Category Archives: British Royals

Sir Charles Grey, Private Secretary to Queen Victoria

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Sir Charles Grey, by Maull & Polyblank, albumen carte-de-visite, 1860s. source: National Portrait Gallery, NPG Ax68094

General The Hon. Sir Charles Grey was Private Secretary to Queen Victoria from 1861 until 1870. Queen Victoria did not have an official Private Secretary until she appointed General Charles Grey to the office in 1861. Lord Melbourne informally served as Private Secretary while he was Prime Minister from 1837 – 1840. Prince Albert then informally served as Private Secretary from 1840 until his death in 1861. The official position of Private Secretary came about because it was realized that the monarch was in need of advice and support because the growth of the government had caused the government ministers to have insufficient time to provide daily advice and support. It was traditional for Queen Victoria’s Private Secretaries to be provided with homes at her various residences including apartments in the Norman Tower at Windsor Castle, apartments in St. James’s Palace in London, and Osborne Cottage on the grounds of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight.

Sir Charle Grey was born at Howick Hall in Howick, Northumberland, England on March 15, 1804, to Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey and The Hon. Mary Ponsonby. His father would later serve as Prime Minister from 1830-1834, and is the person for whom ‘Earl Grey Tea’ is named. Charles had fourteen siblings:

  • Lady Louisa Grey (1797) – married John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, had issue
  • Lady Elizabeth Grey (1798) – married John Crocker Bulteel, had issue
  • Lady Caroline Grey (1799) – married Captain George Barrington, had issue
  • Lady Georgiana Grey (1801) – unmarried
  • Henry Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (1802) – married Maria Copley, no issue
  • Admiral Sir Frederick Grey (1805) – married Barbarina Sullivan, no issue
  • Lady Mary Grey (1807) – married Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax, had issue
  • The Hon. William Grey (1808) – died in childhood
  • Admiral The Hon. George Grey (1809) – married Jane Stuart, had issue
  • The Hon. Thomas Grey (1810) – died in childhood
  • Rev. John Grey (1812) – married (1) Lady Georgiana Hervey, had issue; (2) Helen Spalding, no issue
  • Rev. Francis Grey (1813) – married Lady Elizabeth Howard, no issue
  • Captain The Hon. Henry Grey (1814) – unmarried
  • The Hon. William Grey (1819) – married Theresa Stedink, no issue

Charles also had a half-sister, Eliza Courtney (born February 1792), who was the daughter of his father and Georgiana Cavendish (née Spencer), The Duchess of Devonshire, who was married. Charles’s father and the Duchess had an affair prior to his marriage, and she became pregnant. The Duchess traveled to France to give birth and returned to England in September 1793. Upon returning, Eliza was raised by her paternal grandparents as though she was one of their own children. She never learned of her true parentage until after the death of the Duchess of Devonshire in 1806. Eliza is an ancestress of Sarah, Duchess of York.

In addition to his father’s service in the government, several of Charles’s family members also served in the royal household. His sister Caroline served as a Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria from 1837-1875, as well as being Lady Superintendent (Governess) to The Queen’s daughters.  His niece, Mary Bulteel, was a Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria from 1853-1861 before marrying Sir Henry Ponsonby (who would later succeed Charles as Private Secretary to Queen Victoria). Another niece, Alice, Countess of Morton, was an Extra Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Alexandra from 1901-1907.

After receiving a private education, Charles joined the British Army in 1820, and over the next 45 years, quickly rose through the ranks, reaching the rank of General in 1865. He also served as a Member of Parliament from 1832 until 1837, when he retired following Queen Victoria’s accession.

Caroline Eliza Grey (née Farquhar), by Elliott & Fry, albumen carte-de-visite, 1876. source: National Portrait Gallery, NPG x196260

On July 26, 1836, Charles married Caroline Eliza Farquhar, the daughter of Sir Thomas Farquhar, 2nd Baronet, and Sybella Rockcliffe. Caroline would later serve as an Extra Woman of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria from 1870-1890. The couple had six children:

John Lambton, 1st Earl of Dunham, Charles’s brother-in-law. source: Wikipedia

In 1837, he was appointed as an Equerry to The Queen, serving in that role until 1867. The following year, in 1838, Charles accompanied his brother-in-law, The Earl of Durham, to Canada where the Earl was appointed Governor-General. Charles was named a member of the Executive Council and Special Council for Lower Canada, serving from June to November 1838. After returning to Britain, he continued with his military service.

Charles Grey (far right) in a group photo taken at Balmoral, September 1858. Pictured l-r: Colonel Robert Bruce, Mr. Frederick Gibbs, Major Christopher Teesdale, HRH The Prince of Wales, Dr. Ernst Becker, Colonel Henry Ponsonby, General Charles Grey. source: Royal Collection Trust RCIN 2906725

In October 1849, Charles was appointed Private Secretary to Prince Albert. He was given apartments at St. James’s Palace and lived in the Norman Tower at Windsor Castle, and at Osborne Cottage at Osborne House, and his children grew up as playmates of some of Victoria and Albert’s children. Over the next twelve years, he became an influential member of the royal household and a close confidante and advisor to Prince Albert. Following Albert’s death in 1861, Charles seamlessly moved into the position of Private Secretary to The Queen – a role which had largely been filled by Prince Albert since he and Victoria married in 1840. He was aided in his duties as Private Secretary by Sir Charles Phipps until Phipps’ death in 1866. During the nine years Charles served as Private Secretary, he would become a great source of support to The Queen, particularly in her darkest days of mourning in the weeks and months following Albert’s death.  In addition, from 1866-1867, Charles served with Col. Thomas Myddelton-Biddulph as Keeper of the Privy Purse.

General The Hon. Sir Charles Grey died on March 31, 1870. He is buried in St. Michael and All Angels Churchyard at Howick Hall in Howick, Northumberland, England.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Recommended Book – Serving Queen Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard

Princess Royal

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Anne, Princess Royal; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Royal is a title usually granted to the eldest daughter of the Sovereign when the previous Princess Royal is no longer living. The title Princess Royal is not created by Letters Patent but is granted by a warrant through the College of Arms.  When and if an eligible princess is created Princess Royal is at the discretion of the Sovereign.

The holder of the title is styled Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal. The current Princess Royal is Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II. The next possible Princess Royal is Princess Charlotte of Cambridge. She could become Princess Royal after Anne’s death, providing her father Prince William, Duke of Cambridge is King.

History

      
The seven women who have been Princess Royal: Mary, Anne, Charlotte, Victoria, Louise. Mary, and Anne; Credit – Wikipedia

During the reign of King Henri IV of France, his eldest daughter Elisabeth was known as Madame Royale before her marriage, indicating her status as the eldest and most senior unmarried daughter of the king. After Elisabeth’s marriage, her next sister Christine became Madame Royale. When Christine married, her younger sister Henrietta Maria became Madame Royale.

In 1625, Henrietta Maria of France married King Charles I of England. She wanted to imitate the way the eldest unmarried daughter of the King of France was styled Madame Royale and so her eldest daughter Mary was created Princess Royal in 1642. In the English version, the holders retain the title for life so an eligible princess cannot receive the title during the lifetime of another Princess Royal. Queen Elizabeth II could have been created Princess Royal but her aunt Mary, Princess Royal lived until 1965, thirteen years into her niece’s reign.

Mary, the first Princess Royal; Credit – Wikipedia

The Princesses Royal

Name Years Princess Royal Parent

Husband

Mary, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange (1631 – 1660)

 1642 – 1660 King Charles I

Willem II, Prince of Orange

Anne, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange (1709 – 1759)

 1727 – 1759 King George II

Willem IV, Prince of Orange

Charlotte, Princess Royal, Queen of Württemberg (1766 – 1828)

 1789 – 1828 King George III

Friedrich I, King of Württemberg

Victoria, Princess Royal, German Empress (1840 – 1901)

 1841 – 1901 Queen Victoria

Friedrich III, German Emperor

Louise, Princess Royal, Duchess of Fife (1867- 1931)

 1905 – 1931 King Edward VII

Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife

Mary, Princess Royal, Countess of Harewood (1897 – 1965)

 1932 – 1965 King George V

Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood

Anne, Princess Royal (born 1950)

 1987 – present Queen Elizabeth II

Mark Phillips

Timothy Laurence

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Sir Charles Phipps

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Col. The Honourable Sir Charles Phipps, c1859. source: Royal Collection Trust RCIN 2910608

Sir Charles Phipps

Sir Charles Beaumont Phipps held several positions in the Royal Household of Queen Victoria from 1846 until 1866. He aided Sir Charles Grey in his duties as Private Secretary to Queen Victoria after the death of Prince Albert in 1861 until his death in 1866. Charles was born on December 27, 1801 at Mulgrave Castle in Yorkshire, the second son of Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave and Martha Maling. His siblings included:

  • Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby (1797) – married The Hon. Maria Liddell, had issue. Maria Liddell served as a Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Victoria from 1837-1841, and her sister, Georgiana Liddell, was a Maid of Honour from 1841-1845.
  • The Hon. Edmund Phipps (1808) – married Maria Campbell, had issue
  • The Hon. Augustus Phipps (1809) – married Lady Mary FitzRoy, had issue
  • Lady Lepell Charlotte Phipps – married Sir John Wallis Alexander, 4th Baronet, no issue

After his education at Harrow, Charles joined the British Army in August 1820, serving in the Scots Fusilier Guards. Over the next 34 years, he advanced in rank, retiring in 1854 with the rank of Colonel, although he had been unattached from the military for several years.

In 1832, Charles’ elder brother, Constantine was appointed Governor of Jamaica. Charles accompanied him and served as his private secretary. Three years later, he accompanied Constantine to his new appointment as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, this time serving as Steward of his household.

That same year, on June 25, 1835, Charles married Margaret Anne Bathurst, the daughter of the Right Reverend Henry Bathurst and Grace Coote. Charles and Margaret had four children:

  • Maria Phipps (1836) – married (1) Captain Frederick Sayer, had issue; (2) Lt. Col. WIlliam Chaine, had issue
  • Harriet Lepel Phipps (1841) – unmarried
  • Charles Phipps (1844) – married Susan Geddes, had issue
  • Albert Phipps (1847) – unmarried

The Phipps Family at Balmoral, August 1860. Sir Charles with (l-r) his younger son Albert, daughter Maria, wife Margaret, and daughter Harriet. source: Royal Collection Trust RCIN 2906852

Three of Charles’ children also served in the Royal Household. His eldest daughter Maria served as Keeper of the State Apartments at Kensington Palace, and her husband served as Marshal of the Ceremonies and then Assistant Master of the Ceremonies to Queen Victoria from 1881 until 1901. His second daughter, Harriet, served as a Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria from 1862 until 1869, and then as a Woman of the Bedchamber from 1889 until 1901. And his son, Charles, served as a Page of Honour and Groom-in-Waiting to The Queen.

The Prince Consort and The Prince of Wales with guests at Buckingham Palace, April 1857. (l-r) Sir Charles Phipps, Mr. Frederick Gibbs, The Prince of Wales, The Prince Consort, Baron Christian Stockmar, Dr. Ernst Becker, Baron Ernst Stockmar. source: Royal Collection Trust RCIN 2932751

On August 1, 1846, Charles was appointed Equerry in Ordinary to Queen Victoria, beginning his nearly 20 years of royal service. Just five months later, on January 1, 1847, he became Private Secretary to Prince Albert, serving for nearly three years. He resigned on October 10, 1849 to become Keeper of the Privy Purse, a position he held until his death in 1866. He was also appointed Treasurer and Cofferer to The Prince of Wales, and Treasurer to Prince Albert.

In December 1861, Prince Albert died at Windsor Castle. Sir Charles Grey – who had replaced Charles as private secretary to the Prince in 1849 – was named Private Secretary to The Queen. Charles assisted him in this role, although he was never officially titled as Private Secretary himself. In May 1862 he was appointed Receiver-General of the Duchy of Cornwall, and in January 1863 was appointed to the Council of the Prince of Wales. In February 1864 he was also appointed Secretary, Chamberlain, and Receiver-General and Keeper of the Signet to The Prince of Wales, in his role as Prince and Steward of Scotland.

After developing bronchitis, Sir Charles Phipps died at St. James’s Palace in London, England on February 24, 1866. He is buried in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Recommended Book – Serving Queen Victoria: Life in the Royal Household by Kate Hubbard

Royal Dukes

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

                 
(Prior to the accession of King Charles III in September 2022) – Coronet of the Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay; Coronet of the Duke of Cambridge and Duke of Sussex; Coronet of the late Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of York; Coronet of the Duke of Gloucester and Duke of Kent; Credit – By SodacanThis W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Inkscape. – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10963941

Duke is the highest title in the British peerage. A royal duke is a member of the British royal family, who is entitled to the style and title of His Royal Highness Prince <First Name> and who also has been created a duke. Usually, royal dukedoms are created when a Sovereign’s son or a Sovereign’s male-line grandson reaches the age of majority or marries.

Royal dukes are created by a Letters Patent from the Sovereign. All Letters Patent for royal dukes have followed the one below for the Duke of Edinburgh created by King George VI.

The KING has been pleased by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm, bearing date the 20th of November 1947, to confer the dignity of a Duke of the United Kingdom upon Lieutenant His Royal Highness Sir Philip Mountbatten, K.G., R.N., and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, by the name, style and title of BARON GREENWICH, of Greenwich in the County of London, EARL OF MERIONETH, and DUKE OF EDINBURGH.

The phrase “the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten” means that the eldest surviving son of a lawful marriage shall inherit the title. Heirs of peerages use a subsidiary title of the title holder as a courtesy title. For instance, the heir of Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester uses the subsidiary title Earl of Ulster as a courtesy title. Heirs that are HRH Prince do not use subsidiary titles. Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor, the son of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is the heir apparent to his father’s Dukedom of Sussex, Earldom of Dumbarton, and Barony of Kilkeel. Earl of Dumbarton would be the courtesy title. However, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex instead decided that their son would be styled as Master Archie Mountbatten-Windsor in accordance with their wish that he should live his life as a private citizen.  (This changed following the accession of King Charles III, when Archie became Prince Archie of Sussex, as a male-line grandchild of the Sovereign.)

The Dukedoms of Gloucester and Kent are now in their second generation. The heirs to these dukedoms are great-grandsons of a Sovereign and are not entitled to the style and title of HRH Prince. Instead, they are styled with their fathers’ senior subsidiary title. When they inherit the dukedom from their royal fathers, it will cease to be a royal dukedom.

The heirs of the current royal dukes are

Current Royal Dukes

Dukedom Name Year Created Subsidiary Titles
Duke of Cambridge Prince William, The Prince of Wales 2011

Earl of Strathearn

Baron Carrickfergus
Duke of Sussex Prince Harry 2018

Earl of Dumbarton

Baron Kilkeel
Duke of York Prince Andrew 1986

Earl of Inverness

Baron Killyleagh
Duke of Gloucester Prince Richard 1928, for his father Prince Henry, son of King George V

Earl of Ulster

Baron Culloden
Duke of Kent Prince Edward 1934, for his father Prince George, son of King George V

Earl of St Andrews

Baron Downpatrick
Duke of Edinburgh Prince Edward 2023

Earl of Wessex

Earl of Forfar

Viscount Severn

Royal dukes are styled HRH The Duke of (X) and their wives are styled HRH The Duchess of (X). The royal eldest son of a royal duke does not use the subsidiary title of his father as is the practice in dukes of the British peerage. All royal children of a royal duke are styled HRH Prince/Princess <First Name> of (X).

On his wedding day in 1999, Prince Edward, the youngest child of Queen Elizabeth II, was created Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn, breaking with the tradition of a dukedom being granted to the son of the Sovereign upon marriage. However, it was announced that Prince Edward will eventually be granted the Dukedom of Edinburgh, his late father’s title, at such time when it has reverted back to the Crown. In 2019, on the Earl of Wessex’s 55th birthday, it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II had granted him another title, Earl of Forfar, named after Forfar, a town in Angus, Scotland. When in Scotland, Edward and his wife Sophie will be known as TRH The Earl and Countess of Forfar. On March 10, 2023, Prince Edward was created Duke of Edinburgh by King Charles III.

At the time of the wedding of Prince Edward and Sophie Rhys-Jones, it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II had decided, in agreement with the wishes of the couple, that any children of their marriage would not use the style Royal Highness and the title Prince or Princess. Instead, any children would have courtesy titles of sons and daughters of an Earl. While the parents were styled HRH The Earl of Wessex and HRH The Countess of Wessex, their daughter was and still is styled The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and their son was styled Viscount Severn, his father’s subsidiary title. Upon their father being created Duke of Edinburgh, James will now use his father’s highest subsidiary title and will be styled James, Earl of Wessex.

Duke of Cornwall is a secondary title of the Sovereign’s eldest living son in England and Duke of Rothesay is a secondary title of the Sovereign’s eldest son and heir apparent in Scotland. Both titles are currently held by William, The Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King Charles III. They are automatic titles and when King Charles III succeeded to the throne his eldest son William automatically become Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay. See the articles Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay for a list of those dukes.

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History

King Edward III started creating his sons Dukes; Credit – Wikipedia

After the Norman Conquest in 1066, monarchs began to bestow peerages on their sons almost immediately. Prior to King Edward III, Earl was the title bestowed unless the title was foreign such as Duke of Normandy or Count of Poitiers.  Through the years, grandsons, brothers, and other male relatives of Sovereigns have also been created peers but the list below only includes sons of Sovereigns.

  • William I sons: Duke of Normandy (French)
  • Henry I sons: legitimate son had no title, illegitimate sons were Earl of Gloucester, Earl of Cornwall
  • Stephen sons: no English titles, Count of Boulogne
  • Henry II sons: no English titles; William: Count of Poitiers; Henry: the Young King; Richard:
  • Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Poitiers, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany; Geoffrey: Duke of Brittany; John: Lord of Ireland
  • John sons: Earl of Cornwall
  • Henry III sons: Earl of Lancaster, Earl of Leicester
  • Edward I sons: Earl of Cornwall, Earl of Chester, Earl of Norfolk, Earl of Kent
  • Edward II sons: Earl of Cornwall
  • Edward III sons: Duke of Clarence, Duke of Lancaster, Duke of York, Duke of Gloucester
  • Henry IV sons: Duke of Clarence, Duke of Bedford, Duke of Gloucester
  • Edward IV sons: Duke of York, Duke of Bedford
  • Richard III son: Earl of Salisbury
  • Henry VII son: Duke of York
  • Henry VIII: illegitimate son Duke of Richmond
  • James I sons: Duke of Kintyre (Scottish title)
  • Charles I sons: Duke of York (James II), Duke of Gloucester
  • Charles II illegitimate sons: Duke of Monmouth, Duke of Southampton, Duke of Cleveland, Duke of Grafton, Duke of Northumberland, Duke of Richmond and Duke of Lennox
  • James II’s sons: Duke of Cambridge (four sons), Duke of Kendal, Duke of Berwick (illegitimate son), Duke of Albemarle (illegitimate son)
  • Anne’s son: Duke of Gloucester
  • George I son: Duke of Cambridge
  • George II son: Duke of Cumberland
  • George III sons: Duke of York, Duke of Albany, Duke of Clarence, Duke of St. Andrews, Duke of Kent, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, Duke of Sussex, Duke of Cambridge
  • William IV illegitimate sons: Earl of Munster (only eldest son had a title; others were styled as Lord)
  • Victoria sons: Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Connaught, Duke of Albany
  • Edward VII sons: Duke of Clarence and Avondale, Duke of York
  • George V sons: Duke of York, Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Kent, Duke of Windsor
  • Elizabeth II sons: Duke of York, Earl of Wessex
  • Charles III sons: Duke of Cambridge, Duke of Sussex

Beginning with King George I and the House of Hanover the use of royal duke titles became more consistent. Below is a list of royal dukes since 1707.

Name Royal Lineage Royal Dukedom(s)
George, later King George II only son of King George I Duke of Cambridge
Frederick, Prince of Wales 1st son of King George II Duke of Edinburgh
William Augustus 3rd son of King George II Duke of Cumberland
George, later King George III 1st son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, grandson of King George II Duke of Edinburgh
Edward Augustus 2nd son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, grandson of King George II Duke of York and Albany
William Henry 3rd son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, grandson of King George II Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh
Henry Frederick 4th son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, grandson of King George II Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn
Frederick 2nd son of King George III Duke of York and Albany
William, later King William IV 3rd son of King George III Duke of Clarence and St Andrews
Edward 4th son of King George III Duke of Kent and Strathearn
Ernest Augustus, later King of Hanover 5th son of King George III Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale
Augustus 6th son of King George III Duke of Sussex
Adolphus 7th son of King George III Duke of Cambridge
William Frederick only son of William Henry, great-grandson of King George II Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh
George, later George V, King of Hanover only son of Ernest Augustus, grandson of King George III Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale
George only son of Adolphus, grandson of King George III Duke of Cambridge
Alfred 2nd son of Queen Victoria Duke of Edinburgh
Arthur 3rd son of Queen Victoria Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Leopold 4th son of Queen Victoria Duke of Albany
Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick only son of George V, King of Hanover, great-grandson of King George III Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, deprived of British titles by the Titles Deprivation Act
Albert Victor 1st son of King Edward VII Duke of Clarence and Avondale
George, later King George V 2nd son of King Edward VII Duke of York
Carl Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha only son of Leopold, grandson of Queen Victoria Duke of Albany, deprived of British titles by the Titles Deprivation Act
Albert, later King George VI 2nd son of King George V Duke of York
Henry 3rd son of King George V Duke of Gloucester
George 4th son of King George V Duke of Kent
Alastair only son of Prince Arthur of Connaught, grandson of Arthur, Duke of Connaught, great-grandson of Queen Victoria Duke of Connaught and Strathearn
Philip, born Prince of Greece and Denmark husband of Queen Elizabeth II, female-line great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria Duke of Edinburgh
Richard 2nd son of Henry, grandson of King George V Duke of Gloucester
Edward 1st son of George, grandson of King George V Duke of Kent
Andrew 2nd son of Queen Elizabeth II Duke of York
Edward 3rd son of Queen Elizabeth II Earl of Wessex
William 1st son of King Charles III, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II Duke of Cambridge
Harry 2nd son of King Charles III, grandson of Queen Elizabeth II Duke of Sussex
Edward 3rd son of Queen Elizabeth II, brother of King Charles III Duke of Edinburgh

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Credit – Wikipedia

Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom once during the reign of Queen Victoria: March 1894 – June 1895. Born on May 7, 1847 at his parents’ house on Charles Street in Mayfair, London, he was the eldest of the two sons and the third of the four children of Archibald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny and Lady Wilhelmina Stanhope (1819–1901), a historian and genealogist, the daughter of Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope. Primrose’s father used the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny as the heir of his father Archibald Primrose, 4th Earl of Rosebery.

Unfortunately, during the Christmas season of 1859, Rosebery’s father Lord Dalmeny was ill with pleurisy and during his recovery, he died of heart failure on January 23, 1851, at the age of 41. At that time 3 ½-year-old Rosebery became the heir to his grandfather’s peerage and was styled Lord Dalmeny. Upon his grandfather’s death in 1868, 21-year-old Rosebery became the 5th Earl of Rosebery.

Rosebery’s mother, born Lady Wilhelmina Stanhope, was a Maid of Honor at Queen Victoria’s coronation and one of the bridesmaids at her wedding. After her first husband’s death, she married again in 1854 to Lord Harry Vane, youngest son of William Vane, 1st Duke of Cleveland who succeeded his brother as Duke of Cleveland in 1864, and changed his surname to Powlett. Wilhelmina was a historian and among her works were three volumes of The Battle Abbey Roll with some Account of the Norman Lineages, short histories concerning the origins of several hundred English families of Norman origin.

Rosebery had three siblings:

  • Lady Mary Catherine Constance Primrose (1844 – 1935), married Henry Walter Hope-Scott, had one child
  • Lady Constance Evelyn Primrose (1846 – 1939), married Henry Wyndham, 2nd Baron Leconfield, had nine children
  • Everard Henry Primrose (1848–1885), Colonel in the Grenadier Guards and the Military Attaché at Vienna, unmarried

After attending preparatory schools in Hertfordshire and Brighton, Rosebery attended Eton College from 1860 – 1863. He then attended Brighton College between 1863 and 1865 and then entered Christ Church, Oxford, graduating in 1869. When his grandfather died in 1868, Rosebery was eligible to sit in the House of Lords as in 1828, his grandfather had been created 1st Baron Rosebery in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The Earl of Rosebery was a Scottish peerage and Peerages of Scotland did not automatically entitle their holders a seat in the House of Lords.

Credit – Wikipedia

Rosebery literally had the good fortune to marry Hannah de Rothschild, the only child and sole heiress of Baron Mayer Amschel de Rothschild. Upon the death of her father in 1874, 23-year-old Hannah was the richest woman in the United Kingdom, inheriting Mentmore Towers which was a large country house in Buckinghamshire, a London mansion, a large art collection, and assets of more than two million pounds.

On March 20, 1878, Rosebery and Hannah were married at the Board Room of Guardians in Mount Street, London, and had a blessing at Christ Church in Down Street, Piccadilly, London. Rosebery’s mother was horrified at the thought of her son marrying a Jewish woman, even a Rothschild. No male member of the Rothschild family attended the wedding. However, the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) and Queen Victoria’s cousin Prince George, Duke of Cambridge attended and Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli gave the bride away. Rosebery felt that raising their children in the Jewish faith was an impassable barrier at this time and his four children were raised in the Church of England.

Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery by George Frederick Watts. After her death, Rosebery always traveled with this portrait; Credit – Wikipedia

While Hannah gave Rosebery wealth, he gave his Jewish wife an entrance into the aristocracy, something that her wealth could not buy because of anti-Semitism. The Countess of Rosebery supported her husband in his political career and became a philanthropist concentrating on public health, especially with working-class Jewish women living in the poorer parts of London.

Sadly, Hannah died from typhoid fever on November 19, 1890, at the age of 39. She was also suffering from nephritis, a kidney disease, which had greatly weakened her condition, and would have killed her within two years. Hannah was buried following the rites of the Jewish religion and was buried with her birth family at Willesden Jewish Cemetery in London. Only male mourners attended the funeral service which included most of Prime Minister William Gladstone’s cabinet. Hannah’s death was particularly difficult for Rosebery. He confessed to Queen Victoria in a letter of the great pain he suffered when “another creed steps in to claim the corpse.”

Tomb of Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1881, Rosebery was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department by Prime Minister William Gladstone who owed Rosebery in part for the electoral success of the Liberal Party in 1880. He was appointed Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs in the new Gladstone Government in February 1886 but resigned in July with Gladstone. He served again as Secretary of State of Foreign Affairs in 1892-1894.

In early 1894, the 84-year-old Gladstone retired from active politics, almost blind and hard of hearing. However, Queen Victoria, who rejected the other leading Liberals, did not ask Gladstone who should succeed him but sent for Rosebery. His term as Prime Minister was unsuccessful. On June 21, 1895, Rosebery’s Government lost a vote in committee on army supply by just seven votes. Rosebery saw this as a vote of censure on his government and resigned as Prime Minister and in October 1896, he resigned as leader of the Liberal Party. In 1911, Rosebery made his last appearance in the House of Lords.

Captain The Honorable Neil Primrose; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 15, 1917, Rosebery’s youngest child 34-year-old Neil died from wounds received in action at Gezer, Palestine while leading his squadron against Turkish positions on the Abu Shusha Ridge during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the Third Battle of Gaza. He was buried in the Ramleh Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery now in Ramla, Israel. Neil had followed his father into politics and was elected in 1910 as a Member of Parliament for Wisbech. He served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury. In June 1917, he became a member of the Privy Council. See Unofficial Royalty: November 1917: Royalty and World War I.

Rosebery in 1918; Credit – Wikipedia

A few days before the World War I Armistice (November 11, 1918), Rosebery suffered a stroke. While he regained his mental faculties, his movement, hearing, and sight remained impaired for the rest of his life. Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery died at one of his homes, The Durdans in Epsom, Surrey, England on May 21, 1929, at the age of 82. He was buried at the Dalmeny Parish Church in Dalmeny, Scotland near Dalmeny House, the ancestral seat of the Earls of Rosebery.

Dalmeny Parish Church; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Baird, Julia. Victoria The Queen. Random House, 2016.
  • De.wikipedia.org. (2018). Archibald Primrose, 5. Earl of Rosebery. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Primrose,_5._Earl_of_Rosebery [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_Primrose,_5th_Earl_of_Rosebery [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Hannah Primrose, Countess of Rosebery. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Primrose,_Countess_of_Rosebery [Accessed 3 Aug. 2018].
  • Erickson, Carolly. Her Little Majesty: The Life of Queen Victoria.Simon and Schuster, 1997.
  • Hubbard, Kate. Serving Victoria: Life In The Royal Household. Harper Collins Publishers, 2012

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Credit – Wikipedia

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the reign of Queen Victoria three times: 1885 – 1886, 1886 – 1892 and 1895 – 1902. Born on February 3, 1830 at Hatfield House in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, England, he was the third of the four sons and the fifth of the six children of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury and his first wife Frances Mary Gascoyne, daughter of Bamber Gascoyne, Member of Parliament for Liverpool from 1780 to 1796. Salisbury had two older brothers. James Gascoyne-Cecil, Viscount Cranborne, a historian and the heir to their father until he died unmarried at the age of 43 and Lord Arthur who had died in early childhood. Upon his father’s death in 1868, Salisbury succeeded him as the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.

Salisbury had five siblings:

Salisbury had five half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Lady Mary Catherine Sackville-West, daughter of  George Sackville-West, 5th Earl De La Warr.

  • Lord Sackville Cecil (1848 – 1898), died unmarried
  • Lady Arabella Cecil (1850 – 1903), married Alan Stewart, 10th Earl of Galloway, no children
  • Lady Margaret Elizabeth Cecil (1850 – 1919), died unmarried
  • Lord Arthur Cecil (1851 – 1913), married (1) Elizabeth Ann Wilson, had two sons; (2) Frederica von Klenck
  • Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Lionel Cecil (1853 – 1901), died unmarried

Salisbury was a male-line descendant of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, the chief advisor of Queen Elizabeth I for most of her reign, and his son Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, who succeeded his father as the advisor of Queen Elizabeth I and served in the same capacity during the early years of King James I’s reign. Hatfield House, Salisbury’s birthplace, built by Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, has been the home of the Cecil family ever since.

Hatfield House; Credit – By Allan Engelhardt – Hatfield House, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4585384

After attending a preparatory school near Hatfield, ten-year-old Salisbury went to Eton College where he was unmercifully bullied. With the permission of his father, Salisbury withdrew from Eton when he was fifteen years old and was then educated by a tutor at his family home, Hatfield House. Memories of the bullying, remained with him his whole life and had a profound effect upon his personality. In January 1848, Salisbury enrolled at Christ Church, Oxford and majored in mathematics. He joined the Oxford Union, a debating society, where he developed a bitter and ironic debating technique he later used in Parliament. While at Oxford, Salisbury was ill and depressed, perhaps an effect of the bullying, left early, and received an honorary fourth class in mathematics conferred by nobleman’s privilege due to ill health. After leaving Oxford, Salisbury spent some time traveling and recovering his health, and observing the situations in the British colonies of Cape Colony, Australia, and New Zealand.

In 1853, Salisbury won an election and became a Conservative Member of Parliament for the constituency of Stamford in Lincolnshire. He retained this seat until he succeeded his father as 3rd Marquess of Salisbury and as a peer, had to move to the House of Lords.

Georgina Gascoyne-Cecil, Marchioness of Salisbury, Credit – Wikipedia

Salisbury’s father wanted him to marry a rich heiress but instead, in 1857, he married Georgina Alderson, daughter of Sir Edward Alderson, a judge and of lower social status than the Cecils. Because of his marriage, Salisbury was cut off from the Cecil family’s money and had to support his family through journalism. However, he later reconciled with his father.

Salisbury and his wife had eight children:

Salisbury served in a number of Conservative Cabinets: Secretary of State for India (1866 – 1867, 1874 – 1878), Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1878 – 1880, 1885 – 1886, 1887 – 1892, 1895 – 1900). Three times when William Gladstone from the Liberal Party was Prime Minister, Salisbury served as Leader of the Opposition (1881 – 1885, January – July 1886, and 1892 – 1895).

Salisbury first became Prime Minister in June 1885 when William Gladstone’s Liberal government was unexpectedly defeated on a budget vote. Gladstone resigned as Prime Minister and Salisbury formed a minority Conservative government. Salisbury was Prime Minister when Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901. However, Salisbury was in failing health and did not last as Prime Minister much longer. On July 11, 1902, ill and still broken-hearted over the death of his wife who had died in late 1899, Salisbury retired and was succeeded by Arthur Balfour, his nephew, the son of his sister Blanche.

Lord Salisbury; Credit – Wikipedia

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury died at the age of 73 at Hatfield House on August 22, 1903, a little more than one year after retiring. Salisbury, Queen Victoria’s last Prime Minister, was buried at St. Etheldreda’s Church in Hatfield, where William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s first Prime Minister, is also buried.

Tomb of Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury; Credit – By Gareth E Kegg – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35707528

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Baird, Julia. Victoria The Queen. Random House, 2016.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Gascoyne-Cecil,_3rd_Marquess_of_Salisbury [Accessed 2 Aug. 2018].
  • Ja.wikipedia.org. (2018). ロバート・ガスコイン＝セシル (第3代ソールズベリー侯). [online] Available at: https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%90%E3%83%BC%E3%83%88%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AC%E3%82%B9%E3%82%B3%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%EF%BC%9D%E3%82%BB%E3%82%B7%E3%83%AB_(%E7%AC%AC3%E4%BB%A3%E3%82%BD%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB%E3%82%BA%E3%83%99%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E4%BE%AF) [Accessed 2 Aug. 2018].
  • Erickson, Carolly. Her Little Majesty: The Life of Queen Victoria.Simon and Schuster, 1997.
  • Hubbard, Kate. Serving Victoria: Life In The Royal Household. Harper Collins Publishers, 2012

Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Coat of Arms of the Duke of Rothesay: Credit – By SodacanThis W3C-unspecified vector image was created with Inkscape. – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12034664

Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland are titles that were held by the eldest living son who was also the heir apparent of the Stewart Kings of Scots. When Henry Frederick, the eldest son of James VI, King of Scots, was born at Stirling Castle in 1594, he automatically received those titles as the eldest living son and heir apparent of the King of Scots. In 1603, James VI, a double great-great-grandson of King Henry VII of England, succeeded Queen Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, as King James I of England.

His eldest son Henry Frederick was then not only heir to the throne of Scotland but also heir to the throne of England and then also held the English titles Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, and Duke of Cornwall. All those Scottish titles came along to England and now they are titles automatically bestowed upon the eldest living son of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Sadly, Henry Frederick died from typhoid fever when he was just 18-years-old. His brother, the ill-fated, future King Charles I, became the heir apparent.

Duke of Rothesay

William, the current Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland: Credit – Wikipedia

The title Duke of Rothesay was first created in 1398 for David Stewart, the eldest son and the heir apparent of Robert III, King of Scots. David died in 1402 and two years later, his brother James, the future James I, King of Scots, was created Duke of Rothesay. It appears that until 1469, the eldest sons of the King of Scots who were also their heirs apparent were created Duke of Rothesay.

In 1469, the Parliament of Scotland passed an act that governs the succession to the titles held by the eldest son of the King of Scots who is also the heir apparent. This act made succession to the titles automatic for the eldest son of the King of Scots who is also the heir apparent. After the union of Scotland and England in 1707, the titles Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland became automatic titles for the British Sovereign’s eldest son who was also the heir apparent. This practice continued with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Today, when the heir apparent of the United Kingdom is visiting Scotland, it is mandated that he and his wife use the titles Duke of Rothesay and Duchess of Rothesay.

Someday in the future, it is likely that there will be a female heir apparent to the British throne. The Succession to The Crown Act 2013, which formally went into effect on March 26, 2015, put in place absolute primogeniture, which means that for those born after October 28, 2011, the eldest child born becomes the heir to his or her parent, regardless of gender.

The Duke of Rothesay, just like the English title Duke of Cornwall, still relies on legislation hundreds of years old to determine the rights of the Duke of Rothesay. Like the Duke of Cornwall charter of 1337, the 1496 Act of the Parliament of Scotland makes it clear that the Duke of Rothesay must be the eldest son of the Sovereign who is also the heir apparent. Therefore, to have a Duchess of Rothesay, there must be legislation to change the original act.

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Earl of Carrick

Statue of Robert the Bruce outside Stirling Castle; Credit – By Wknight94 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2521768

The use of Earl of Carrick by Kings of Scots predates the Stewart Kings of Scots. Marjorie, the mother of the Scottish national hero Robert the Bruce who acceded to the Scottish throne in 1306 as Robert I, King of Scots, was the Countess of Carrick in her own right. In 1292, Marjorie, Countess of Carrick died and the Earldom of Carrick devolved upon her eldest son, Robert the Bruce. After a string of Bruces and Stewarts (note that the first Stewart king was the grandson of Robert the Bruce) were Earls of Carrick, the title finally settled in the royal Stewarts for good and came along with James VI, King of Scots’ son Henry Frederick to England.

Bruce Earls of Carrick

  • Robert the Bruce, Robert I, King of Scots: held the title from 1292 – 1314, then granted the title to his brother Edward
  • Edward Bruce, brother of Robert the Bruce: held the title from 1314 – 1318, died in battle without legitimate issue in 1318, title reverted to the crown
  • David Bruce, son of Robert the Bruce, Robert I, King of Scots: held the title from 1328–1330, became David II, King of Scots in 1329, granted the title to Alexander Bruce, the illegitimate son of his uncle Edward Bruce
  • Alexander Bruce, illegitimate son of Edward Bruce: held the title from 1330 – 1333, died in battle in 1333, title reverted to the crown

Stewart Earls of Carrick

  • John Stewart, son of Robert II, King of Scots, the first Stewart King of Scots, and also great-grandson of Robert I, King of Scots: granted the title by his great uncle David II, King of Scots in 1368, became Robert III, King of Scots in 1390
  • David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, eldest son of Robert III, King of Scots: granted the title by his father, held the title from 1390–1402, died without children, title reverted to the crown
  • James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, second son of Robert III, King of Scots: granted the title by his father in 1404, became James I, King of Scots in 1406

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Baron of Renfrew

James I, King of Scots, the first Baron of Renfrew; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1404, the future James I, King of Scots was created Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew by his father Robert III, King of Scots. Renfrew is a town close to Glasgow, Scotland, closely related to the early Stewarts. In the late 1800s, when The Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII, wanted to travel incognito, he used the name Lord Renfrew.

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Lord of the Isles

The Lord of the Isles title goes back to the Viking and Gaelic rulers of the west coast and islands of Scotland in the Middle Ages, who were vassals of the Kings of Norway, Ireland, or Scotland. During the period of the Stewart Kings of Scots, the predominant Scottish Lord of the Isles family was the MacDonalds. John MacDonald II, 4th Lord of the Isles, wanted to become an independent ruler and made a secret treaty in 1462 with King Edward IV of England.

In 1475, James III, King of Scots discovered what MacDonald had done and the Lordship was forfeited. MacDonald later regained the Lordship but James IV, King of Scots again deprived him of his titles in 1493 after his nephew provoked a rebellion. In 1540 James V, King of Scots granted the Lord of the Isles title to the heirs apparent of the throne of Scotland.

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Prince of Scotland

The title of Prince of Scotland was intended to be used in much the same way the title Prince of Wales was used to designate the heir apparent to the English throne, although the Scottish heir apparent was usually addressed only as Duke of Rothesay.

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Great Steward of Scotland

Marjorie Bruce’s effigy; Credit – By Stephencdickson – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62009437

The title of High Steward or Great Steward is an officer who controls the domestic affairs of the royal household. David I, King of Scots gave the title to Walter Fitz-Alan around 1150. His descendants adopted Steward or Stewart as a surname and then became the name of Scotland’s last royal house.

In 1315, Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I, King of Scots (Robert the Bruce) married Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland in 1315. On March 2, 1316, Marjorie, who was pregnant, was riding in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Her horse was suddenly startled and threw her to the ground. Marjorie went into premature labor and her child Robert was delivered by cesarean section at Paisley Abbey. Marjorie died within a few hours. She was 19 years old at the time of her death, like her mother, who was the same age when she died in childbirth delivering Marjorie, and like her mother, was also buried at Paisley Abbey. Her son became Robert II, King of Scots, the first King of Scots of the House of Stewart. Marjorie’s descendants include the House of Stewart, all their successors on the thrones of Scotland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom, and many other European royal families.

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Dukes of Rothesay

Until Queen Anne’s reign, the Stuart Kings and Queens of England were also King and Queens of Scots. In 1707, during the reign of Queen Anne, England and Scotland were formally united into Great Britain by the Acts of Union 1707. The sovereign then was King or Queen of Great Britain. In 1800, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was created by the Acts of Union 1800 and King George III went from being titled King of Great Britain to King of the United Kingdom.

(Years after the names are birth and death years, names in bold became King)

Duke of Rothesay

 Parent Other titles

David Stewart (1378 – 1402)

 Robert III, King of Scots

Earl of Atholl, Earl of Carrick (never became King)

James Stewart (1394  – 1437)

 Robert III, King of Scots

James I, King of Scots, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew

Alexander Stewart (born & died 1430), twin of James, below

 James I, King of Scots

No other titles (never became King)

James Stewart (1430 – 1460)

 James I, King of Scots

James II, King of Scots

James Stewart (1452 – 1488

 James II, King of Scots

James III, King of Scots

James Stewart (1473 – 1513)

 James III, King of Scots

James IV, King of Scots, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

James Stewart (1507 – 1508

 James IV, King of Scots

Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland (never became King)

Arthur Stewart (1509 – 1510)

 James IV, King of Scots

Duke of Albany, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland (never became King)

James Stewart (1512 – 1542)

 James IV, King of Scots

James V, King of Scots, Duke of Albany, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

James Stewart (1566 – 1625)

 Mary, Queen of Scots

James VI, King of Scots, James I, King of England, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

Henry Frederick Stuart (1594 – 1612)

 James VI, King of Scots, James I, King of England

Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland (never became King)

Charles Stuart (1600 – 1649)

 James VI, King of Scots, James I, King of England

Charles I, King of England and King of Scots, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Albany, Duke of York, Marquess of Ormond, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

Charles James Stuart (born & died 1629)

 Charles I, King of England and King of Scots

Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland (never became King)

Charles Stuart (1630 –  1685)

 Charles I, King of England and King of Scots

Charles II, King of England and King of Scots, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

James Francis Edward Stuart, The Old Pretender (1688 – 1766)

 James II, King of England and James VII, King of Scots

Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland (never became King)

Prince George (1683 – 1760)

 George II, King of Great Britain

George II, King of Great Britain, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Hereditary Prince of Hanover, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Cambridge, Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton, Baron Tewkesbury

Prince Frederick (1707 – 1751)

 George II, King of Great Britain

Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Edinburgh, Marquess of Ely, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Earl of Eltham, Viscount Launceston, Baron Snowdon (never became King)

Prince George (1762 – 1830)

 George III, King of the United Kingdom

George IV, King of the United Kingdom, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

Prince Albert Edward (1841 – 1910)

 Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom

Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Earl of Dublin

Prince George (1865 – 1936)

 Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom

George V, King of the United Kingdom, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killarney

Prince Edward (1894 – 1972)

 George V, King of the United Kingdom

Duke of Windsor, Edward VIII, King of the United Kingdom, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

Prince Charles (born 1948)

 Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom

Charles III, King of the United Kingdom, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

Prince William (born 1982)

 Charles III, King of the United Kingdom

Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, Baron Carrickfergus, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

 

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

William Ewart Gladstone, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

photographed by John Mayall, 1861; Credit – Wikipedia

William Ewart Gladstone served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom four times during the reign of Queen Victoria: 1868 – 1874, 1880 – 1885, February 1886 – July 1886 and 1892 – 1894. He was born December 29, 1809, at 62 Rodney Street in Liverpool, England, the fourth son and the fifth of the six children of merchant John Gladstone, and his second wife, Anne MacKenzie Robertson, who were both born in Scotland. In 1846, Gladstone’s father was made 1st Baronet of Fasque and Balfour. Gladstone had five siblings. All his brothers were also politicians. Thomas and John were Members of Parliament and Robertson was Mayor of Liverpool.

Gladstone was educated from 1816–1821 at a preparatory school at the vicarage of St. Thomas’ Church in Sefton, Merseyside, England, close to his family’s home, Seaforth House.  He then attended Eton College and finally Christ Church, Oxford, where he read Classics and Mathematics. Gladstone served as President of the Oxford Union, where he developed a reputation as an orator. Later in life, he used those oratorical skills in the House of Commons.

Gladstone in the 1830s’ Credit – Wikipedia

In 1832, Gladstone started his more than 60-year career in Parliament when, at the age of 23, he was elected as a Tory Member of Parliament. Over the years, he changed his political party membership three times: Tory (1828–34), Conservative (1834–46), Peelite (1846–59) and Liberal (1859–98). He served four times in the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Exchequer: 1852 – 1855, 1859 – 1866, 1873 – 1874 and 1880 – 1882.

Catherine Gladstone, 1883; Credit – Wikipedia

On July 25, 1839, Gladstone married Catherine Glynne, daughter of Sir Stephen Glynne, 8th Baronet.  On the death of Catherine’s unmarried brother Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet, Gladstone inherited the Glynne ancestral home Hawarden Castle in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. Gladstone and Catherine had eight children:

Two of Gladstone’s sons, William and Herbert, were Members of Parliament, as was a grandson William Glynne Charles Gladstone, who was killed in action in 1915 during World War I. Along with Gladstone’s father, Sir John Gladstone, 1st Baronet, making four successive generations of Members of Parliament.

Gladstone Family Group by Herbert Rose Barraud albumen cabinet card, 1870s-1900s NPG x5979 © National Portrait Gallery, London (Gladstone, Catherine with their children and their spouses)

In 1867, Gladstone was elected Leader of the Liberal Party. Then, in 1868, the Conservative Prime Minister Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby died in office and Benjamin Disraeli succeeded him as Prime Minister and became Gladstone’s main opponent. In the 1869 elections, the Liberal Party won a majority and Gladstone became Prime Minister for the first time. From 1868 through 1885, Gladstone and Disraeli switched back and forth as Prime Minister, with Gladstone serving three times and Disraeli serving two times. At the time of Disraeli’s death in 1881, Gladstone was currently Prime Minister and would continue in that term until 1885. He served two more times as Prime Minister: February 1886 – July 1886, and 1892 – 1894.

Gladstone in 1877 photographed by William Currey; Credit – Wikipedia

While Disraeli got along famously with Queen Victoria, Gladstone did not. Disraeli’s strategy with Queen Victoria was flattery. One of his famous quotes was, “Everybody likes flattery and, when you come to royalty, you should lay it on with a trowel.” Queen Victoria wanted to have an imperial title and Disraeli worked to pass a bill that made her Empress of India. The Queen found Gladstone too loud, too excitable, and uncompromising. She was incensed that Gladstone believed the monarch served with the permission of Parliament. Gladstone even lectured Queen Victoria on her duties – one of which, in his opinion, was that she should appear more often in public. He did not understand that the Queen became extremely stubborn when coerced, and as a result, they were often at odds.

In early 1894, the 84-year-old Gladstone retired from active politics, almost blind and hard of hearing. Gladstone had his last audience with Queen Victoria on February 28, 1894, he chaired his 556th Cabinet meeting on March 1, 1894, and then gave his last speech in the House of Commons. He resigned as Prime Minister on March 2, 1894. Today, the monarch would heed the Prime Minister’s advice as to who should succeed him or her. However, Queen Victoria did not ask Gladstone who should succeed him but sent for Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, who was serving in Gladstone’s Cabinet as the Foreign Secretary. Gladstone would have advised Queen Victoria to send for John Poyntz Spencer, 5th Earl Spencer.

Gladstone in old age, photographed by GG Bain; Credit – Wikipedia

Gladstone remained in the House of Commons until 1895. He was not offered a peerage, having earlier declined an earldom. Gladstone holds the distinction of being the oldest person to form a government – aged 82 at his appointment in 1892 – and the oldest person to be Prime Minister – 84 years old at his resignation in 1894.

William Ewart Gladstone died on May 19, 1898, at his country home Hawarden Castle at the age of 88. He had been cared for by his daughter Helen who had resigned from her position as vice-principal at Newnham College, a women-only constituent college of the University of Cambridge, to care for her elderly father and mother. Queen Victoria gave permission for a state funeral and a burial at Westminster Abbey. The Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII) and the Duke of York (the future King George V) served as pallbearers and the Princess of Wales (the future Queen Alexandra) and the Duchess of York (the future Queen Mary) attended the funeral. Gladstone’s wife, Catherine Gladstone died two years later on June 14, 1900, at the age of 88, and was buried next to her husband.

Gladstone and his wife’s grave in Westminster Abbey; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Baird, Julia. Victoria The Queen. Random House, 2016.
  • De.wikipedia.org. (2018). William Ewart Gladstone. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ewart_Gladstone [Accessed 1 Aug. 2018].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Catherine Gladstone. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Gladstone [Accessed 1 Aug. 2018].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2018). William Ewart Gladstone. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Ewart_Gladstone [Accessed 1 Aug. 2018].
  • Erickson, Carolly. Her Little Majesty: The Life of Queen Victoria.Simon and Schuster, 1997.
  • Hubbard, Kate. Serving Victoria: Life In The Royal Household. Harper Collins Publishers, 2012

Duke of Cornwall

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

History

The first Duke of Cornwall, Edward the Black Prince, Prince of Wales in his Garter robes, illustration from the 15th-century Bruges Garter Book; Credit – Wikipedia

Cornwall is a county in southwest England in the United Kingdom. Originally an Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Cornwall became part of the separate Kingdom of Dumnonia and eventually, it became part of the Kingdom of England. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the new rulers of England felt it was important to create men they could trust as Earls of Cornwall and so quite a few Earls of Cornwall were sons of Kings, both legitimate and illegitimate, and other relatives of Kings of England.

Earls of Cornwall

To provide financial support for the heir to the throne, on March 17, 1337, the Earldom of Cornwall was made into the Duchy of Cornwall via the Royal Great Charter by King Edward III of England for his son, Edward, Prince of Wales (the Black Prince), who became the first Duke of Cornwall. By the terms of the charter, the eldest surviving son of the reigning British Sovereign, if he is the heir apparent, automatically inherits possession of the Duchy of Cornwall and title of Duke of Cornwall at birth or when his parent succeeds to the throne. The charter can be seen in English at the link below followed by the original charter in Latin, its original language:

Specifics about the Duchy of Cornwall

Part of the Dartmoor Estate in Devon, England owned by the Duchy of Cornwall; Credit – https://duchyofcornwall.org

There has not always been a Duke of Cornwall because the heir to the throne is not always the eldest surviving son of the Sovereign. Also, someday in the future, it is likely that there will be a female heir apparent to the British throne. The Succession to The Crown Act 2013, which formally went into effect on March 26, 2015, put in place absolute primogeniture, which means that for those born after October 28, 2011, the eldest child born becomes the heir to his or her parent, regardless of gender

The rights of the Duke of Cornwall still rely on medieval legislation and the 1337 charter is clear that the Duke of Cornwall must be the eldest living son of the Sovereign. Therefore, to have a Duchess of Cornwall who has rights to the Duchy of Cornwall, there must be legislation to change the original charter.

Today, the Duchy of Cornwall manages landholdings of 135,000 acres in 23 counties in England and Wales. The principal activity of the Duchy is the sustainable, commercial management of its land and properties. The duchy also has a portfolio of financial investments. The income of the Duchy of Cornwall can be used by the Duke of Cornwall. While the Duke of Cornwall can use the income from the Duchy, he does not have the Duchy’s outright ownership and cannot sell any of its assets.

When the Sovereign has no son or the heir apparent is not the eldest living son of the Sovereign, the Duchy of Cornwall reverts to The Crown. The Sovereign Grant Act 2011 instituted some changes regarding the Duchy’s income. When the Duchy of Cornwall is vested in The Crown for any period in a financial year, the amount of the Sovereign Grant, the payment which is paid annually to the Sovereign by the government to fund the Sovereign’s official duties, is reduced by an amount equal to the income of the Duchy of Cornwall for the relevant period. Also, the Treasury will pay a grant to any person who is the heir to the throne in the relevant period. If the heir to the throne is 18 years old or older, the grant paid will be equal to the amount by which the Sovereign Grant is reduced for that period. If the heir to the throne is under 18 years old, the grant paid will be equal to 10% of the amount by which the Sovereign Grant is reduced for that period.

Dukes of Cornwall

Prince William, The Prince of Wales is the current Duke of Cornwall; Credit – Wikipedia

(Years after the names are birth and death years, names in bold became King)

Duke of Cornwall Parent Other titles held
Edward of Woodstock, The Black Prince (1330 – 1376) King Edward III Prince of Wales, Prince of Aquitaine, Earl of Chester (never became King)
Henry of Monmouth (1386 – 1422) King Henry IV King Henry V, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Lancaster
Henry (1421 – 1471) King Henry V King Henry VI, Duke of Aquitaine
Edward of Westminster (1453- 1471) King Henry VI Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester (never became King)
Edward of York (1470 – circa 1483) King Edward IV King Edward V, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Earl of March, Earl of Pembroke
Edward of Middleham (1473 – 1484) King Richard III Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Earl of Salisbury  (never became King)
Arthur Tudor (1486 – 1502) King Henry VII Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester (never became King)
Henry Tudor (1491 – 1547) King Henry VII King Henry VIII, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester,  Duke of York
Henry Tudor (born & died 1511) King Henry VIII No other titles, (never became King)
Henry Tudor (born & died 1513) King Henry VIII No other titles, (never became King)
Edward Tudor (1537 – 1553) King Henry VIII King Edward VI, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester
Henry Frederick Stuart (1594 – 1612) King James I Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland (never became King)
Charles Stuart (1600 – 1649) King James I King Charles I, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Duke of Albany, Duke of York, Marquess of Ormond, Earl of Ross, Lord Ardmannoch
Charles James Stuart (born & died 1629) King Charles I Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland (never became King)
Charles Stuart (1630 – 1685) King Charles I King Charles II, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland
James Francis Edward Stuart, The Old Pretender (1688 – 1766) King James II Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland (father deposed, never became King)
Prince George (1683 – 1760) King George I King George II, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Hereditary Prince of Hanover, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Duke of Cambridge, Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton, Baron Tewkesbury
Prince Frederick (1707 – 1751) King George II Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Duke of Edinburgh, Marquess of Ely, Earl of Eltham, Viscount Launceston, Baron Snowdon (never became King)
Prince George (1762  – 1830) King George III King George IV, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland
Prince Albert Edward (1841 – 1910) Queen Victoria King Edward VII, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Earl of Dublin
Prince George (1865 – 1936) King Edward VII King George V, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland, Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killarney
Prince Edward (1894 – 1972) King George V Duke of Windsor, King Edward VIII, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland
Prince Charles (born 1948) Queen Elizabeth II King Charles III, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland
Prince William (born 1982) King Charles III Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, Baron Carrickfergus, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Credit – Wikipedia

Born on December 21, 1804 in Bloomsbury, London, England, Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice during the reign of Queen Victoria, from February 1868 – December 1868 and from 1874 – 1880. Disraeli was the eldest son and the second of the five children of Isaac D’Israeli, a literary critic and historian, and Maria (Miriam) Basevi. All of Disraeli’s grandparents and great-grandparents were born in Italy and were from a Sephardic Jewish background. His paternal grandfather, Benjamin D’Israeli was a Jewish merchant who had emigrated from Cento, Italy in 1748.

Disraeli had five siblings:

  • Sarah D’Israeli (1802–1859)
  • Naphtali D’Israeli (born and died 1807), died in infancy
  • Raphael D’Israeli (“Ralph”; 1809–1898), known as Ralph Disraeli, held the office of Deputy Clerk of the Parliaments, married and had one son and one daughter
  • Jacobus D’Israeli (1813–1868), known as James Disraeli, married Isabella Anne Cave, no surviving children

When Disraeli was about six-years-old, he began to attend a dame school, a private elementary school with a woman teacher often located in the teacher’s home. About two years later, he became a boarder at Rev. John Potticary’s St Piran’s School in Blackheath, London. Disraeli was originally raised in the Jewish faith but in 1816, his father had a dispute with his synagogue, renounced Judaism, and had his four children christened in the Church of England.

This change of religion allowed an older Disraeli to think about a career in politics. Until 1858, Members of Parliament were required to take an oath of allegiance containing these words: “…and I make this Declaration upon the true Faith of a Christian…” The Jews Relief Act 1858 allowed any person professing the Jewish religion to omit those words when taking the oath of allegiance.

In 1817, Disraeli began to attend a school run by run by Eliezer Cogan, a minister and a scholar, in Higham Hill, Walthamstow, near London. He was unhappy at the school and had wanted to attend Winchester College, one of the most prestigious schools in England, attended by many future politicians and where his two younger brothers were sent.

Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield after Sir Francis Grant mezzotint, (circa 1830-1850) NPG D18883 © National Portrait Gallery, London

In 1821, Disraeli was employed as a clerk at a law firm and began to study law. In 1827, he began writing the first of his seventeen novels. He continued writing novels the rest of his life and when he died, he left an unfinished novel. With the money earned from his first novel, he traveled in Europe. Between 1832 and 1835, Disraeli unsuccessfully ran several times for a seat in the House of Commons. Finally, in 1837, the year of Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne, he won a seat as a Conservative Member of Parliament. After having a rough start, Disraeli became a loyal supporter of the party leader Sir Robert Peel and his policies.

Mary Anne Lewis by James Godsell Middleton, circa 1820 – 1830; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 28, 1839, at St. George’s Church, in Hanover Square in London, England, Disraeli married Mary Anne Lewis, the widow of Wyndham Lewis, a Member of Parliament and a close associate of Disraeli. Mary Anne was twelve years older than Disraeli and had a substantial income of £5,000 a year. It is thought that Disraeli married her for her money but the couple learned to love each other. They had no children.

When Sir Robert Peel became Prime Minister in 1841, Disraeli hoped for a Cabinet position but did not receive one and he gradually became a critic of Peel’s government. The Great Irish Potato Famine had caused a disastrous fall in food supplies and so Peel decided to join with Whigs and Radicals to repeal the Corn Laws which imposed tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and grain. Peel’s Conservative Party failed to support the bill but it passed with support from other parties and the Duke of Wellington persuaded the House of Lords to pass it. Following the repeal of the Corn Law, Peel resigned as Prime Minister on June 29, 1846.

When the Conservative Party came back in power in 1852 with Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby as Prime Minister, Disraeli finally got a Cabinet position. He served in the Cabinet as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1852, 1858 – 1859 and 1866 – 1868. In 1868, Lord Derby died in office and Disraeli succeed him as Prime Minister. In the 1869 elections, the Liberal Party won a majority and William Ewart Gladstone became Prime Minister. Disraeli served as Leader of the Opposition during two of Gladstone’s terms: 1868 – 1874 and from 1880 until his death in 1881.

Disraeli in the 1860s; Credit – Wikipedia

Disraeli served one more term as Prime Minister, from 1874 – 1880. Queen Victoria originally disliked Disraeli due to his treatment of Sir Robert Peel, her second Prime Minister. However, over time she grew to like Disraeli because he took great pains to treat her with flattery. One of his famous quotes was, “Everybody likes flattery and, when you come to royalty, you should lay it on with a trowel.” One thing Queen Victoria wanted was an imperial title. She was disturbed because Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia held a higher rank than her, and was appalled that her eldest daughter Victoria who was married to the Crown Prince of Prussia and the future German Emperor, would outrank her when her husband came to the throne.

A cartoon from the magazine Punch, New Crowns for Old, depicts Disraeli as Abanazer from the pantomime Aladdin, offering Victoria an imperial crown in exchange for a royal one; Credit – Wikipedia

Queen Victoria pressured Disraeli to introduce a bill that would make her Empress of India. Disraeli did so but his handling of the bill was awkward. He did not notify either the Prince of Wales or the Liberal opposition. When they found out, the Prince of Wales was irritated and the Liberals went into motion with a full-scale attack. Disraeli was reluctant to bring the bill to a vote because he thought it would be defeated. However, it passed with a majority of 75. For the rest of her life, Victoria signed her name “Victoria R & I” – Regina et Imperatrix in Latin, Queen and Empress in English. For Disraeli, the unpopular Royal Titles Act undermined his authority in the House of Commons. Four of Victoria’s successors, her son Edward VII, her grandson George V and her great-grandsons Edward VIII and George VI also were Emperors of India. George VI ceased to use the title when India became an independent country in 1947.

In 1868, at the end of Disraeli’s first term as Prime Minister, Queen Victoria wanted to create Disraeli a peer in recognition of his services to the country. If he were a peer, Disraeli would have to leave the House of Commons for the House of Lords, and he did not want to do so at that time. Instead, Disraeli’s wife Mary Anne was created Viscountess Beaconsfield in her own right, allowing her husband to remain a member of the House of Commons. When Disraeli finally agreed to accept the Earl of Beaconsfield peerage in 1876, he automatically lost his seat in the House of Commons but remained Prime Minister, leading his government from the House of Lords. In 1878, Disraeli refused Queen Victoria’s offer to make him a duke, instead, accepting a knighthood in the Order of the Garter.

Disraeli in 1878; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1880, Disraeli called for new elections but his party, the Conservatives, lost and Gladstone was again Prime Minister. Queen Victoria, who detested Gladstone, was very bitter about the election results. Despite being 76 years old and ill with gout and asthma, Disraeli continued serving as the Conservative Party Leader and the Leader of the Opposition. In March 1881, Disraeli became ill with bronchitis. Queen Victoria wanted to visit him but Disraeli declined saying, “She would only ask me to take a message to Albert.” On April 19, 1881, Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield died at his home 19 Curzon Street in London, at the age of 76.

Disraeli was buried with his wife, who had died in 1872, in the family vault which is located in the west wall of St. Michael and All Angels Church on the grounds of Hughenden Manor, his country home in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. Queen Victoria also erected a memorial in the chancel of the church. Disraeli also has a memorial in Westminster Abbey which was erected at the instigation of Gladstone who recommended it in his eulogy before the House of Commons.

The grave of Benjamin Disraeli and his wife Mary Anne with primroses growing; Credit – Par Rob Farrow, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9274309

Queen Victoria’s memorial to Disraeli inside At. Michael and All Angels Church; Credit – Von Hans A. Rosbach – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4669256

Until World War I, Primrose Day was celebrated annually on the anniversary of Disraeli’s death. On this day, Disraeli’s tomb and his statue in Parliament Square in London were decorated with primroses. Primroses were his favorite flower and Queen Victoria would often send him bunches of them from Windsor Castle and Osborne House and she sent a wreath of primroses to his funeral.

‘Primrose Day’ (Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield) by W. Saull wood engraving, 1886 NPG D21540 © National Portrait Gallery, London

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

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