The title Earl of Wessex has been created twice in British history, once in the pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon nobility of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The region of Wessex (the "West Saxons'), in the south and southwest of England, had been one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (the Heptarchy), whose expansion in the tenth century created a united Kingdom of England.
Contents |
Wessex was one of the four earldoms of Anglo-Danish England.[1] In this period the earldom of Wessex covered the lands of the old kingdom of Wessex, covering the counties of the south of England, including Cornwall and extending west to the Welsh border. During the reign of King Canute the earldom was conferred on Godwin at some time after 1020.[2] Thereafter Godwin rose to become, in King Edward's time, the most powerful man in the kingdom.
On his death in 1053 the earldom passed to Godwin's son, who later became King Harold II and died at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Following the Norman conquest in the winter of 1066, King William bestowed the earldom on William FitzOsbern, his most trusted companion.[3] FitzOsbern continued to help William consolidate his new realm until his death in Normandy in 1071.
Following this the earldom was reduced in power and regional jurisdiction, and passed to FitzOsbern's son, Roger, as the earldom of Hereford.[4]
| Earldom of Wessex | |
| Creation date | 19 June 1999 |
|---|---|
| Created by | Elizabeth II |
| Peerage | Peerage of the United Kingdom |
| First holder | The Prince Edward |
| Present holder | The Prince Edward |
| Heir apparent | James Mountbatten-Windsor |
| Remainder to | heirs male of the body of grantee |
In 1999, Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son, Prince Edward, married Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones. Younger sons of the monarch are normally given dukedoms at the time of their marriage, and experts had suggested the former royal dukedoms of Cambridge and Sussex as the most likely to be granted to Prince Edward, but he was instead created Earl of Wessex. When the earldom was created, the Palace announced that the Earl of Wessex would be created Duke of Edinburgh after the death of his father, Prince Philip, when that title reverts back to the Crown.[5]
The Sunday Telegraph reported that Prince Edward was originally to have been titled Duke of Cambridge after his marriage. However, after watching the 1998 film Shakespeare in Love, he was reportedly attracted to the title used by a character played by Colin Firth, and asked the Queen to be given the title of Earl of Wessex instead.[6]
The current Earl of Wessex is also Viscount Severn; this title is used as a courtesy title by the Earl's son, who was born on 17 December 2007.
The heir apparent is the present holder's son James, Viscount Severn (b. 2007). The Earl's son is currently the only person in the line of succession to the titles of Earl of Wessex and Viscount Severn.
The 1998 film Shakespeare in Love featured an entirely fictional, villainous Earl of Wessex, played by Colin Firth.
There is also a fictional Earl of Wessex in Geoffrey Trease's novel Bows Against the Barons.
Sir Edward, Lord Wessex is a character in the 1973 Doctor Who serial, The Time Warrior, portrayed by Alan Rowe.
|
||||||||