Duke of Cambridge: Difference between revisions

Dukedom of Cambridge
Created by	Elizabeth II
Peerage	Peerage of the United Kingdom

Duke of Cambridge is a title (named after the city of Cambridge in England) which has been conferred upon members of the British royal family several times. The title is heritable to descendants of the titleholder in accordance with rights of primogeniture. The wife of the titleholder is called Duchess of Cambridge, and their children also carry the title Prince/Princess [name] of Cambridge. The title was most recently bestowed upon Prince William on 29 April 2011 upon his marriage on the same day to Catherine Middleton.

The title goes back to the 17th century, having been first granted to Charles Stuart (1660–1661), the eldest son of James, Duke of York (later James II), though he was never formally created Duke of Cambridge. The title superseded that of Earl of Cambridge. The title became extinct several times, before being revived again in 2011.

History

The first officially recognised creation was in the Peerage of England in 1664, when James Stuart, son of the Duke of York by his first wife, was granted the title, but died in 1667 at the age of three, and the title became extinct. The title was then granted later that year to another son of the Duke of York by his first wife, Edgar Stuart, but who died in 1671 at the age of three, and the title again became extinct. The Duke of York's eldest son by his second wife, Charles Stuart, was also styled Duke of Cambridge in 1667, but died when about a month old, not having lived long enough to be formally created duke.

The title was recreated in 1706 and granted to George Augustus, son of George Louis, Hereditary Prince of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (who would in 1714 become King George I). When George Augustus ascended to the throne as King George II in 1727, the dukedom merged into the crown.^[1]

The title was again recreated and given, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, to Prince Adolphus, the seventh son of George III.^[2] The title was inherited in 1850 by his only son, Prince George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge, but upon his death in 1904, without a legitimate heir, the title again became extinct.^[3]

The first Duke's grandson (through a female line), Adolphus, Duke of Teck, who was the brother of Mary of Teck, George V's wife, was created Marquess of Cambridge (including Earl of Eltham, and Viscount Northallerton) in 1917 when he gave up his German titles and took the surname "Cambridge".^[4] Upon the death of the second Marquess without any male heirs, the marquessate became extinct.

During the period leading up to the 1999 wedding of The Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, experts speculated that the dukedom of Cambridge or Sussex were the most likely to be granted to him, and The Sunday Telegraph later reported that Prince Edward was at one point set to be titled Duke of Cambridge.^[5] Instead, Prince Edward was created Earl of Wessex, and it was announced that he would eventually be created the next Duke of Edinburgh after his father.^[6]

On 29 April 2011, the day of his wedding, it was announced that Prince William was to be created Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn and Baron Carrickfergus.^[1] The letters patent granting these titles received the great seal on 26 May 2011.^[7]

Dukes of Cambridge

Styled (1660 - 1661)

First creation (1664 - 1667)

Duke	Portrait	Birth	Marriage(s)	Death
James Stuart House of Stuart 1664–1667 also: Earl of Cambridge, Baron of Dauntsey (1664–1667)		12 July 1663 St James's Palace, London son of James, Duke of York, and Anne Hyde	not married	20 June 1667 Richmond Palace, London

Second creation (1667 - 1671)

Styled (1677 - 1677)

Third creation (1706 - 1727)

Duke	Portrait	Birth	Marriage(s)	Death
Prince George Augustus House of Hanover 1706–1727 also: Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay (1714–1727)		30 October / 9 November 1683O.S./N.S. Herrenhausen Palace or Leine Palace, Hanover son of George Louis, Prince-Elector, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Sophia Dorothea of Celle	22 August 1705 Caroline of Ansbach	25 October 1760 Kensington Palace, London
Prince George succeeded as George II in 1727 upon his father's death, and his titles merged with the crown.

Fourth creation (1801 - 1904)

Duke	Portrait	Birth	Marriage(s)	Death
The Prince Adolphus House of Hanover 1801–1850 also: Earl of Tipperary, Baron Culloden (1801–1850)		24 February 1774 Buckingham Palace, Westminster son of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz	18 June 1818 Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel	8 July 1850 Cambridge House, Piccadilly, London
Prince George House of Hanover 1850–1904 also: Earl of Tipperary, Baron Culloden (1850–1904)		26 March 1819 Cambridge House, Hanover son of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel	8 January 1847 Sarah Fairbrother	17 March 1904 Gloucester House, Piccadilly, London

Fifth creation (2011 - present)

Duke	Portrait	Birth	Marriage(s)	Death
Prince William House of Windsor 2011–present also: Earl of Strathearn, Baron Carrickfergus (2011–present)		21 June 1982 St. Mary's Hospital, London son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer	29 April 2011 Catherine Middleton

Line of succession

The heir apparent to the extant dukedom and the subsidiary titles is the son of Prince William, Prince George of Cambridge (born 2013) followed by Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (born 2015), daughter of Prince William; but should Prince William become King, the title will again merge with the Crown.

Marquesses of Cambridge (1917 - 1981)

• Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge (1868–1927), son of a daughter of Prince Adolphus, was created Marquess when George V relinquished his family's German titles
• George Francis Hugh Cambridge, 2nd Marquess of Cambridge (1895–1981), only son of the 1st Marquess, died without male issue and his honours became extinct

Family tree

References

See also

• Duke of Cambridge's Personal Canadian Flag
• Earl of Cambridge
• Duke of Cambridge Public School - Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada