“I have always regarded the monarchy and the aristocracy as the natural supports of order and the guarantees of stability.”

 The words aristocracy, nobility and peerage are sometimes used interchangeably, but they do not mean precisely the same thing.

Historically, the aristocracy consisted broadly of families possessing inherited social status, property and influence. The peerage is more precisely a system of legally created or inherited dignities.

In the United Kingdom the five ranks of the peerage, in descending order, are:

Duke — Marquess — Earl — Viscount — Baron

These titles developed at different periods and possess different histories. They should also be distinguished from baronetcies, knighthoods and manorial lordships.

Modern holders of hereditary peerages possess social and historical titles but, since April 2026, no peer has a seat in Parliament simply by virtue of inheriting a peerage.

Duke is the highest rank of the British peerage below the Sovereign.

The title derives from the Latin dux, meaning leader. The first English dukedom was created by Edward III in 1337 for his son Edward, later famous as the Black Prince.

Some dukedoms have traditionally been conferred upon members of the Royal Family, while others belong to non-royal families.

A non-royal duke or duchess is traditionally addressed as Your Grace.

Royal dukes who possess the style Royal Highness are addressed according to their royal style; the style HRH derives from royal status, not from the dukedom itself.

The title Prince of Wales should be distinguished from the Duke of Cornwall. The former is conferred by the Sovereign and is not automatic. The Duchy of Cornwall passes automatically according to its own historic rules to the eligible male heir apparent.

The Sovereign is traditionally also styled Duke of Lancaster.

Marquess is the second rank of the peerage, between duke and earl. In British usage the female equivalent is marchioness.

The title is associated historically with the idea of a march, or frontier region.

The first English marquessate was created in 1385, when Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford, became Marquess of Dublin.

The title initially proved unpopular. John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, was also created Marquess of Dorset in 1397 but subsequently asked not to have the dignity restored after it had been forfeited.

The oldest surviving English marquessate is that of Winchester, created in 1551.

Earl is the third rank of the peerage.

The word derives from the Old English eorl and is related to the Scandinavian jarl. Following the Norman Conquest the English title remained in use rather than being replaced by the continental “count”.

For that reason, the wife or female holder of an earldom is nevertheless called a countess.

The office and status of earls changed considerably from the Anglo-Saxon period through the Middle Ages, eventually developing into an hereditary dignity within the peerage.

Viscount ranks below earl and above baron.

The term originated in the Latin vicecomes, broadly meaning the deputy of a count. It was also connected historically with the office from which the English sheriff developed.

As a rank of the English peerage, viscount was introduced in 1440 when Henry VI created John Beaumont Viscount Beaumont.

Many heirs to higher-ranking peerages use one of a family's subsidiary titles as a courtesy title, but this should not be confused with holding the peerage itself.

Baron is the fifth rank of the peerage.

In medieval England the term was associated particularly with the King's tenants-in-chief. Over time the summoning of leading barons to Parliament contributed to the development of hereditary parliamentary peerage.

By the later Middle Ages baronies were increasingly created by letters patent.

Scottish peerage terminology developed somewhat differently. The peerage rank corresponding broadly to an English baron is a Lord of Parliament. This should not be confused with the separate historic dignity of a Scottish feudal barony*.

Modern life peerages are also created at the rank of baron or baroness.

* Feudal Baronies in Scotland

Scotland possesses a distinctive class of historic baronial dignity which should not be confused with a peerage barony. 

Under the former Scottish feudal system, a barony was a territorial estate held directly or indirectly of the Crown and carried with it a recognised dignity, together historically with certain rights, privileges and jurisdiction. 

The feudal system of land tenure was abolished on 28 November 2004 by the Abolition of Feudal Tenure etc. (Scotland) Act 2000. Importantly, however, Parliament expressly preserved the dignity of baron. 

The former jurisdiction and conveyancing privileges attached to a barony ceased, and the dignity was separated from the land, but it survives in Scots law as incorporeal heritable property which may be inherited or transferred. 

A Scottish feudal baron is therefore the holder of a genuine historic legal dignity, but is not thereby a peer and does not possess a seat or rank in the Peerage of Scotland.

The distinction is an important example of the varied forms which hereditary dignity has taken within the British constitutional tradition.

 The relationship between hereditary nobility and Parliament has changed profoundly.

For centuries hereditary peers formed the greater part of the House of Lords. The Life Peerages Act 1958 enabled the creation of life peers and greatly broadened the composition of the House, including the admission of women as life peers.

The House of Lords Act 1999 ended the automatic right of most hereditary peers to sit, while allowing a maximum of 92 excepted hereditary peers to remain under transitional arrangements.

That remaining hereditary right was removed by the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026.

At the end of the parliamentary session on 29 April 2026, those still sitting solely by virtue of hereditary peerages ceased to be Members of the House. Some former hereditary members have subsequently returned after receiving life peerages.

The House of Lords therefore now consists principally of life peers together with the Lords Spiritual, the bishops of the Church of England entitled by law to sit.

The Crown Society regrets the disappearance of the hereditary element from Parliament and believes there remains a serious case for considering whether inherited public responsibility can contribute continuity, independence and long-term perspective to national institutions.

That, however, is an argument for the hereditary principle rather than a description of current law, and the distinction is important.

Baronets/Baronetess 

 A baronetcy is an hereditary dignity but is not a peerage.

The modern hereditary order of baronets was established by King James I in 1611.

A baronet is styled Sir, followed by his name, and uses the post-nominal abbreviation Bt.  A woman holding a baronetcy in her own right is a baronetess and is styled Dame.

Baronets rank below barons and above most orders of knighthood in the traditional order of precedence, but a baronetcy has never of itself conferred a seat in the House of Lords.

Knights and Dames

Knighthood is an honour rather than an hereditary peerage.

Some knights and dames belong to orders of chivalry, while a Knight Bachelor receives a personal knighthood without membership of an order.

With rare historical exceptions, modern British knighthoods are personal and do not descend to heirs.

One particularly colourful connection between manorial tenure and the Crown is the historic office of the King's Champion.

For centuries the Dymoke family, associated with the Manor of Scrivelsby in Lincolnshire, performed the Champion's ceremonial service at coronations.

Historically the Champion rode into the Coronation Banquet and challenged anyone disputing the Sovereign's title to the Crown.

There has been no Coronation Banquet of that form since the Coronation of George IV in 1821, and the function has consequently evolved.

At the Coronation of King Charles III in 2023, Francis Dymoke, 34th Lord of the Manor of Scrivelsby, took part in the procession carrying the Royal Standard.

The survival of institutions such as manorial lordships and hereditary ceremonial offices illustrates the many layers of history which still exist alongside the modern constitutional Crown.