Duke of St Albans

Dukedom of St Albans


Arms of Murray Beauclerk, Duke of St Albans: Grand quarterly, 1st and 4th grand quarters: the Royal Arms of Charles II, viz quarterly: 1st and 4th, France and England quarterly; 2nd, Scotland; 3rd, Ireland; the whole debruised by a Baton sinister Gules charged with three Roses Argent barbed and seeded Proper (Beauclerk); 2nd and 3rd grand quarters: quarterly Gules and Or in the first quarter a Mullet Argent (De Vere).
Creation date 10 January 1684
Monarch Charles II
Peerage Peerage of England
First holder Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans
Present holder Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke
Heir apparent Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford
Remainder to the 1st Duke's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titles Earl of Burford
Baron Heddington
Baron Vere
Armorial motto Auspicium melioris aevi (A pledge of better times)[1]

Duke of St Albans is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1684 for Charles Beauclerk, 1st Earl of Burford, then fourteen years old. King Charles II had accepted that Burford was his illegitimate son by Eleanor Gwynn (commonly known as 'Nell'), an actress, and awarded him the Dukedom just as he had awarded the Dukedoms of Monmouth, Richmond, Lennox, Southampton and Grafton on his other illegitimate sons.

The subsidiary titles of the Duke are: Earl of Burford, in the County of Oxford (1676), Baron Heddington, in the County of Oxford (1676) and Baron Vere, of Hanworth in the County of Middlesex (1750). The Earldom and the Barony of Heddington are in the Peerage of England, and the Barony of Vere is in the Peerage of Great Britain. The Dukes of St Albans also bear the hereditary title of Grand Falconer of England, and Hereditary Registrar of the Court of Chancery.

The eldest son and heir of the Duke of St Albans is known by the courtesy title Earl of Burford, and Lord Burford's eldest son and heir is known as Lord Vere.

Recent Dukes of St Albans have not held a landed estate. Former seats of the Dukes of St Albans were Bestwood in Nottinghamshire and Upper Gatton in Surrey.

The accepted pronunciation of the family surname Beauclerk is reflected in the original alternative rendering Beauclaire: boh-clair.[2]

Dukes of St Albans (1684)

Arms of the 1st Duke of St Albans
Other titles: Earl of Burford, in the county of Oxford, and Baron Heddington, in the county of Oxford (1676)
Other titles (5th Duke onwards): Baron Vere, of Hanworth in the county of Middlesex (1750)

The heir apparent is Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, Earl of Burford (b. 1965) (only son of the 14th Duke).

The heir apparent's heir apparent is his only son, James Malcolm Aubrey Edward de Vere Beauclerk, Lord Vere of Hanworth (b. 1995).

Barons Vere (1750)

for subsequent Barons Vere see Dukes of St Albans above

Line of succession

  1. Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, Earl of Burford (b. 1965) (only son of the 14th Duke)
  2. James Malcolm Aubrey Edward de Vere Beauclerk, Lord Vere (b. 1995) (only son of Lord Burford)
  3. Lord Peter Charles de Vere Beauclerk (b. 1948) (second son of the 13th Duke)
  4. Tenzin Beauclerk (b. 2005) (younger but only surviving son of Lord Peter)
  5. Lord James Charles Fesq de Vere Beauclerk (b. 1949) (third son of the 13th Duke)
  6. Lord John William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (b. 1950) (youngest son of the 13th Duke)
  7. William Rafael Beauclerk, Marques de Valero de Urria (great-great-great-great-grandson of Lord Sidney Beauclerk, fifth son of the 1st Duke)
  8. Alexander Charles Beauclerk (b. 1990) (elder son of the Marques de Valero de Urria)
  9. Cameron Beauclerk (b. 1993) (younger son of the Marques de Valero de Urria)

Only those at positions 1 to 6 are in remainder to the Barony of Vere.

Arms


Family tree

Notes

  1. ↑ Debrett's Peerage, 1876, p.411
  2. ↑ British Museum – Madame Ellen Groinn

References

Further reading

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