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What's in a Title?

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rebecca
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What's in a Title?

Post by rebecca » Tue February 28th, 2012, 1:34 am

I wonder if someone can help me understand the British Title system?

I always wondered why Princess Diana's father was known as Earl Spencer and his son was Viscount Althorp. But then you see Princess Margaret's husband was known as The Earl of Snowdon and his son is Viscount Linley. What is the difference?

Can anyone tell me why Princess Diana's father wasn't an Earl of something?

Thanks in advance. :)

Bec :)

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Susan
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Post by Susan » Tue February 28th, 2012, 1:57 am

[quote=""rebecca""]I wonder if someone can help me understand the British Title system?

I always wondered why Princess Diana's father was known as Earl Spencer and his son was Viscount Althorp. But then you see Princess Margaret's husband was known as The Earl of Snowdon and his son is Viscount Linley. What is the difference?

Can anyone tell me why Princess Diana's father wasn't an Earl of something?[/quote]

Earl Spencer is a peerage that uses the family name instead of a geographical location and that's why there is no "of." There is no difference in status. Way back when, peers did have some jurisdiction over their territories (think feudalism), but that has not been so for centuries. The peerage Earl Spencer was created in 1765. Viscount Althorp is a subsidiary title of the Earl Spencer and is used as a courtesy title for his eldest son. The eldest son is not really the Viscount Althorp; his father is. All peerages have subsidiary titles and follow this practice.

Some websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peerage
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_earldoms (for other peerages, see the links at the top right)
http://www.heraldica.org/faqs/britfaq.html#p3-1
http://chinet.com/~laura/html/titles01.html (lots of information on the basics of peerages)
http://www.hereditarytitles.com/Page68.htm
http://www.hereditarytitles.com/Page33.html
http://www3.dcs.hull.ac.uk/genealogy/royal/peerage.html
Last edited by Susan on Tue February 28th, 2012, 2:07 am, edited 2 times in total.
~Susan~
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Royal news updated daily, information and discussion about royalty past and present
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Rowan
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Interest in HF: I love history, but it's boring in school. Historical fiction brings it alive for me.
Preferred HF: Iron-Age Britain, Roman Britain, Medieval Britain
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Post by Rowan » Tue February 28th, 2012, 1:54 pm

It's so utterly confusing, I feel a pain coming on just thinking about trying to understand it all. LOL

rebecca
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Posts: 798
Joined: July 2011

Post by rebecca » Wed February 29th, 2012, 2:27 am

[quote=""Rowan""]It's so utterly confusing, I feel a pain coming on just thinking about trying to understand it all. LOL[/quote]

Thank you Susan :) for taking the time to reply to my question. It's like a maze isn't it...Trying to figure who's who and what's what...Where's Jeeves and Wooster when you need em :p .

LOL Rowan ;) my brain is in sympathy :eek: ...Who knew there were so many titles :eek: .

Bec :)

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