Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The British nobility is made up of the peerage and the gentry of the British Isles. Though the UK is today a constitutional monarchy with strong democratic elements, historically the British Isles were more predisposed towards aristocratic governance in which power was largely inherited and shared amongst a noble class.
This is an incomplete index of the current and historical principal family seats of English royal, titled and landed gentry families. Some of these seats are no longer occupied by the families with which they are associated, and some are ruinous – e.g. Lowther Castle.
The peerage forms part of the British honours system, as the highest tier. This role dates back to the days when being ennobled by the monarch meant secure addition for someone and their heirs into the British aristocracy, and alongside it, political power and a theoretically raised status within the hierarchy of the British class system.
Usually Prince of Wales as the heir to the British throne; Duke of Rothesay in the Peerage of Scotland: The Duke of Norfolk [a] 1483 The Duke of Somerset: 1547 The Duke of Richmond: 1675 Duke of Gordon in the Peerage of the United Kingdom; Duke of Lennox in the Peerage of Scotland; Duke of Aubigny in the Peerage of France: The Duke of Grafton: 1675
It is the British element of the wider European class of gentry. While part of the British aristocracy, and usually armigers, the gentry ranked below the British peerage (or "titled nobility") in social status. Nevertheless, their economic base in land was often similar, and some of the landed gentry were wealthier than some peers.
The ranks of the peerage are duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron. [7]The last non-royal dukedom was created in 1874, and the last marquessate was created in 1936. . Creation of the remaining ranks, except baronies for life, mostly ceased once Harold Wilson's Labour government took office in 1964, and only thirteen (nine non-royal and four royal) people have been created hereditary peers sinc
The history of the British peerage, a system of nobility found in the United Kingdom, stretches over the last thousand years. The current form of the British peerage has been a process of development. While the ranks of baron and earl predate the British peerage itself, the ranks of duke and marquess were introduced to England in the
Aristocracy (from Ancient Greek ἀριστοκρατίᾱ (aristokratíā) 'rule of the best'; from ἄριστος (áristos) 'best' and κράτος (krátos) 'power, strength') is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats.