Earl of Wessex
Earl of Wessex is a hereditary British title of nobility , which was awarded once in Anglo-Saxon England and once only in the Peerage of the United Kingdom .
Awards
The first award took place in the 1020s by Knut the Great to Godwin von Wessex . After his death, the title passed to his son Harald . This was in 1066 as Harald II. To the King of England crowned and his title extinguished by fusing with the crown. In the same year, with his death in the Battle of Hastings, the rule of the Anglo-Saxons over England ended.
The second award was made by Queen Elizabeth II in favor of her fourth child and third son Edward on the occasion of his wedding to Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones on June 19, 1999, along with the subordinate title Viscount Severn. It was actually expected that Edward would receive the title Duke of Cambridge . Because Edward was only in seventh place in the order of the British throne , he received the title of earl, which is below the rank of duke. The royal family has announced that he will later receive the title Duke of Edinburgh , which his father Prince Philip still wears. On the occasion of his birthday on March 10, 2019, Queen Elizabeth II also awarded him the title of Earl of Forfar .
List of the Earls of Wessex
Earls of Wessex, first bestowed (after 1020)
- Godwin, Earl of Wessex (* around 1001; † 1053)
- Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex (* 1022; † 1066), crowned as Harald II in 1066
Earls of Wessex, second award (1999)
- Edward, Earl of Wessex (born 1964)
The heir ( Heir Apparent ) is his son James Mountbatten-Windsor, Viscount Severn (* 2007).
Individual evidence
- ^ The Edinburgh Gazette : No. 24629, p. 1379 , June 29, 1999.
- ^ Entry Wessex at Leigh Rayment's Peerage
- ^ Wessex, Earl of (UK, 1999) at Cracroft's Peerage
- ↑ New title for the Earl of Wessex at royal.uk, March 10, 2019.