76-649: Earl Mountbatten of Burma is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom , created in 1947 for Rear Admiral Louis Mountbatten , who in 1946 had been created the first Viscount Mountbatten of Burma. He was later promoted to Admiral of the Fleet . The family seat is Newhouse Manor, near Ashford, Kent . The Earldom was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom on 28 October 1947 for Rear Admiral Louis Mountbatten, 1st Viscount Mountbatten of Burma. The subsidiary titles of
152-546: A Cross-bench Convenor for administrative purposes, and to keep them up to date with the business of the House. Peers in the House of Lords can serve in the British government, when invited to do so, as ministers . Peers can even serve as prime minister , though this is no longer convention, and the last to do so was the 14th Earl of Home in 1963, who disclaimed his peerage within a few days of being appointed as prime minister to fight
228-462: A Lord High Steward would be appointed to preside over the trial – functionally this was usually done by temporarily elevating the Lord Chancellor to this role. Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville was the last person to be tried in the House of Lords on impeachment in 1806. In December 1935 Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham was elevated from Lord Chancellor to Lord High Steward to preside over
304-621: A judicial courtesy title of "Lord" or "Lady", with a territorial designation, for their remainder of their lives. In addition to serving as Presiding Officer of the Peers in the Lords, the Lord Chancellor also served as the head of the English and Welsh judiciary and a de facto 'Justice Minister'. The judicial function of the Lord Chancellor was removed with the Constitutional Reform Act 2005 , and
380-530: A by-election to sit in the Commons. Peers in the House of Lords are often appointed by the sovereign, on the advice of the government, to serve as a Privy Counsellor . The Privy Council is a formal body of advisers to the monarch, on matters such as the issuing of royal charters . In theory all peers, life and hereditary, are also prospective members of the Magnum Concilium regardless of whether they sit in
456-560: A hereditary peerage, although there is nothing preventing future governments from doing so. Since 2009 almost all life peerages are created at the rank of baron, the sole exception being the Dukedom of Edinburgh in 2023. The government of the United Kingdom makes recommendations to the sovereign concerning who should be elevated to the peerage, after external vetting by the House of Lords Appointments Commission for those peers who will be sitting in
532-415: A nomination to the House of Lords Appointment Commission, for a non-party political "cross bench" peer - sometimes called 'people's peers' . Since 2001 67 'people's peers' have been appointed. All honours, including peerages, are granted at the discretion of the monarch as the fount of honour (though functionally and mostly on the advice of the government); there is, therefore, no entitlement to be granted
608-571: A non-social context, 'Your Grace' Peerages in the United Kingdom Peerages in the United Kingdom form a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles , composed of various ranks , and within the framework of the Constitution of the United Kingdom form a constituent part of the legislative process and the British honours system . The British monarch is considered
684-436: A peerage by convention when leaving office. This was previously a hereditary earldom. However, the last prime minister to receive this honour was Harold Macmillan in 1984. When she resigned in 1990 Margaret Thatcher , as the first female prime minister, was not offered a hereditary earldom or any other peerage, but instead a baronetcy (a hereditary knighthood and not a peerage) was awarded to her husband Denis Thatcher (this
760-556: A peerage. However, historic precedent means some individuals are granted peerages by convention. For example, since the Wars of the Three Kingdoms it has been convention for a retiring speaker of the House of Commons to be granted a hereditary viscountcy; however, the last to receive the honour was in 1983, and the convention is now accepted to have changed to a life peerage at the rank of baron instead. British prime ministers are also offered
836-445: A right to Barons to attend parliament; in the late 14th century, this right (or "title") began to be granted by decree, and titles also became inherited with the rest of an estate under the system of primogeniture . The requirement of attending Parliament was both a liability and a privilege for those who held land as a tenant-in-chief from the King per baroniam – that is to say, under
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#1732843981291912-608: A salary for their role. However, peers who serve in the House of Lords are entitled to claim £342 allowance for each day they attend to help cover expenses. In an effort to ensure peers from outside the capital were not disadvantaged, peers whose registered home address is outside Greater London can also claim travel expenses and up to £100 towards the cost of a hotel or similar accommodation. Peers who serve in government as ministers are not entitled to claim these allowances, however, and thus their roles are often jointly given with sinecure roles, or they are appointed to salaried positions in
988-602: A state visit. Prior to the Regency Act of 1937 , peers serving as Lord Chancellor, or in other senior political roles, could also be delegated royal functions to serve as Counsellors of State ; however, this is now reserved to the monarch's spouse and the members of the Royal Family in the immediate line of succession. Until 2009 the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords served as the highest appellate court within
1064-579: A system called coparcenary . Following the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 , which replaced male-preference primogeniture with absolute primogeniture in the line of succession to the throne, there were calls from some hereditary peers' daughters to change the rules for hereditary peerages to match. In 2018 five daughters of hereditary peers took the government to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge
1140-418: Is based on title rather than bloodline correspondingly means for example that Princess Anne , who enjoys royal status as the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II , opted for her children to, technically, be commoners (though functionally part of the untitled nobility ) despite their being grandchildren of the sovereign ( qv. Peter Phillips and Zara Tindall ), when Anne and her then husband, Mark Philips, declined
1216-689: Is encircled with the Order of the Garter , of which the 1st earl was a member. Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom . It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain . New peers continued to be created in
1292-620: The Barony of Halton which was created by the Earl of Chester , or the Irish hereditary Knight of Kerry which was created by the Earl of Desmond . Through acts like the Quia Emptores of 1290 these powers were stripped back, and the authority to create titles was entrenched as exclusive to the monarch. The modern peerage system is a vestige of the custom of English kings in the 12th and 13th centuries to grant
1368-415: The British monarch . The monarch, as the fount of honour, cannot hold a British peerage themselves. However, the monarch, in addition to their title of 'King' or 'Queen', whether male or female, is informally accorded the style of ' Duke of Lancaster ' (a title linked to the historic Duchy of Lancaster , which became the private estate of the British sovereign when the holder, Henry IV of England , ascended
1444-660: The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 . The Earl Marshal is the only peer to retain a judicial function by right of office, as the sole judge of the High Court of Chivalry a civil law court with jurisdiction over matters of heraldry in England and Wales, though if not a professional lawyer, he normally appoints a professional lawyer as his lieutenant or surrogate. Since the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 , peers may resign from
1520-677: The Crown Honours Lists . Formerly, new peers were presented with an investiture ceremony, but this has not taken place since 1621 (investiture ceremonies for other honours are mostly managed by the Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood ). New peers serving in parliament do receive an introduction ceremony at the House of Lords. All peerages are recorded on the Roll of the Peerage maintained by
1596-841: The Crown Office within the United Kingdom's Ministry of Justice , and published by the College of Arms . The Secretary of State for Justice in their role as Lord Chancellor is the keeper of the Peerage Roll, and their duties in that regard are daily discharged by a Registrar of the Peerage and a Deputy Registrar, who work within the Crown Office under the supervision of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery . Succession claims to existing hereditary peerages are regulated by
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#17328439812911672-469: The Great Officers of State and government minister – served as the presiding officer of the peers in the House of Lords. Were a person not a peer to be appointed to the office of Lord Chancellor, they would traditionally be raised to the peerage upon appointment, though a scarcely used provision was made in 1539 for non-peers who are great officers of state but not peers to sit in between the benches in
1748-680: The Great Seal of the Realm . In addition to letters patent, peers who are to sit in Parliament are issued a Writ of summons . The Writ of Summons calls the member to the House. A new writ is issued for every member at the beginning of each Parliament (after a general election). A writ accompanies the letters patent for new members. The honour will also be recorded in The London Gazette . Honours, including peerages, are usually awarded at new year and on
1824-448: The House of Lords Yacht Club . Until 2015 peers in the House of Lords could join the parliamentary rifle club which was located in a rifle range in the basement of the House of Lords. Though some peerages carry with them hereditary royal offices - for example the office of Earl Marshal has been consistently and hereditarily held by the dukes of Norfolk since 1672 - peerages don't automatically grant specific rights or privileges like
1900-602: The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales became the new head of the judiciary, while the former Lord Chancellor's ministry / Department for Constitutional Affairs was merged into the newly created Ministry of Justice in May 2007. Since then all Lord Chancellors have also held the office of Minister of Justice (in much the same way all First Lords of the Treasury hold the office of Prime Minister). In 2012 Chris Grayling would be
1976-401: The Peerage of Ireland until 1898 (the last creation was the Barony of Curzon of Kedleston ) The House of Lords Act 1999 reformed the House of Lords . Until then, all peers of the United Kingdom were automatically members of the House of Lords. However, from that date, most of the hereditary peers ceased to be members, whereas the life peers retained their seats. All hereditary peers of
2052-575: The Royal Household . For example, the position of Leader of the House of Lords is usually appointed with the accompanying sinecure role of Lord Privy Seal , as the latter carries a salary. The Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords is appointed jointly to the role of Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms , and the Government deputy chief whip is appointed jointly as Captain of
2128-596: The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in 2009, the peerage also formed a constituent part of the British judicial system , via the Appellate Committee of the House of Lords . The peerage has a role as a system of honour or award, with the granting of a peerage title forming the highest rung of the modern British honours system. In the UK, five peerages or peerage divisions co-exist, namely: All peerages are created by
2204-722: The Yeomen of the Guard : This allows them to take a salary from the Royal Household as heads of the Sovereign's Bodyguard . The salaries of the Leader of the Opposition and Opposition Chief Whip in the House of Lords are paid for with public funds alongside the so called Cranborne Money , the annual payment to opposition parties in the House of Lords to help them with their costs. Peers who have served in
2280-519: The feudal titles they replaced. For example, the Marquess of Salisbury owns the mineral rights below Welwyn Garden City , not because of the peerage, but because he also owns the separate historic feudal title ' Lordship of the Manor of Hatfield ' which granted these rights. Certain personal privileges are afforded to all peers and peeresses, but the main distinction of a peerage nowadays, apart from access to
2356-431: The fount of honour and is notionally the only person who can grant peerages, though there are many conventions about how this power is used, especially at the request of the British government. The term peerage can be used both collectively to refer to the entire body of titled nobility (or a subdivision thereof), and individually to refer to a specific title (modern English language -style using an initial capital in
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2432-556: The monarch's official birthday . They can also be awarded as part of a Prime Minister's resignation , or upon the dissolution of a Parliament . Monarchs may also make new peers upon their coronation, jubilee or upon the demise of the previous monarch. There are also ad hoc announcements and "Special Honours", issued at random points throughout the year at the pleasure of the monarch. This might be done to allow someone to serve in cabinet, or as an immediate reward for exemplary service. Recipients of new peerages are typically announced via
2508-526: The "lesser barons". Certain other office-holders such as senior clerics and Freemen of the Cinque Ports were also deemed "Barons". The baronage was the collectively inclusive term denoting all members of the feudal nobility. As the baronage were ' overlords ' the term 'Lord' came to be used as an appellation. Under the old system of feudalism some Lords had the authority to effectively create titles of their own (through powers like Subinfeudation ), such as
2584-423: The 14th century, and that of viscount in the 15th century. A hereditary peer is a peer of the realm whose dignity may be inherited; those able to inherit it are said to be "in remainder". Hereditary peerage dignities may be created with writs of summons or by letters patent ; the former method is now obsolete. Writs of summons summon an individual to Parliament, in the old feudal tradition, and merely implied
2660-566: The Acts of Union of 1707 and 1800 , though the law permitted a limited number to be elected by their fellows to serve in the House of Lords as representative peers . Some peerages of the United Kingdom were created to get around this obstacle and allow certain Scottish and Irish peers to enjoy the automatic right to sit in the House of Lords The ranks of the peerage are Duke , Marquess , Earl , Viscount , and Baron . The last non-royal dukedom
2736-467: The Barony of Brabourne. Should the 7th Baron Brabourne's line become extinct, that peerage would revert to a male-line descendant of the 1st Baron Brabourne's 3rd son. The heir apparent is the present holder's only son, Nicholas Louis Charles Norton Knatchbull, Lord Brabourne (born 1981). Source: Quarterly: 1st and 4th, azure a lion rampant double-queued barry of ten argent and gules armed and langued of
2812-470: The Crown was itself a hereditary dignity, it seemed natural for seats in the upper House of Parliament to be so as well. Baronies and other titles of nobility became unconditionally hereditable on the abolition of feudal tenure by the Tenures Abolition Act 1660 . Thus over time baronies by writ effectively became hereditary peerages even if this had not been the intention of the original issuer of
2888-561: The Earldom. Lord Brabourne is now the courtesy title by which Lord Mountbatten's eldest son is known. When elevated to the peerage, the first Earl had no son, and the letters patent creating the peerages granted to him were all subject to the following special remainder, in the absence of heirs male: ...to his eldest daughter Patricia Edwina Victoria, Baroness Brabourne...and the heirs male of her body lawfully begotten; and in default of such issue to every other daughter lawfully begotten of
2964-450: The Garter or the Order of the Thistle . However it was alleged in 2020 that due to a personal reluctance by Queen Elizabeth II to award the Garter to Tony Blair other living prime ministers would not be raised either. Tony Blair was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth II as a Knight Companion of the Garter in 2022. Like all Crown honours, peerages are affirmed by letters patent affixed with
3040-460: The House of Lords Committee for Privileges and Conduct and administered by the Crown Office . Peerages can be refused by prospective recipients, and often have been throughout history for various different reasons. Winston Churchill declined the Dukedom of London so he could continue to sit in the House of Commons. Any peer who receives a writ of summons (which is in practice all life Peers bar Royal Peers, and some hereditary peers) may sit in
3116-628: The House of Lords (including those retired) have dining rights in the House of Lords dining halls, which also permit them to bring up to six guests. Peers may also use the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft at the Palace of Westminster for weddings and christenings for themselves and their families at the discretion of the Lady Usher of the Black Rod . There are formal and social clubs organised exclusively for peers, such as
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3192-446: The House of Lords (which is now by convention almost all new creations, with the exception of royal peerages ). Most peerage nominations are 'political peers' or 'working peers', nominated by the prime minister of the governing party, or by other party leaders to ‘top up’ each of the party groups’ strengths and on the expectation that they will attend parliament regularly and take on frontbench work. However, since 2001 anyone can make
3268-593: The House of Lords as the Lords Temporal . They sit alongside the Lords Spiritual , who are not peers, but bishops of the Church of England. Labour , elected to power in 1997, sought to remove all of the seats in the House of Lords reserved for hereditary peers via the House of Lords Act 1999 , but then Prime Minister Tony Blair relented by allowing 92 members to remain. 90 of these hereditary peers are elected to
3344-476: The House of Lords for life peers and some hereditary peers, is the title and style thereby accorded. The modern-day parliamentary peerage is a successor of the medieval baronage system which emerged in the English feudal era. Feudalism was introduced to England after 1066 by William the Conqueror and taken to Scotland by David I in 1124 when, after having lived in England as Earl of Huntingdon, he succeeded to
3420-559: The House of Lords from within their own populace , while the other two sit ex officio holding the hereditary constitutional offices of Earl Marshal and the Lord Great Chamberlain . Since the Parliament Act 1911 and Parliament Act 1949 the House of Lords' purpose is now that of a revising legislative chamber, scrutinising and potentially changing proposed Parliamentary Bills before their enactment. Its membership for
3496-456: The House of Lords, whilst keeping their title and style. Though there is no mechanism for life peers to fully disclaim their peerage, hereditary peers may fully disclaim their peerage for their lifetime under the Peerage Act 1963 . The peerage remains extant until the death of the peer who had made the disclaimer, when it descends to his or her heir in the usual manner. The Crown does not have
3572-401: The House of Lords. This is a council summoned for nobles to discuss the affairs of the country with the monarch; however, it has not been convened since 1640. Peers can also be appointed as Lords-in-waiting where they may be called upon periodically to represent the sovereign; for example, one of their number is regularly called upon to greet visiting heads of state on arrival at the start of
3648-504: The House, meaning commoners could execute the role without the need for elevation to the peerage. Since 2006, however, in an effort to separate powers , the role of presiding officer has been fulfilled by the Lord Speaker of the House of Lords elected by the peers from amongst their own number. The Lord Chancellor retained their role as a government minister, however, and in June 2007 Jack Straw
3724-503: The Lords' self-regulation, though any member may draw attention to breaches of order or failure to observe customs. The Leader is often called upon to advise on procedures and points of order. However, neither the Lord Speaker nor the Leader of the House has the power to rule on points of order or to intervene during an inappropriate speech. Parties within the House of Lords have whips , however Cross Bench peers elect from among themselves
3800-407: The Realm were previously termed commoners , regardless of wealth or other social factors. Thus, all members of a peer's family, with the exception of their wife or unmarried widow, are (technically) commoners too; the British system therefore differs fundamentally from continental European versions, where entire families, rather than individuals, were ennobled . This idea that status as a 'commoner'
3876-515: The Scottish throne. A Barony was a form of feudal landholding, where individuals were appointed by the king, as his tenants-in-chief – that is to say people who held land by feudal tenure directly from the king as their sole overlord and were granted by him a legal jurisdiction (court baron) over said territory. The nation had been divided into many " manors ", the owners of the manors came to be known as barons; those who held many manors were known as "greater barons", while those with fewer manors were
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#17328439812913952-549: The United Kingdom's legal system. The Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 allowed for the appointment of Lords of Appeal in Ordinary – judges meeting specific criteria made peers for life – who formed the main body of the committee. On 1 October 2009, the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 was repealed, owing to the creation of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom . The House of Lords thus lost its judicial functions. At
4028-522: The earldom are Viscount Mountbatten of Burma , of Romsey in the County of Southampton (created earlier in 1946), and Baron Romsey , of Romsey in the County of Southampton (created together with the Earldom in 1947). All these peerages are in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and have the same special remainder (see below). Lord Romsey was the courtesy title by which Lady Mountbatten's eldest son and heir
4104-491: The existence or creation of an hereditary peerage dignity, which is automatically inherited, presumably according to the traditional medieval rules (male-preference primogeniture , like the succession of the British crown until 2011). Letters patent explicitly create a dignity and specify its course of inheritance (usually agnatic succession, like the Salic Law ). Some hereditary titles can pass through and vest in female heirs in
4180-430: The feudal contract wherein a King's Baron was responsible for raising knights and troops for the royal military service. When Kings summoned their barons to Royal Councils, the greater barons were summoned individually by the sovereign, lesser barons through sheriffs. In England in 1254, the lesser barons ceased to be summoned, and this right, entitlement or "title" to attend parliament began to be granted by decree in
4256-424: The first creation (i.e. those for whom a peerage was originally created, as opposed to those who inherited a peerage), and all surviving hereditary peers who had served as Leader of the House of Lords , were offered a life peerage to allow them to continue to sit in the House, should they wish. Peers in the Peerage of Scotland and Peerage of Ireland did not have an automatic seat in the House of Lords following
4332-566: The first non-lawyer to serve as Lord Chancellor for at least 440 years. As the Head of the judiciary in England and Wales, the Lord Chancellor also served as a member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ; however, the last lord chancellor to preside as a judge of this court was Lord Irvine of Lairg (in office 1997–2003). This function was also removed from the Lord Chancellor following
4408-420: The form of a Writ of Summons from 1265. This body of greater barons evolved into the House of Lords. Magna Carta, first issued in 1215, declared that "No free man shall be seized, imprisoned, dispossessed, outlawed, exiled or ruined in any way, nor in any way proceeded against, except by the lawful judgement of his peers", and thus this body of greater Barons were deemed to be 'peers' of one another, and it became
4484-409: The last crowned or within a bordure company of the second and third (Hesse); 2nd and 3rd, argent two pallets sable (Battenberg); charged on the honour point with an escutcheon of the arms of the late Princess Alice , namely: the royal arms differenced by a label of three points argent the centre point charged with a rose gules barbed Vert and each of the other points with an ermine spot sable. The shield
4560-437: The last ever trial of a peer ‘by his peers’, with the trial of the 26th Baron de Clifford in the House of Lords for manslaughter. The right to be tried by other peers in the House of Lords was abolished at the request of the Lords in 1948 by Criminal Justice Act 1948 . There is no automatic right to a salary for being a peer - this includes peers who serve in parliament, who unlike MP's in the House of Commons , do not receive
4636-407: The latter case but not the former). British peerage title holders are termed peers of the Realm . The peerage's fundamental roles are ones of law making and governance, with peers being eligible (although formerly entitled ) to a seat in the House of Lords and having eligibility to serve in a ministerial role in the government if invited to do so by the prime minister. Until the creation of
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#17328439812914712-414: The most part comprises life peers , created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 , which includes those who can add value in specific areas of expertise in parliamentary debates, as well as former MPs and other political appointees from respective political parties. Those who do not sit with a political party, may sit in the house as a so called Crossbencher . Prior to July 2006 the Lord Chancellor – one of
4788-589: The norm to refer to these magnates as a 'peerage' during the reign of Edward II . Meanwhile the holders of smaller fiefdoms per baroniam ceased to be summoned to parliament , meaning the official political importance of ownership of manors declined, resulting in baronial status becoming a 'personal' title rather than one linked to ownership of territory. Eventually 'writs of summons' ceased to be issued, and Letters patent were used to create new lordships, with people being summoned to parliament by Letters Patent from 1388. The first baron to be created by patent
4864-400: The offer of peerage titles. For the majority of its history, hereditary peerages were the norm. Today, the only new hereditary peerages granted are to members of the royal family ; the last non-royal awardees of hereditary titles were in the Thatcher era. Since then, ruling parties have instead exclusively created life peerss and refrained from recommending any others to be elevated to
4940-403: The peerages would be inherited by her sister, Lady Pamela Hicks , and her legitimate heirs male. (But there are ten living male-line descendants of the 2nd Countess, as of 2024.) Should the legitimate male lines of both sisters fail, the peerages would become extinct. While the male-line heirs of Lady Pamela Hicks are in the line of succession to the earldom, they are not in line of succession to
5016-414: The power to cancel or revoke a peerage once it has been created. A peerage can only be removed from an individual by an act of parliament, an example of such being the Titles Deprivation Act 1917 . Under the privilege of peerage , peers themselves had the right to be tried for impeachment , felonies or for high treason by other peers in the House of Lords (instead of commoners on juries). In such cases
5092-423: The said Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas... successively in order of seniority of age and priority of birth and to the heirs male of their bodies lawfully begotten... As a result, since the first Lord Mountbatten never had a son, his elder daughter, Patricia , succeeded as the 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma upon her father's death. Should the legitimate male line of descent of the 2nd Countess become extinct,
5168-491: The throne in 1399). Likewise in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man (which are not strictly part of the United Kingdom, but possessions of the British Crown) the informal titles Duke of Normandy (a title associated with William the Conqueror prior to his ascension to the throne in 1066) and Lord of Mann (the title acquired with the Crown purchase of the Isle of Man under George III in 1765) are used respectively. All British subjects who were neither Royal nor Peers of
5244-412: The time of creation, the 12 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary (the Law Lords) became the first wave of justices to the Supreme Court but were simultaneously disqualified from sitting or voting in the House of Lords until they retired from the court. Judges appointed to the new Supreme Court are not automatically made peers, but those who have not previously been independently granted a peerage, are entitled to use
5320-565: The writ. By the Tenures Abolition Act 1660 , many remaining baronies by tenure who had not got an established inherited writ of summons were converted into baronies by writ, thereby bringing them into line with the other peerages. While non-heritable "peerages for life" were often created in the early days of the peerage, their regular creation was not provided for by Act of Parliament until the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 and in 1958 more generally. The rank of earl dates to Anglo-Saxon times. The ranks of duke and marquess were introduced in
5396-400: Was Lord Beauchamp of Holt in the reign of Richard II . Feudal baronies had always been hereditable by primogeniture , but on condition of payment of a fine, termed " relief ", derived from the Latin verb levo to lift up, meaning a "re-elevation" to a former position of honour. By the beginning of the 14th century, the hereditary characteristics of the Peerage were well developed. Since
5472-636: 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 since then. These were: Marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons are all addressed as 'Lord X', where 'X' represents either their territory or surname pertaining to their title. Marchionesses, countesses, viscountesses and baronesses are all addressed as 'Lady X'. Dukes and duchesses are addressed just as 'Duke' or 'Duchess' or, in
5548-623: Was known until in 2005 he succeeded his father John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne as Baron Brabourne , of Brabourne in the County of Kent . Subsequently, with the death of his mother on 13 June 2017, he became the 3rd Earl Mountbatten of Burma . As a consequence, both the Brabourne peerage and the Knatchbull Baronetcy , of Mersham Hatch , in the Baronetage of England (created in 1641 for Sir Norton Knatchbull ) became subsidiary titles to
5624-404: Was reported in 2023 that members of the British security services had contacted Queen Elizabeth II to request she intervene and block the peerage of Evgeny Lebedev who had been nominated by then Prime Minister Boris Johnson . Some media outlets have reported personal interventions with other honours: For example, former prime ministers are also by convention knighted, being raised to the Order of
5700-464: Was the first commoner to be appointed as Lord Chancellor since 1587. As the upper chamber , in contrast to the House of Commons, where proceedings are controlled by the speaker , proceedings in the Lords are controlled by peers themselves, under the rules set out in the Standing Orders . The Leader of the House of Lords has the responsibility of reminding the House of these rules and facilitating
5776-461: Was the last non-royal hereditary honour of any variety created in the UK to date). Thatcher was later given a life peerage in her own right in 1992. The most recent prime minister to receive a peerage was David Cameron , who was given a life peerage in 2023. It is unclear in the present day whether the monarch would move to directly block a recommendation or a conventional ascension to the peerage, though they are constitutionally entitled to do so. It
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