Duke of Cumberland

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Duke of Cumberland (dt. Duke of Cumberland ) is a hereditary British nobility title , which was awarded twice in the Peerage of England and three times in the Peerage of Great Britain and always to younger members of the royal family . The title has been suspended since 1919 ( suspended ).

The place name of the title refers to the traditional English county of Cumberland .

Awards and history of the title

Originally, the title of Earl of Cumberland was bestowed on the Clifford family in 1525 . After this earliest dignity had expired in 1643, King Charles I re- created the title for the first time as a duke dignity in the Peerage of England for his nephew Ruprecht von der Pfalz (Engl. Rupert ) on January 24, 1644 . At the same time he was awarded the subordinate title Earl of Holderness . Both titles expired when he died unmarried and without legitimate heirs in 1682.

In the second award, the title was recreated on April 9, 1689 in the Peerage of England for Prince George of Denmark and Norway , the husband of the future Queen Anne . Along with the duke he was awarded the subordinate titles Earl of Kendal and Baron Okingham . He survived his sons and died in 1708 without male descendants, so that his titles became void.

The third bestowal of the title was on July 27, 1726 in the Peerage of Great Britain to Prince Wilhelm August , the third son of King George II , together with the subordinate titles Marquess of Berkhampstead , in the County of Hertford, Earl of Kinnington , in the County of Surrey, Viscount Trematon , in the County of Cornwall, and Baron of the Isle of Alderney . The titles expired when he died unmarried and childless in 1765.

In the fourth award on October 22, 1766 in the Peerage of Great Britain, the title Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn was bestowed on Prince Heinrich Friedrich of Hanover , a younger son of Friedrich Ludwig, Prince of Wales and grandson of King George II . Together with the duke he received the subordinate title Earl of Dublin in the Peerage of Ireland . The titles expired with his childless death in 1790.

The fifth award was on April 24, 1799 in the Peerage of Great Britain, the title Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale to Prince Ernst August , the fifth son of King George III. bestowed along with the subordinate title of Earl of Armagh in the Peerage of Ireland. In 1837 he succeeded his brother William IV as King of Hanover . When he died in 1851, his title passed to his only son, King George V of Hanover . As King of Hanover, he was dethroned by Prussian troops in 1866 and went into exile in Austria. His British titles were not affected and passed to his only son, Prince Ernst August , when he died in 1878 . He became an officer in the Austrian army and served as such in the First World War . On March 28, 1919, by order of King George V of Great Britain and Ireland , his name was removed from the list of peers because he had "raised arms against the United Kingdom" during the World War.

The legal basis for the withdrawal of the British title was the Titles Deprivation Act of 1917. In addition to Ernst August, Crown Prince of Hanover as Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale , Earl of Armagh and Prince of Great Britain and Ireland , three other persons were affected by this law: Duke Carl Eduard von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha as Duke of Albany , Earl of Clarence, Baron Arklow and Prince of Great Britain and Ireland , also Duke Ernst August (III.) Of Braunschweig-Lüneburg as Prince of Great Britain and Ireland and also Heinrich Graf von Taaffe as 12. Viscount Taaffe and Baron of Ballymote . Under the Titles Deprivation Act, the current male heir of these persons has the right to ask the British crown to be reinstated in the deprived titles, but none of these fictitious title heirs have made use of it. In the case of the Duketitels von Cumberland, the currently entitled heir would be Ernst August Prince of Hanover . He is also the second oldest living male descendant of King George III. from Great Britain and Ireland in direct male line (after his cousin Georg).

List of the Dukes of Cumberland

Dukes of Cumberland, first bestowed (1644)

Dukes of Cumberland, second bestowal (1689)

Dukes of Cumberland, third bestowal (1726)

Dukes of Cumberland and Strathearn (1766)

Dukes of Cumberland and Teviotdale (1799)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The London Gazette : No. 6494, p. 1 , July 12, 1726.
  2. ^ The London Gazette : No. 15126, p. 372 , April 20, 1799.

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