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Duke of St Albans

Duke of St Albans is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1684 for Charles Beauclerk, 1st Earl of Burford, then 14 years old. King Charles II had accepted that Burford was his illegitimate son by Nell Gwyn, an actress, and awarded him the dukedom just as he had conferred those of Monmouth, Southampton, Grafton, Northumberland, and Richmond and Lennox on his other illegitimate sons who married.

The subsidiary titles of the Duke are Earl of Burford, in the County of Oxford (1676), Baron Heddington, in the same (1676) and Baron Vere, of Hanworth in the County of Middlesex (1750). The Earldom and the Barony of Heddington are in the Peerage of England, and the Barony of Vere is in the Peerage of Great Britain. The dukes hold the hereditary title of Grand Falconer of England, and until the end of the 18th century they were Hereditary Registrars of the Court of Chancery.[3]

By tradition, the Earldom and Vere barony are used as courtesy titles by the duke's heir apparent and his heir apparent respectively.

Until the 20th century, the country seats of the dukes of St Albans included Bestwood Lodge in Nottinghamshire, which was given to the 1st Duke's mother, the celebrated actress and mistress to Charles II Nell Gwyn. The 10th Duke made it his principal residence, but in 1939 the 12th Duke sold it. It is now a hotel.[4][5] Another seat was Upper Gatton Park in Surrey.[6] The 12th Duke also inherited Newtown Anner House (near Clonmel, County Tipperary), which continued to be a family seat in the 1940s until it was sold in the mid-20th century. Today the house is privately owned and not open to the public.[7]

The 13th and present dukes have not inherited landed estates or country houses.

The accepted pronunciation of Beauclerk is reflected in frequent early renderings Beauclaire: /ˈboʊklɛər, boʊˈklɛər/.[8][9]

Dukes of St Albans (1684)

Arms of the 1st Duke of St Albans
Other titles: Earl of Burford, in the county of Oxford, and Baron Heddington, in the county of Oxford (1676)
Other titles (5th Duke onwards): Baron Vere, of Hanworth in the county of Middlesex (1750)

The heir apparent is Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, Earl of Burford (b. 1965) (only son of the 14th Duke).

The heir apparent's heir in line is his only son, James Malcolm Aubrey Edward de Vere Beauclerk, Lord Vere (b. 1995).

Barons Vere (1750)

for subsequent Barons Vere see Dukes of St Albans above

Current line of succession

[10]

Arms

Family tree

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Scottish Earldom of Lennox had merged into the crown on the accession of King James VI and I, whose father Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley was the heir presumptive to that earldom, the king was thus at liberty to re-award the Lennox arms, or versions of them, as he pleased
  2. ^ Debrett's Peerage, 1876, p. 411
  3. ^ Hardy, Thomas Duffus (1843). A Catalogue of Lords Chancellors, Keepers of the Great Seal, Masters of the Rolls, and Principal Officers of the High Court of Chancery. London: Henry Butterworth. p. 119.
  4. ^ "History of Bestwood", nottinghamshire.gov.uk, accessed 12 September 2023
  5. ^ "Home". bestwoodlodgehotel.co.uk.
  6. ^ https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/2872061/doc_0_6.pdf Sale brochure for Upper Gatton Park, June 2016.
  7. ^ -part- 4 /#:~:text=Today%20the%20house%20is%20in,life%20at%20Newtown%20Anner%20House around our city Ep. 25 – The Osborne's Of Newtown Anner (part 4) - Tipperary County Council Library Service website
  8. ^ British Museum – Madame Ellen Groinn
  9. ^ Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
  10. ^ Morris, Susan; Bosberry-Scott, Wendy; Belfield, Gervase, eds. (2019). "St Albans, Duke of". Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. Vol. 1 (150th ed.). London: Debrett's Ltd. pp. 3042–3047. ISBN 978-1-999767-0-5-1.

References

Further reading