Duke of St Albans
The title Duke of St Albans was created in the Peerage of England in 1684 for the 1st Earl of Burford when he was fourteen years old. King Charles II had accepted that Burford was his illegitimate son by Eleanor Gwynn (commonly known as 'Nell') an actress, and awarded him the Dukedom just as he had awarded the Dukedoms of Monmouth, Richmond, Lennox, Southampton and Grafton on his other illegitimate sons.
The subsidiary titles of the Duke are: Earl of Burford, in the County of Oxford (1676), Baron Heddington, in the County of Oxford (1676) and Baron Vere, of Hanworth in the County of Middlesex (1750). The Earldom and the Barony of Heddington are in the Peerage of England, and the Barony of Vere is in the Peerage of Great Britain. The Dukes of St Albans also bear the hereditary title of Grand Falconer of England, and Hereditary Registrar of the Court of Chancery.
The eldest son and heir of the Duke of St Albans is known by the courtesy title Earl of Burford, and Lord Burford's eldest son and heir is known as Lord Vere.
Recent Dukes of St Albans have not held a landed estate. Former seats of the Dukes of St Albans were Bestwood in Nottinghamshire and Upper Gatton in Surrey.
Dukes of St Albans (1684)
- Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans (1670–1726)
- Charles Beauclerk, 2nd Duke of St Albans (1696–1751)
- George Beauclerk, 3rd Duke of St Albans (1720–1786)
- George Beauclerk, 4th Duke of St Albans (1758–1787)
- Aubrey Beauclerk, 5th Duke of St Albans (1740–1802)
- Aubrey Beauclerk, 6th Duke of St Albans (1765–1816)
- Aubrey Beauclerk, 7th Duke of St Albans (1815–1816)
- William Beauclerk, 8th Duke of St Albans (1766–1825)
- William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 9th Duke of St Albans (1801–1849)
- William Amelius Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 10th Duke of St Albans (1840–1898)
- Charles Victor Albert Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 11th Duke of St Albans (1870–1934)
- Osborne de Vere Beauclerk, 12th Duke of St Albans (1874–1964)
- Charles Frederick Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans (1915–1988)
- Murray de Vere Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans (b. 1939)
The Heir Apparent is the present holder's only son Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, Earl of Burford (b. 1965).
The Heir Apparent's Heir Apparent is his son James Malcolm Aubrey Edward de Vere Beauclerk, Lord Vere (b. 1995).
Barons Vere (1750)
- Vere Beauclerk, 1st Baron Vere (1699–1781)
- Aubrey Beauclerk, 2nd Baron Vere (1740–1802) (succeeded as 5th Duke of St Albans in 1787)
- For subsequent Barons Vere see Dukes of St Albans above
External links
Further reading
Donald Adamson and Peter Beauclerk Dewar, The House of Nell Gwyn. The Fortunes of the Beauclerk Family, 1670-1974, London: William Kimber, 1974