Duke of Edinburgh

Duke of Edinburgh
Arms of the incumbent, Prince Charles
Creation date	20 November 1947
Creation	Third
Monarch	King George VI
Peerage	Peerage of the United Kingdom
First holder	Prince Frederick (first creation; 1726)
Present holder	Prince Charles[1]
Heir apparent	Prince William[2]
Remainder to	the 1st Duke's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titles	Earl of Merioneth Baron Greenwich
Status	Extant
Seat(s)	Clarence House

Prince Frederick Louis (1707–1751) was the first Duke of Edinburgh, from 1726 to his death.

Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, is a substantive title that has been created three times for members of the British royal family since 1726. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produce any revenue for the title holder.

As of 2021 the holder is Prince Charles, who inherited the title on 9 April 2021 upon the death of his father Prince Philip, for whom the title was created for the third time in 1947 upon his marriage to Queen Elizabeth II.

1726 creation[]

The title was first created in the Peerage of Great Britain on 26 July 1726 by King George I, who bestowed it on his grandson Prince Frederick, who also became Prince of Wales the following year. The subsidiary titles of the dukedom were Baron of Snowdon, in the County of Caernarvon, Viscount of Launceston, in the County of Cornwall, Earl of Eltham, in the County of Kent,^[3] and Marquess of the Isle of Ely.^[4] These titles were also in the Peerage of Great Britain. The marquessate was apparently erroneously gazetted as Marquess of the Isle of Wight^[3] although Marquess of the Isle of Ely was the intended title. In later editions of the London Gazette the Duke is referred to as the Marquess of the Isle of Ely.^[5][6] Upon Frederick's death, the titles were inherited by his son Prince George. When Prince George became King George III in 1760, the titles "merged into the Crown", and ceased to exist.^[4]

1866 creation[]

Queen Victoria re-created the title, this time in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, on 24 May 1866 for her second son Prince Alfred, instead of Duke of York, the traditional title of the second son of the monarch. The subsidiary titles of the dukedom were Earl of Kent and Earl of Ulster, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.^[7] When Alfred became the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1893, he retained his British titles. His only son Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, committed suicide in 1899, so the Dukedom of Edinburgh and subsidiary titles became extinct upon the elder Alfred's death in 1900.^[4]

1947 creation[]

The title was created for a third time on 19 November 1947 by King George VI,^[8] who bestowed it on his son-in-law Philip Mountbatten, when he married Princess Elizabeth. Subsequently, Elizabeth was styled "HRH The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh" until her accession in 1952. The subsidiary titles of the dukedom are Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich, of Greenwich in the County of London. Like the dukedom, these titles are also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.^[9] Earlier that year, Philip had renounced his Greek and Danish royal titles (he was born a Prince of Greece and Denmark, being a male-line grandson of King George I of the Hellenes and male-line great-grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark) along with his rights to the Greek throne. In 1957, Philip became a Prince of the United Kingdom.^[10]

Upon Philip's death on 9 April 2021, his eldest son Charles, Prince of Wales, succeeded to all of his hereditary titles.^[1] The current heir apparent to the dukedom is Charles's eldest son Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, although he will only inherit the title if Charles predeceases the Queen.

Dukes of Edinburgh[]

First creation, 1726[]

Duke	Portrait	Birth	Marriages	Death
Prince Frederick House of Hanover 1726–1751 also: Marquess of the Isle of Ely, Earl of Eltham, Viscount Launceston, Baron Snowdon (1726–1729); Prince of Wales (1729), Duke of Cornwall (1337), Duke of Rothesay (1398)		1 February 1707 Leineschloss, Hanover son of King George II and Queen Caroline	Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha 17 April 1736 9 children	31 March 1751 Leicester House, Leicester Square, London aged 44
Prince George House of Hanover 1751–1760 also: Marquess of the Isle of Ely, Earl of Eltham, Viscount Launceston, Baron Snowdon (1751–1760); Prince of Wales (1751)		4 June 1738 Norfolk House, London son of Prince Frederick and Princess Augusta	Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 8 September 1761 15 children	29 January 1820 Windsor Castle, Windsor aged 81
Prince George succeeded as George III in 1760 upon his grandfather's death, and his titles merged with the crown.

Second creation, 1866[]

Duke	Portrait	Birth	Marriages	Death
Prince Alfred House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 1866–1900 also: Earl of Kent and Earl of Ulster (1866)		6 August 1844 Windsor Castle, Windsor son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert	Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia 23 January 1874 6 children	30 July 1900 Schloss Rosenau, Coburg aged 55
Prince Alfred and Grand Duchess Maria had one son, who predeceased him; and all his titles became extinct on his death.

Third creation, 1947[]

Duke	Portrait	Birth	Marriages	Death
Prince Philip Mountbatten 1947–2021 also: Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich (1947)		10 June 1921 Mon Repos, Corfu son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg	Princess Elizabeth 20 November 1947 4 children	9 April 2021 Windsor Castle, Windsor aged 99
Prince Charles[1] House of Windsor 2021–present also: Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester (1958), Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay (1952), Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich (2021)		14 November 1948 Buckingham Palace, London son of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II	Lady Diana Spencer 29 July 1981 – 28 August 1996 2 children Camilla Parker Bowles 9 April 2005	– now 72 years, 290 days old

Prospective creations[]

It was announced in 1999, at the time of the wedding of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, that he would follow his father as Duke of Edinburgh.^[11] It is expected that a new (fourth) creation will be bestowed on Prince Edward after the current (third) creation "eventually reverts to the Crown", i.e. the current holder, Charles, Prince of Wales, becomes king. In this scenario, James, Viscount Severn, would be the heir apparent, as the son of Prince Edward. In July 2021, The Times reported that Charles had decided not to give the title to his brother upon accession.^[12] Clarence House stated that "no final decisions have been taken" and refused to comment further.^[13]

Line of succession[]

Pursuant to the Letters Patent issued for the third creation of the dukedom in 1947, the Prince of Wales, as the duke's eldest son, automatically inherited the title on his father's death,^[14] becoming the second Duke of the third creation. Although the following individuals are in the line of succession to the Dukedom, they are also in line of succession to the throne. As a consequence, should one of the following individuals become king while Duke, the Dukedom of Edinburgh would cease to exist, as it would merge with the Crown. (If the first Duke had outlived the Queen, the dukedom would similarly lapse by passing to the future King.)

The line of succession as of 2021 is as follows:

Family tree[]

Fictional Duke of Edinburgh[]

A fictional Duke of Edinburgh appears in the 1983 sitcom The Black Adder. Rowan Atkinson plays the title character, Prince Edmund, who is granted the title Duke of Edinburgh by his father, a fictitious King Richard IV.

See also[]

• Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh

References[]