Duke of Cornwall

Dukedom of Cornwall
Arms of the Duke of Cornwall
Creation date	1337 (first creation) 1376 (second creation) 1460 (third creation)
Monarch	Edward III (first creation) Edward III (second creation) Henry VI (third creation)
Peerage	Peerage of England
First holder	Edward, the Black Prince
Present holder	Charles, Prince of Wales
Extinction date	1377 (second creation) 1460 (third creation)
Seat(s)	Clarence House
Former seat(s)	Restormel Castle
Motto	Ich dien (I serve)

Duke of Cornwall
Banner of the Duke of Cornwall
Incumbent Charles Philip Arthur George since 6 February 1952
Style	His Royal Highness Sir
Residence	Clarence House
Term length	Life tenure or until accession as Sovereign
Inaugural holder	Edward of Woodstock
Website	Official website

Duke of Cornwall is a title in the Peerage of England, traditionally held by the eldest son of the reigning British monarch, previously the English monarch. The Duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created in England and was established by a royal charter in 1337. The present duke is the Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II. His current wife, Camilla, is the current Duchess of Cornwall.

Legend[]

Some folkloric histories of the British Isles, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136), claim that the first leader of Cornwall was Corineus, a Trojan warrior and ally of Brutus of Troy, portrayed as the original settler of the British Isles. From then through the Arthurian period, such legendary Dukes of Cornwall stood apart from the High-King of Britain, while serving as his closest ally and, at times, as his protector (all per Monmouth's collected yarns). Notably in this tale, Gorlois, Duke of Cornwall under King Uther Pendragon, rebelled when the king became obsessed with Gorlois' wife Igraine. Uther killed Gorlois and took Igraine: the son was King Arthur.

History[]

The historical record suggests that, following the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Cornwall formed part of a separate Kingdom of Dumnonia, which included Devon, although there is evidence that it may have had its own rulers at times. The celtic southwest of Britain was gradually conquered by the emerging germanic Kingdom of England, and after the Norman Conquest in 1066 the new rulers of England appointed their own men as Earl of Cornwall, the first of whom was in fact a Breton of 'Cornwall' in Brittany.

Edward, the Black Prince, the eldest son of Edward III, was made the first Duke of Cornwall in 1337, after Edward III had lost the title of Duke of Normandy.^[1] After Edward predeceased the King, the duchy was recreated for his son, the future Richard II. Under a charter of 1421,^{[citation needed]} the duchy passes to the sovereign's eldest son. Cornwall was the first dukedom conferred within the Kingdom of England.^[2]

Succession[]

The dukedom of Cornwall can only be held by the oldest living son of the monarch who is also heir apparent.^{[citation needed]} In the event of a Duke of Cornwall's death, the title merges in the Crown even if he left surviving descendants (see George III of the United Kingdom). The monarch's grandson, even if he is the heir apparent, does not succeed to the dukedom. Similarly, no female may ever be Duke of Cornwall, even if she is heir presumptive or heir apparent (that being a distinct and even likely possibility in the future after the passage of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013) to the throne. However, if a Duke of Cornwall should die without descendants (and also no sister between two brothers if younger one born after 28 October 2011), his next brother obtains the duchy, this brother being both oldest living son and heir apparent.

It is possible for an individual to be Prince of Wales and heir apparent without being Duke of Cornwall. The title "Prince of Wales" is the traditional title of the heir apparent to the throne, granted at the discretion of the Sovereign (not automatically) and is not restricted to the eldest son.

For example, after the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales, King George II's heir apparent was his grandson George (Frederick's eldest son and the future George III). The young Prince George was his created Prince of Wales but did not become Duke of Cornwall because he was the King's grandson, rather than the King's son. When the Sovereign has no legitimate son, or when the heir apparent is not the Sovereign's son, the estates of the Duchy of Cornwall revert to the Crown until a legitimate son is born to the Sovereign or until the accession of a new Sovereign who has a son (e.g. between 1547 and 1603) (see more below).

James Francis Edward Stuart, son of James II, was born Duke of Cornwall in 1688. Although his father lost the throne, James Francis Edward was not deprived of his own titles and honours as a result of his father's being deposed. Instead, from the (prevailing) Hanoverian perspective, it was as a result of his claiming his father's lost thrones that James was attainted for treason on 2 March 1702, and his titles were thus forfeited under English law.^[2] However, from the (minority) Jacobite perspective, on his father's death in 1701 the duchy of Cornwall was merged in the Crown.

The current Duke of Cornwall[]

The current Duke of Cornwall is Charles, Prince of Wales, eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch. Charles was officially proclaimed Duke of Cornwall at Launceston Castle in 1973. As part of his feudal dues there was a pair of white gloves, gilt spurs and greyhounds, a pound of pepper and cumin, a bow, one hundred silver shillings, wood for his fires, and a salmon spear.^{[citation needed]}

The Duke's second wife, Camilla, whom he married on 9 April 2005 at the Guildhall in Windsor, is the current Duchess of Cornwall. She is also Princess of Wales but does not use that title.^[3]

Rights of the duke[]

The duchy includes over 570 square kilometres of land, more than half of which lies in Devon. The duke has some rights^{[clarification needed]} over the territory of Cornwall, the county, and for this and other reasons there is debate as to the constitutional status of Cornwall. The High Sheriff of Cornwall is appointed by the duke, not the monarch, in contrast to the other counties of England and Wales. The duke has the right to the estates of all those who die without named heirs (bona vacantia) in the whole of Cornwall. In 2013, the duchy had a revenue surplus of £19 million, a sum that was exempt from income tax, though the Prince of Wales chose to pay the tax voluntarily.^[4]

Until 2011, if there were no Duke of Cornwall at any time, then the income of the duchy went to the Crown. Since the passing into law of the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall pass to the heir to the throne, regardless of whether that heir is the Duke of Cornwall. When the heir is a minor, 10% of revenues pass to the heir, with the balance passing to the Crown (and the Sovereign Grant is reduced by the same amount).^[5]

Coat of arms[]

Coat of arms of the Duchy of Cornwall, granted in 1968.

The coat of arms of the Duke of Cornwall is blazoned as sable, fifteen bezants, that is, a black field bearing fifteen golden discs. The arms are now used as a badge by the Prince of Wales, and they appear below the shield in his coat of arms, along with his other badges.

The arms were adopted late in the 15th century, based on the arms of Richard, Earl of Cornwall. The bezants in Richard's arms were intended to represent peas, known in French as pois, as a punning reference to the French region of Poitou, of which he was count.^[6]

On 21 June 1968 a royal warrant augmented the aforementioned arms with the heir-apparent's coronet, which consists of four crosses patée and four fleurs-de-lises with one arch (used only by the Prince of Wales). The supporters are two Cornish choughs, each supporting an ostrich feather. The motto used with the arms is Houmout or Houmont, meaning "high-spirited", the personal motto of the Black Prince.^[7]

Dukes of Cornwall, 1337 creation[]

All Dukes of Cornwall who have been the eldest living son of the sovereign are generally considered to have held the same creation of the dukedom. The following is a table of these Dukes of Cornwall, with the processes by which they became duke and by which they ceased to hold the title:

Additional details appear in Cokayne, George Edward, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, A. Sutton, Gloucester, 1982. [orig. 13 volumes, published by The St. Catherine Press Ltd, London, England, from 1910–1959; reprinted in microprint: 13 vol. in 6, Gloucester: A. Sutton, 1982]

Dukes of Cornwall, 1376 creation[]

When his heir apparent Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall predeceased him, Edward III granted Woodstock's son Richard a new creation of the title Duke of Cornwall. When Richard acceded the throne as Richard II in 1377, this creation merged to the crown.

also Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester (1376)

• Richard of Bordeaux, Prince of Wales, 1st Duke of Cornwall (1367–1400)

Dukes of Cornwall, 1460 creation[]

When Richard, Duke of York pressed his claim to the throne, he was made heir apparent to Henry VI by the Act of Accord. On 31 October 1460, he was made Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall and Lord Protector of England by act of parliament. Since he was not the eldest living son of the monarch, this creation was outside the terms of the 1337 warrant; York died in battle on 30 December 1460.

also Lord Protector of England, Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester (1460, see Act of Accord); Duke of York (1385), Earl of Ulster (1264), Earl of March (1328), Earl of Cambridge (1414, restored 1426), feudal Lord of Clare (bt. 1066–1075), Baron Mortimer of Wigmore (1331)

• Richard of York, Lord Protector of England, 6th Prince of Wales, 1st Duke of Cornwall, 3rd Duke of York, 6th Earl of Chester (1411–1460)

Jacobite Duke[]

"Charles Edward Lewis Philip Casimir (Stuart), Prince of England and Scotland, Duke of Cornwall [E] and Rothesay [S], eldest son and heir-apparent of King James III and VIII, was born in Rome 31 December 1720, and was created or declared shortly after his birth Prince of Wales, and (by consequence?) Earl of Chester. K.G. and K.T. before 1745. On 1 January 1766 he succeeded his father as de jure King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland. He died s.p.l. 31 January 1788."^[8]

See also[]

• Cornish Foreshore Case, a 19th-century arbitration about the ownership of minerals and mines under the foreshore of Cornwall
• Duchy Originals, the Duchy's organic produce brand
• Duke of Rothesay
• List of topics related to Cornwall

Notes[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dukes of Cornwall.

• Duchy of Cornwall website – Duke of Cornwall
• The Prince of Wales's website – Duchy of Cornwall
• Guardian Unlimited article
• Celtic Frontier or County Boundary? Competing discourses of a late nineteenth century British border link dead
• The charter of 1337