Duke of St Albans

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 14 years old. King Charles II had accepted that Burford was his illegitimate son by Nell Gwyn, an actress, and awarded him the Dukedom just as he had conferred those of Monmouth, Southampton, Grafton, Northumberland and Richmond and Lennox on his other illegitimate sons who married.

Dukedom of St Albans

Arms of the Dukes of St Albans
Arms of Murray Beauclerk, 14th 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 (Lennox[1]); 2nd and 3rd grand quarters: quarterly gules and or, in the first quarter a mullet argent (De Vere). (Arms of the 2nd Duke onwards)
Creation date10 January 1684
Created byCharles II
PeeragePeerage of England
First holderCharles Beauclerk, 1st Earl of Burford
Present holderMurray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans
Heir apparentCharles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford
Remainder to1st Duke's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titlesEarl of Burford
Baron Heddington
Baron Vere
MottoAuspicium melioris aevi (Latin for 'A pledge of better times')[2]

The subsidiary titles of the Duke are: Earl of Burford, in the County of Oxford (1676), Baron Heddington, in the same (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 hold the hereditary title of Grand Falconer of England, and until the end of the 18th Century they were Hereditary Registrars of the Court of Chancery.[3]

By tradition, the Earldom and Vere barony are used as courtesy titles by the Duke's heir apparent and his heir apparent respectively.

Until the twentieth century, the country seats of the Dukes of St Albans included Bestwood Lodge in Nottinghamshire, which was given to the 1st Duke's mother, the celebrated actress and mistress to Charles II Nell Gwyn. The 10th Duke made it his principal residence, but in 1939 the 12th Duke sold it. It is now a hotel.[4][5] Another seat was Upper Gatton Park in Surrey.[6] The 12th Duke also inherited Newtown Anner House, near Clonmel, County Tipperary, and it was still a family seat in the 1940s.

The 13th and present Dukes have not inherited landed estates or country houses.

The accepted pronunciation of Beauclerk is reflected in frequent early renderings Beauclaire: /ˈboʊklɛər, boʊˈklɛər/.[7][8]

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 in line is his only son, James Malcolm Aubrey Edward de Vere Beauclerk, Lord Vere (b. 1995).

Barons Vere (1750)

for subsequent Barons Vere see Dukes of St Albans above

Current line of succession
  • Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans (1670–1726)
    • Vere Beauclerk, 1st Baron Vere (1699–1781)
      • Aubrey Beauclerk, 5th Duke of St Albans (1740–1802)
        • William Beauclerk, 8th Duke of St Albans (1766–1825)
          • Lord Charles Beauclerk (1813–1861)
            • Aubrey Topham Beauclerk (1850–1933)
              • Charles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans (1915–1988)
                • Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans (born 1939)
                  • (1). Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, Earl of Burford (b. 1965)
                    • (2). James Malcolm Aubrey Edward de Vere Beauclerk, Lord Vere (b. 1995)
                  • (3). Lord Peter Charles de Vere Beauclerk (b. 1948)
                  • (4). Lord James Charles Fesq de Vere Beauclerk (b. 1949)
                  • (5). Lord John William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (b. 1950)
    • Lord Sidney Beauclerk (1703–1744)

[9]

Arms
Coat of arms of the Duke of St Albans
Coronet
A Duke's coronet
Crest
On a Chapeau Gules turned up Ermine a Lion statant guardant Or crowned with a ducal coronet per pale Argent and of the First and gorged with a Collar of the Last thereon three Roses also Argent barbed and seeded Proper
Escutcheon
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)
Supporters
Dexter: an Antelope Argent armed and unguled Or; Sinister: a Greyhound Argent, each gorged with a Collar as in the Crest
Motto
Auspicium melioris aevi (Latin for 'A pledge of better times')

Family tree

See also

Notes
  1. The Scottish Earldom of Lennox had merged into the crown on the accession of King James VI and I, whose father Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley was the heir presumptive to that earldom, the king was thus at liberty to re-award the Lennox arms, or versions of them, as he pleased
  2. Debrett's Peerage, 1876, p. 411
  3. Hardy, Thomas Duffus (1843). A Catalogue of Lords Chancellors, Keepers of the Great Seal, Masters of the Rolls, and Principal Officers of the High Court of Chancery. London: Henry Butterworth. p. 119.
  4. "History of Bestwood", nottinghamshire.gov.uk, accessed 12 September 2023
  5. "Home". bestwoodlodgehotel.co.uk.
  6. https://media.onthemarket.com/properties/2872061/doc_0_6.pdf Sale brochure for Upper Gatton Park, June 2016.
  7. British Museum – Madame Ellen Groinn
  8. Wells, John C. (2008). Longman Pronunciation Dictionary (3rd ed.). Longman. ISBN 978-1-4058-8118-0.
  9. Morris, Susan; Bosberry-Scott, Wendy; Belfield, Gervase, eds. (2019). "St Albans, Duke of". Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage. Vol. 1 (150th ed.). London: Debrett's Ltd. pp. 3042–3047. ISBN 978-1-999767-0-5-1.

References
  • Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
  • Charles Kidd & David Williamson (ed.), Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition), New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,

Further reading
  • Donald Adamson and Peter Beauclerk Dewar, The House of Nell Gwyn. The Fortunes of the Beauclerk Family, 1670-1974, London: William Kimber, 1974
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