Duke of Sussex is a

substantive title A substantive title is a title of nobility or royalty acquired either by individual grant or inheritance. It is to be distinguished from a title shared among cadets, borne as a courtesy title by a peer's relatives, or acquired through marriage. ...

, one of several royal dukedoms, that has been created twice in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the ...

. It is a

hereditary title Hereditary titles, in a general sense, are nobility titles, positions or styles that are hereditary and thus tend or are bound to remain in particular families. Though both monarchs and nobles usually inherit their titles, the mechanisms often d ...

of a specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. It takes its name from the historic county of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

in England. The title lapsed in 1843 but was revived in 2018, when Queen Elizabeth II bestowed it on her grandson Prince Harry on 19 May 2018 upon his marriage to

Meghan Markle Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (; born Rachel Meghan Markle; August 4, 1981) is an American member of the British royal family and former actress. She is the wife of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, the younger son of King Charles III. Meghan was ...

. Meghan became known as the Duchess of Sussex.

History

A title associated with Sussex first appeared with the Kingdom of Sussex, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom that was annexed by the Kingdom of Wessex around 827, that later became part of the Kingdom of England. In charters, Sussex's monarchs were sometimes referred to as

ealdormen Ealdorman (, ) was a term in Anglo-Saxon England which originally applied to a man of high status, including some of royal birth, whose authority was independent of the king. It evolved in meaning and in the eighth century was sometimes applied ...

, or ''duces'' in Latin, which is sometimes translated as "dukes".

First creation, 1801

The title of Duke of Sussex was first conferred on 24 November 1801 upon Prince Augustus Frederick, the sixth son of King George III. He was made Baron Arklow and Earl of Inverness at the same time, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The title became extinct upon Prince Augustus Frederick's death in 1843. Although Prince Augustus Frederick was survived by a son and daughter by Lady Augusta Murray, their marriage (purportedly solemnized at

St George's Hanover Square Church St George's, Hanover Square, is an Anglican church, the parish church of Mayfair in the City of Westminster, central London, built in the early eighteenth century as part of a project to build fifty new churches around London (the Queen Ann ...

, Westminster, in 1793) had been annulled for lack of royal permission under the Royal Marriages Act 1772, rendering the children illegitimate under English law and unable to inherit titles from their father. Both children by the annulled marriage died childless, rendering the issue of their inheritance moot. On 2 May 1831, Prince Augustus Frederick married secondly (and again in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772) to Lady Cecilia Gore at Great Cumberland Place, London. Not being the Prince's legitimate wife, Lady Cecilia could not be received at court. On 30 March 1840, she was given the title of

Duchess of Inverness Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

in her own right by Queen Victoria.

Second creation, 2018

In 2018, the dukedom of Sussex was recreated and granted to Prince Harry, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and great-great-great-great-great grandnephew of the previous Duke, to mark the occasion of his wedding to

, who thereby became the first ever Duchess of Sussex.Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle: Announcement of Titles
The Royal Household, 19 May 2018. On 19 May 2018, it was announced that Prince Harry would become Duke of Sussex in England, with the subsidiary titles of Earl of Dumbarton in Scotland and Baron Kilkeel in Northern Ireland. In 2019, an heir to the dukedom,

Archie Mountbatten-Windsor Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor (born 6 May 2019) is the son of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. He is a grandson of King Charles III and is sixth in the line of succession to the British throne. Birth, family ...

, was born. In 1999, before the wedding of Prince Edward, the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, some had suggested the dukedoms of Sussex or Cambridge as the most likely titles to be granted to him. Instead, Prince Edward was created Earl of Wessex, and it was announced that he would eventually be created

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

, a title then held by his father, Prince Philip. There was again speculation that Prince William might be given the Sussex title on his wedding to Catherine Middleton in April 2011, but he was instead created Duke of Cambridge.

Dukes of Sussex

1801 creation

, Prince Augustus Frederick
House of Hanover
1801–1843
' ,

Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex by Guy Head

, 27 January 1773
Buckingham House, London
son of King George III and Queen Charlotte , 4 April 1793
Lady Augusta Murray
2 children

2 May 1831

Lady Cecilia Underwood Cecilia Underwood, Duchess of Inverness (née Gore, later Buggin, ; – 1 August 1873) was a mistress of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (sixth son of King George III). Despite marrying, their union was in contravention of the Royal ...

No children , 21 April 1843

Kensington Palace Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British royal family since the 17th century, and is currently the official L ...

, London
aged 70 Prince Augustus's first marriage to Lady Augusta Murray, which produced two children, was invalid under the Royal Marriages Act 1772 (he had not asked his father's approval to marry); so, accordingly, all his titles became extinct on his death.

2018 creation

, Prince Harry
House of Windsor
2018–present
''also: Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel (2018)'' , Prince Harry at the 2017 Invictus Games opening ceremony

Prince Harry at the 2017 Invictus Games opening ceremony

, 15 September 1984

St Mary's Hospital, London St Mary's Hospital is an NHS hospital in Paddington, in the City of Westminster, London, founded in 1845. Since the UK's first academic health science centre was created in 2008, it has been operated by Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, wh ...

son of King Charles III and

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

, 19 May 2018

2 children , ''Incumbent'' , -

Line of succession

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (born 1984) ** Coronet of a Grandchild of the Sovereign

(1)

(born 2019)

Family tree

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sussex Dukedoms in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Noble titles created in 2018 Noble titles created in 1801 Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex