June 1921
Mon Repos, Corfu
son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg 		Princess Elizabeth
20 November 1947
4 children
9 April 2021
Windsor Castle, Windsor

aged 99
Prince Charles
House of Windsor
2021–2022
also: Prince of Wales (1958), Duke of Cornwall (1952, created 1337), Duke of Rothesay
(1952, created 1469) 		Prince Charles 14 November 1948
Queen Elizabeth II
Lady Diana Spencer
29 July 1981

2 children
Divorced 28 August 1996 		Living
Camilla Parker Bowles
9 April 2005

No issue
Prince Charles succeeded as Charles III in 2022 upon his
merged in the Crown
.

Fourth creation, 2023

Duke Portrait Birth Marriage(s) Death
Prince Edward
House of Windsor
2023–present
also: Earl of Wessex (1999), Earl of Forfar (2019), Viscount Severn (1999) 		Prince Edward 10 March 1964
Buckingham Palace, London
son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip
Sophie Rhys-Jones
19 June 1999

2 children 		Living
The dukedom will be held for Prince Edward's lifetime as a non-hereditary peerage title.

Family trees

Heraldry

Here are the achievements of the various Dukes of Edinburgh:

In media

A fictional Duke of Edinburgh appears in the 1983

King Richard IV.[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Coughlan, Sean (10 March 2023). "King Charles grants Prince Edward Duke of Edinburgh title". BBC News. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  2. ^ "No. 64022". The London Gazette. 6 April 2023. p. 7074.
  3. ^ a b c Cokayne, G. E. (1926). Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, H. A. (eds.). The Complete Peerage. Vol. 5: Eardley of Spalding to Goojerat (2nd ed.). London: St. Catherine Press. pp. 6–8.
  4. ^ a b "No. 6494". The London Gazette. 12 July 1726. p. 1.
  5. ^ "No. 6741". The London Gazette. 4 January 1728. p. 2.
  6. ^ "No. 9050". The London Gazette. 16 April 1751. p. 1.
  7. ^ "No. 23119". The London Gazette. 25 May 1866. p. 3127.
  8. ^ "No. 38128". The London Gazette. 21 November 1947. p. 5495.
  9. ^ "Kate to become Duchess of Cambridge". The Sydney Morning Herald. 29 April 2011. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  10. ^ "No. 38128". The London Gazette. 21 November 1947. p. 5496.
  11. ^ "No. 41009". The London Gazette. 22 February 1957. p. 1209.
  12. ^ "HRH The Duke of Edinburgh". College of Arms. 9 April 2021. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  13. ^ "Who is the Duke of Edinburgh now?". Evening Standard. 15 September 2022. Retrieved 12 March 2023.
  14. ^ "The Earl of Wessex". Royal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
  15. ^ a b c d e Tominey, Camilla (10 March 2023). "Prince Edward may have the Duke of Edinburgh title – but getting it wasn't easy"". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  16. ^ Nikkhah, Roya (11 July 2021). "Edward wants to be Duke of Edinburgh but his brother is not on his side". The Times. Archived from the original on 12 July 2021. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  17. ^ "No. 63995". The London Gazette. 15 March 2023. p. 4994.
  18. ^ "The King confers The Dukedom of Edinburgh upon The Prince Edward". The Royal Family. 10 March 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.
  19. ^ "Blackadder Characters". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 6 March 2023.
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