CRUSHING DUTIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18927, 27 January 1925, Page 9

CRUSHING DUTIES.

VICISSITUDES OF DUKEDOM. FORTUNE'S LATEST JEST. LONDON. Jan. 10. A correspondent of the London Evening News draws attention to the drastic economies which the trustees of the youthful Duke of Norfolk are carrying out in order to pay the death duties on the estate, following upon his father's death in 1917. The estate, which is valued at several millions of pounds, comprises 50,000 acres in Derbyshire, Sussex, and Norfolk, and also large and valuable areas in London, Sheffield, and Norwich. Since 1923, when 900 guests attended the ball at Arundel Castle, Sussex, to celebrate the debut of the Duke's sister, Lady Mary Rachael Fitzalan-Howard, who is now 20 years of age, the castle has been closed. Efforts to secure a tenant for it have been unsuccessful, but the ducal town house in St. James' Square has been let to Mrs. Brown, a wealthy American. The trustees have further reduced the staff of indoor and outdoor servants at the castle, dismissing 50, of whom some were old retainers. The Duchess of Norfolk (the present Duke's mother) intends living abroad with her daughters most °of the time. The Duke of Norfolk will be 17 years of age on May 30 next. On the death of his father in 1917 he succeeded to the title, which carries the rank of the premier peer of England, the Duke of Norfolk, Hereditary Earl Marshal and Chief Butler of England. The Norfolk dukedom has had a notable and eventful history. Extinction, attainder, forfeiture, and beheading, followed by pardon and restoration to an heir, have marked its course for generations and centuries. There are other accompanying titles, but the dukedom itself was created in 1397. The seventh and ninth Earls of Arundel, the original title of the line, were both attained and beheaded. The first Duke of Norfolk was banished in the year in which he received the title, and is on record as having died " either of plague or of grief." His eldest son was beheaded, but the second son had the dignity restored to him. One duke threw in his lot with Richard 11., and Henry VII. made all his titles a forfeiture. A son of the third duke was beheaded by Henry VIII.. and the fourth duke followed him to the block in 1572.