The
Duke of Edinburgh is a dukedom
associated with Edinburgh
, Scotland
.
There have been three creations since 1726 (or four if one
considers the royal dukedom of
Gloucester and Edinburgh).
The current holder is
Prince Philip, the husband
of and royal consort to
Queen Elizabeth II.
History of title
The dukedom was first created on
July 26,
1726, in the
Peerage of Great Britain. The title
was bestowed by King
George
I on his grandson
Prince
Frederick Lewis, who also became
Prince of Wales the following year. Upon
Frederick's death, the title was inherited by his son Prince
George. When Prince George became
King George III, the
dukedom "merged into
the crown," and
ceased to exist.
King
George III revived the title on November
19, 1764 for his younger brother, Prince
William of Wales, the full form of the title being "Gloucester
and Edinburgh". The title passed to the Duke
of Gloucester and Edinburgh's only son, William Frederick, who died
without a male heir, causing the title to become extinct.
Queen
Victoria
created the title on
24 May 1866 for her second son
Prince Alfred, this
time in the
Peerage of the
United Kingdom. Alfred died without a male heir in 1900.
The title was next created by
George VI in 1947 for his
future son-in-law
Lt. Philip Mountbatten. Philip
married
Princess
Elizabeth the following day, and became a
Prince of the United Kingdom in 1957. After
her marriage but before her accession, Elizabeth was known as the
Duchess of Edinburgh.
Future Dukes
It was announced in 1999, at the time of the wedding of
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex,
the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, that he
would eventually follow his father as Duke of Edinburgh.
[23622] However, the process by which this might
happen is not simple, and will almost certainly not involve Edward
directly inheriting the title from his father. Like any normal
dukedom, the present Dukedom of Edinburgh passes to the heirs-male
of the first duke, and Edward is currently fifth in this line of
succession, following his two older brothers and his two
nephews.
Rather, when the present duke dies, the dukedom will be inherited
by his eldest son,
Charles,
Prince of Wales (or his heir, if he is deceased). If Charles is
not yet king when this occurs, he would add "Duke of Edinburgh,
Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich" to his own
list of
titles. Only after Charles (or his heir) has both inherited the
title of Duke of Edinburgh
and ascended the throne would
the present creation merge in the crown.
Presuming that there is no intention to call a new creation of the
Dukedom into being while the current remains living, then, Edward
will not become Duke of Edinburgh until after the death of both his
parents. At that time the monarch of the day (although in no way
legally bound to do so) will presumably carry out the announced
scheme.
Dukes of Edinburgh, first Creation (1726)
subsidiary titles:
Marquess
of the Isle of Ely;
Earl of
Eltham;
Viscount of
Launceston;
Baron of Snaudon
Dukes of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1764)
subsidiary title:
Earl of
Connaught (in the
Peerage of
Ireland)
Dukes of Edinburgh, second Creation (1866)
subsidiary titles:
Earl of Kent;
Earl of Ulster
Dukes of Edinburgh, third Creation (1947)
subsidiary titles:
Earl of
Merioneth,
Baron Greenwich
Line of succession to the Edinburgh dukedom
It was announced at the time of the marriage of HRH The Earl of
Wessex that he would inherit the Dukedom of Edinburgh. However the
line of succession according to succession in the Peerages of the
United Kingdom would be:-
Dukes of Edinburgh, in fiction
Prince Edmund (1461–1498)
in the BBC historical comedy television series
The Black Adder.
Rowan Atkinson played the fictional Prince
Edmund Plantagenet, Duke of Edinburgh, Laird of
Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles,
Lord Warden of the Royal Privies,
Archbishop of Canterbury, who was
the illegitimate son of Donald MacAngus, third duke of Argyll and
Queen
Gertrude of Flanders.
Prince Edmund was therefore the stepson of
King Richard IV (a fictionalised version of
Richard of
Shrewsbury, Duke of York).
In Tom Clancy's novel Patriot games Duke of Edinburgh is
mentioned.
See also
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