NEW TITLES

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 16 June 1928, Page 11

NEW TITLES

ANE of the birthday presents bestow. ed upon Prince Henry by the King was the title of Duke of Gloucester. The formal announcement, which appeared in the ‘ ‘ London Gazette ” read: “The King has been pleased to direct Letters Patent to ho passed under the Great .Seal of the Realm granting unto his Majesty’s son, his Royal Highness Prince (Henry William Prclerick Albert, K.G., G.C.Y.0., G'apthin, 10th Royal Hussars, and the heirs male of 'his ’body lawfully begotten, the dignities of ©aron Gulloden, Earl of Ulster, and Duke of Gloucester. ’ ’

It is understood that Prince Henry, who is now 28 years of age, will be known in future as' the Duke of Gloucester. Baron ‘Culloden is a revived title. Culloden, Inverness-shire, is celebrated in history as tlhe place of the battle of 1746, which settled 'the fate of the House of Stuart. When Adolphus Frederick, seventh son of George 111, was (in .1801) created Duke of Cambridge, he was given at the same time the barony of Culloden (as also the earldom of Tipperary). These titles all became extinct on the death, in 1904, of his son and .successor, the Duke of Cambridge. The last Earl of Ulster, who died in 14,25, was one of the great Mortimer family. He was looked upon by partisans of Richard IT. as t'heir -future King. But- the Lancastrian revolution upset his 'claim. He later became a spirited supporter of Henry V,, fighting by his (side in the French wars. His kindly character earned him the name of “ Edmund 'the Good. ’ ’

Although the brother of the future King, Harold IT., was Earl in Gloucester and other shires, and witnessed in 1043 as 'Rwegen Dux, the appearance of Gloucester as a peerage dignity is generally reckoned from '.1122, when King Henry Beauclere created his natural son, Robert of Caen, Earl of Gloucester. It was one of the great titles of English history in the Middle Ages. As >a Dukedom it was granted in 1385 by King Richard 11. to his uncle, Thom'as of Woodstock, Earl of Buckingham, who afterwards played so prominent u part in the stormy politics of the day, and whs subjected to for-

DUKE OF GLOUCESTER

foiture, after being arrested -by the King in 1397. After a delay of little more than a week, Gloucester was granted as 'an Earldom to Thomas, Lord le Despenser, hut ’he was beheaded by King Henry IV. in 1400 and.attained in 1401.

The title was revived, as a Dukedom, for the -fourth son'of that King in 1414. the famous Duke Humphrey, Patron of Learning and Regent of England. Like the first Duke, the second died while under arrest, in 1447, after his second Duchess had been found guilty tising witchcraft against the King’s life, and sentenced to perpetual imprisonment. The third Duke of Gloucester, Who was given the 'title in 1461, was the famous Richard 'Crookback, Who was killed -at the Battle 'of Bos worth as King Richard ITT. The Tudors made no use of the title Which their adherents 'had surrounded with so sinister a reputation, and it did not re-appear in 'the Peerage until King Ovaries 11. made his brother. Prince Henry Duke of 'Gloucester, by patent, during his exile in 1659, thus confirming the title which had been generally used by him for several years. Duke Henry died o'f smallpox a few -months after his brother’s restoration in 1660. His little grand-nephew, Prince William, was generally known as Duke of -Gloucester, but bad -not been formally so created when ho died at the age (if 'll in 1700, and opened the wav to the Hanovarinn Succession.

King George ll.’s son, Frederick, Prince” of Wales, was generally known as Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh in 1764. It -was he who -secretly marriecl -Sir Edward Walpole’s natural daughter, the widowed 'Countess Wa'ldegrave, and their son, Who was born • in Rome, married 'Princess Miary, the fourth daughter of King George 111., who survived him .by 23 years, dying in 1859. On his marriage in 1816, the Duke, who was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, was given the rank of Royal Highness, which, as being only Ithe great-grand-son of a King, he had not previously enjoyed. Since hi-s death in 1834 the title of Gloucester has been out of the Peerage until to-day.