A subsidiary title is a

title of authority Title of authority, title of office or title of command is the official designation of a position held in an organization (e.g. in government or corporation) associated with certain duties of authority. Semi-formally, the title of office may be r ...

title of honour A title of honor or honorary title is a title bestowed upon individuals or organizations as an award in recognition of their merits. Sometimes the title bears the same or nearly the same name as a title of authority, but the person bestowed d ...

that is held by a

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

person but which is not regularly used to identify that person, due to the concurrent holding of a greater title.

United Kingdom

An example in the United Kingdom is the

Duke of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...

, who is also the

Earl of Arundel Earl of Arundel is a title of nobility in England, and one of the oldest extant in the English peerage. It is currently held by the Duke of Norfolk, and is used (along with the Earl of Surrey) by his heir apparent as a courtesy title. The ...

, the

Earl of Surrey Earl of Surrey is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created five times. It was first created for William de Warenne, a close companion of William the Conqueror. It is currently held as a subsidiary title by the Dukes of Norfol ...

, the

Earl of Norfolk Earl of Norfolk is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. Created in 1070, the first major dynasty to hold the title was the 12th and 13th century Bigod family, and it then was later held by the Mowbrays, who we ...

, the

Baron Beaumont Baron Beaumont is an ancient title in the Peerage of England, created in 1309 for a younger branch of the French counts of ''de Brienne'' family. The sixth Baron Beaumont was created Viscount Beaumont (the first creation of this rank in England ...

, the

Baron Maltravers The title Baron Maltravers or Mautravers was created in the Peerage of England on 25 January and 23 October 1330 when John Maltravers was summoned to Parliament by writs directed ''Iohanni Mautravers Iuniori''. The barony fell into abeyance amon ...

, the Baron FitzAlan, the Baron Clun, the Baron Oswaldestre, and the

Baron Howard of Glossop Baron Howard of Glossop, in the County of Derby, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, since 1975 a subsidiary title of the dukedom of Norfolk. It was created in 1869 for the Liberal politician Lord Edward Howard, the second son of ...

. In everyday usage, the individual who holds all of these titles would be referred to only by the most senior title (in this case, Duke of Norfolk), while all of the other titles would be subsidiary titles.

Use as a courtesy title

A British peer's

heir apparent An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...

may use that peer's most senior subsidiary title as a courtesy title, provided that it does not cause confusion. For example, the Duke of Norfolk's heir apparent is known as "Earl of Arundel" (without the

definite article An article is any member of a class of dedicated words that are used with noun phrases to mark the identifiability of the referents of the noun phrases. The category of articles constitutes a part of speech. In English, both "the" and "a(n)" a ...

). However, the heir does not technically become the Earl of Arundel (as a substantive title) until his father's death, and he remains legally a commoner until then. If a subsidiary peerage has the same name as a higher peerage, it is not used as a courtesy title, in order to avoid any confusion. For example, the

Duke of Manchester Duke of Manchester is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain, and the current senior title of the House of Montagu. It was created in 1719 for the politician Charles Montagu, 4th Earl of Manchester. Manchester Parish in Jamaica was named afte ...

is also the Earl of Manchester, but his heir apparent is styled "Viscount Mandeville", this being the duke's highest subsidiary title that does not contain the name "Manchester".

Writ of acceleration

Before the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

, which abolished the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

, an heir apparent could be summoned to the Lords, before the current title holder's death, by a

writ of acceleration A writ in acceleration, commonly called a writ of acceleration, is a type of writ of summons that enabled the eldest son and heir apparent of a peer with more than one peerage to attend the British or Irish House of Lords, using one of his father ...

– that is, by accelerating the inheritance of a junior title (usually a barony). For example, a writ of acceleration could have been used to cause a courtesy Earl of Arundel to inherit the Maltravers barony prematurely, whereupon he would gain that as a substantive title and could join the House of Lords as Lord Maltravers.

References

Titles {{Noble-stub

United Kingdom

Use as a courtesy title

Writ of acceleration

See also

References