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The British nobility in the narrow sense consists of members of the immediate families of peers who bear courtesy titles or honorifics. [1] Members of the peerage carry the titles of duke , marquess , earl , viscount or baron .
British nobility, in the United Kingdom, members of the upper social class, who usually possess a hereditary title. The titled nobility are part of the peerage, which shares the responsibility of government. The peerage comprises five ranks, which are, in descending order, duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron.
The five titles of the peerage, in descending order of precedence, or rank, are: duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron. The highest rank of the peerage, duke, is the most exclusive. This hierarchy of titles becomes further complicated by the fact that an individual peer can hold several peerages of different rank, created and conferred, or ...
Among the nobility, those whose titles derive from the Holy Roman Empire rank higher than the holder of an equivalent title granted by one of the German monarchs after 1806. In Austria, nobility titles may no longer be used since 1918.
The British nobility is divided into tiers or ranks, known as the peerage. The roots of this hierarchical system date back around a thousand years; it began to gain a defined structure (as with many things in British history) after William I conquered England in 1066.
British peerage title holders are termed peers of the Realm. The peerage's fundamental roles are ones of law making and governance, with peers being eligible (although formerly entitled) to a seat in the House of Lords and having eligibility to serve in a ministerial role in the government if invited to do so by the Prime Minister.
Do you know whether an earl ranks above or below a viscount, or whose children use the title ‘Honorable’? This article serves as an introduction to the British peerage*, which has evolved over the centuries into the five ranks that exist today: duke, marquess, earl, viscount and baron.
