Duke of St Albans

Duke of St Albans is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1684 for Charles Beauclerk, 1st Earl of Burford, then fourteen years old. King Charles II had accepted that Burford was his illegitimate son by Nell Gwyn, an actress, and awarded him the Dukedom just as he had conferred the Dukedoms of Monmouth, Southampton, Grafton, Northumberland and Richmond and Lennox on his other illegitimate sons.

Dukedom of St Albans

Arms of Murray de Vere Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans: Grand quarterly, 1st and 4th grand quarters: the Royal Arms of Charles II, viz quarterly: 1st and 4th, France and England quarterly; 2nd, Scotland; 3rd, Ireland; the whole debruised by a baton sinister gules charged with three roses argent barbed and seeded proper (Lennox[1]); 2nd and 3rd grand quarters: quarterly gules and or, in the first quarter a mullet argent (De Vere). (Arms of the 2nd Duke onwards)
Creation date10 January 1684
MonarchCharles II
PeeragePeerage of England
First holderCharles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans
Present holderMurray Beauclerk, 14th Duke
Heir apparentCharles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford
Remainder tothe 1st Duke's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten
Subsidiary titlesEarl of Burford
Baron Heddington
Baron Vere
MottoAuspicium melioris aevi ("A pledge of better times")[2]

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 Lodge in Nottinghamshire, now a hotel,[3] and Upper Gatton Park in Surrey.[4]

The accepted pronunciation of the family surname Beauclerk is reflected in the original alternative rendering Beauclaire: boh-clair.[5]

Dukes of St Albans (1684)
Arms of the 1st Duke of St Albans
Other titles: Earl of Burford, in the county of Oxford, and Baron Heddington, in the county of Oxford (1676)
Other titles (5th Duke onwards): Baron Vere, of Hanworth in the county of Middlesex (1750)

The heir apparent is Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, Earl of Burford (b. 1965) (only son of the 14th Duke).

The heir apparent's heir in line is his only son, James Malcolm Aubrey Edward de Vere Beauclerk, Lord Vere (b. 1995).

Barons Vere (1750)

for subsequent Barons Vere see Dukes of St Albans above

Line of succession
  1. Charles Francis Topham de Vere Beauclerk, Earl of Burford (b. 1965) (only son of the 14th Duke)
  2. James Malcolm Aubrey Edward de Vere Beauclerk, Lord Vere (b. 1995) (only son of Lord Burford)
  3. Lord Peter Charles de Vere Beauclerk (b. 1948) (second son of the 13th Duke)
  4. Tenzin Beauclerk (b. 2005) (younger but only surviving son of Lord Peter)
  5. Lord James Charles Fesq de Vere Beauclerk (b. 1949) (third son of the 13th Duke)
  6. Lord John William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (b. 1950) (youngest son of the 13th Duke)
  7. William Rafael Beauclerk, Marques de Valero de Urria (great-great-great-great-grandson of Lord Sidney Beauclerk, fifth son of the 1st Duke)
  8. Alexander Charles Beauclerk (b. 1990) (elder son of the Marques de Valero de Urria)
  9. Cameron Beauclerk (b. 1993) (younger son of the Marques de Valero de Urria)

Only those at positions 1 to 6 are in remainder to the Barony of Vere.

Arms
Coat of arms of Duke of St Albans
Coronet
A Duke's coronet
Crest
On a Chapeau Gules turned up Ermine a Lion statant guardant Or crowned with a ducal coronet per pale Argent and of the First and gorged with a Collar of the Last thereon three Roses also Argent barbed and seeded Proper
Escutcheon
Grand quarterly, 1st and 4th grand quarters: the Royal Arms of Charles II, viz quarterly: 1st and 4th, France and England quarterly; 2nd, Scotland; 3rd, Ireland; the whole debruised by a Baton sinister Gules charged with three Roses Argent barbed and seeded Proper (Beauclerk); 2nd and 3rd grand quarters: quarterly Gules and Or in the first quarter a Mullet Argent (De Vere)
Supporters
Dexter: an Antelope Argent armed and unguled Or; Sinister: a Greyhound Argent, each gorged with a Collar as in the Crest
Motto
Auspicium Melioris Aevi (A pledge of better times)


Family tree
Beauclerk family tree: Dukes of St. Albans
King Charles II
(1630–r.1660–1685)		Nell Gwyn
(1650–1687)
Duke of Monmouth
Dukes of Buccleuch		Dukes of Cleveland
& Southampton		Duke of NorthumberlandDukes of Richmond
& Lennox
Earl of PlymouthDukes of Grafton
EARL OF BURFORD, 1676
DUKE OF ST. ALBANS, 1684
Charles Beauclerk,
1st Duke of St. Albans
illegitimate
(1670–1726)
Charles Beauclerk,
2nd Duke of St. Albans
(1696–1751)		Lord William Beauclerk
(1698–1733)		Vere Beauclerk,
1st Baron Vere of Hanworth
(1699–1781)
George Beauclerk,
3rd Duke of St. Albans
(1720–1786)		Lt.-Col. Charles Beauclerk
(d. 1775)		Aubrey Beauclerk,
2nd Baron Vere of Hanworth,
5th Duke of St. Albans
(1740–1802)
George Beauclerk,
4th Duke of St. Albans
(1758–1787)		Aubrey Beauclerk,
6th Duke of St. Albans
(1765–1815)		William Beauclerk,
8th Duke of St. Albans
(1766–1825)
Aubrey Beauclerk,
7th Duke of St. Albans
(1815–1816)		William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk,
9th Duke of St. Albans
(1801–1849)		Lord Charles Beauclerk
(1813–1861)
William Amelius Aubrey
de Vere Beauclerk,
10th Duke of St. Albans
(1840–1898)		Aubrey Topham Beauclerk
(1850–1933)
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)
Charles Francis Topham
de Vere Beauclerk,
Earl of Burford
(b. 1965)
James Malcolm Aubrey Edward
de Vere Beauclerk,
Lord Vere
(b. 1995)

See also

Notes
  1. The Scottish Earldom of Lennox had merged into the crown on the accession of King James I & VI, whose father Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley was the heir presumptive to that earldom, the king was thus at liberty to re-award the Lennox arms, or versions of them, as he pleased
  2. Debrett's Peerage, 1876, p.411
  4. Sale brochure for Upper Gatton Park, June 2016.
  5. British Museum – Madame Ellen Groinn

References
  • Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
  • Charles Kidd & David Williamson (ed.), Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition), New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,

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
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