Ducal connections to the Royal Family--Part I

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Several months ago, after seeing several charts showing how all of the European monarchs were related, I asked two questions of this group: 1) Was there a similar chart for all of the Dukes (answer: no) and 2) Are all of the Dukes related to the Royal Family? (answer: yes).

I decided to put together a chart showing the connections of all of the present day Dukes.  That idea then expanded to include ducal lines that became extinct in the 20th century (i.e., Leeds, Newcastle and Portland).  Slowly but surely, my break points kept expanding, and I ended up doing the lines of every Duke and Duchess ever created (hereditary and life), designated, nominated or styled.

As all of you who have done this type of research know, it is long, tedious and frustrating, but once it's completed, there's a tremendous sense of accomplishment.  Also, the information that you learn is invaluable.  With the hope that perhaps at least one person finds something useful, I will share my research with all of you.

Before I begin posting (I think there are about 26 parts, some very lengthy, and others quite short, so it will take several days), I ask that you keep these notes in mind:

1. Instead of one giant family tree, which would have been difficult to manage and understand, I have broken the trees down by monarch.  The only exceptions are for the Cornwall and Rothesay dukedoms, which are listed by themselves.  Please also note that those Dukes are only listed in that location with that specific title.

2. My goal was to find ONE royal connection of the FIRST Duke/Duchess.  (Many of them, even the first ones in the ducal line, have multiple connections to the Royal Family.)  I also wanted that connection to be the closest one to a monarch.  That means that the Prince of Wales (as Duke of Cambridge), although he is related to Queen Elizabeth II, is listed with the monarch he is most closely related to, his father, King Charles III.

3. My primary concern on all of the trees are the Dukes and Duchesses.  Where appropriate, I have included their highest title prior to their ducal rank, which may or may not include titles that they may have inherited from their parents.

4. All of the relevant blood ancestors are shown.  With regards to marriages:  All males who married into the family are shown, regardless if they held a title or not.  (This is to primarily show change of family name.) Females who married into the family are shown only if they were peeresses in their own right, were members of the Royal Family or if their marriage affected the descent of a title or particular name change.

5.  My main sources were the last print editions of both Burke's Peerage and Debrett's Peerage, "Britain's Royal Families by Alison Weir (1989 ed.), as well as online editions of Burke's, the Complete Peerage, Debrett's and the Scots Peerage.  In some cases, information was not available from these sources, so I used the following online sources: britannica.com, genealogics, org, our-royal-titled-noble-and-commoner-ancestors.com, thepeerage.com and wikipedia.org (only when sourced).  Special mention as well to two extremely useful online sources from our own members, Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page, now maintained by maltagenealogy and Paul Theroff's An Online Gotha.

6. I often found that even well respected sources such as Burke's, Complete Peerage and Debrett's disagreed on information such as dates of birth and/or death and the numbering of peers.  I tried my best to reconcile the information, as my goal was to be as accurate as possible.  My apologies for any errors or confusion.

Lastly, thanks to all of you for your patience and help in answering the many questions and request for help that I have posted.

[Henry W]

Many thanks to you Brooke for putting all this work together.

After our correspondence a few months ago I have, with your permission, collated the work into one continuous Google Doc:

Ducal Connections to the Royal Family

I have given you full credit on the first page, but please let me know if you would like me in any other way to acknowledge you as the original author.

The table of contents on the first page allows you to quickly navigate around the document, which runs to 80 pages, and each part links back to the original thread here on Google Peerage News.

I have largely left the text unedited, save for the corrections already noted in each thread by Brooke himself.

A couple of thoughts that I have realised as I went about the copy/paste job:

- I am not sure that Brooke has referred to some of the Monarchs by the correct countries at certain points in time.

- For Charles I and Charles II, I think they should be referred to as "of England & Scotland" (not of Great Britain)

- For William IV onwards, I think they should be referred to as "of the United Kingdom" (not of Great Britain)

- I have used these territorial designations for the "Part ..." heading that links from the Table of Contents, but have not amended Brooke's text as yet.

I hope this compilation is of use to the community - I am happy to keep an eye out for future updates and implement them.  Corrections/Updates can be made as a comment on the Google Doc itself, or via the relevant thread here on the group.

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Hi Henry.

You've done a fantastic job, putting all of this information into one document.  It's the way the information should really be presented and maintained.  Thank you for your hard work in doing this.

I am also grateful to you for your very kind acknowledgment.  I am both humbled and honored by it.  No further acknowledgment is necessary.

With the possibility that there may be only one or perhaps two additional hereditary dukedoms created in most of our lifetimes (for Louis and possibly Charlotte), the document may not expand much in the years to come.  Nevertheless,  hopefully, it will continue to serve as a good source going forward.

Henry, thanks again, for everything.

Brooke

[Patricia Light]

Congratulations to Brooke & Henry, but especially Brooke. What a project you took on, i myself have tried with a few titles to find out how they are connected to each other (& failed), so i know how much work & time you must have devoted to this project, & to the benefit of us all, once again my congratulations to you both.

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Hi Patricia.

Thank you very much for your kind words.

This project began shortly after the death of Queen Elizabeth II.  Back in late September 2022, I posted a simple question on this site, asking if there was a chart, showing the connections between ducal families, like I had seen for European monarchies after her death.

To be honest, my "original" intention was just to focus on the extant dukedoms.  Then, I decided to include fairly recently extinct ones, like Newcastle and Leeds.  Before I knew it, as so often happens with projects, there was "mission creep", and I ended up working on all of them.

Admittedly, it was a very  detail oriented and time consuming process, involving various websites and several books (including Alison Weir's  "Britain's Royal Families"  as well as the last print copies of Burke's ).  From the time I began researching until I began posting, it took nearly 5 months.

Through it all, I learned so much, not only about the dukedoms and the various families, but about English and Scottish history in general.  It was simply fascinating.

If I am to (humbly) receive credit for this project, I must also once again acknowledge all of the assistance I received from many of our group members.  To all of you (and my deep apologies for not  naming names here) who answered the questions that I posted while working on this project, you too share credit for its completion.  Without your help, it never could have been done.  And certainly,  once again, thanks to Henry for reformatting it into its "logical" Debrett's/Burke's like format.

While I hope this project makes a small contribution to our group, personally, I am grateful to you, Patricia, to Richard, colin, Henry, Paul and so many others who, on a daily basis, keep all of us informed on the Royal Family, the Baronetage, and especially, the Peerage.

Here's to many more years of all of us, continuing to share information through this wonderful group!

[bx...@yahoo.com]

Hi Henry.

When you get the chance, please update the St. Albans section.  

I believe this is the first ducal death since I completed the project a few years ago.

Thanks for your help.

Brooke