Jump to content

Duke of St Albans

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 219.18.178.21 (talk) at 14:29, 28 January 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The title Duke of St Albans was created in the Peerage of England in 1684 for the 1st Earl of Burford when he was fourteen years old. King Charles II had accepted that Burford was his illegitimate son by Eleanor Gwynn (commonly known as 'Nell') an actress, and awarded him the Dukedom just as he had awarded the Dukedoms of Monmouth, Richmond, Lennox, Southampton and Grafton on his other illegitimate sons.

The subsidiary titles of the Duke are: Earl of Burford, in the County of Oxford (1676), Baron Heddington, in the County of Oxford (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 of St Albans also bear the hereditary title of Grand Falconer of England.

The eldest son and heir of the Duke of St Albans is known by the courtesy title Earl of Burford, and Lord Burford's eldest son and heir is known as Lord Vere.

Recent Dukes of St Albans have not held a landed estate. Former seats of the Dukes of St Albans were Bestwood in Nottinghamshire and Upper Gatton in Surrey.

Dukes of St Albans (1684)

The coat of arms of the Dukes of St Albans (a baton sinister on the arms of King Charles II, denoting illegitimacy).

Heir Apparent: Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, Earl of Burford (b. 1965)
Lord Burford's Heir Apparent: James Malcolm Aubrey Edward de Vere Beauclerk, Lord Vere (b. 1995)

Barons Vere (1750)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duke_of_St_Albans&oldid=187469415"