American Reacts to British Nobility Ranks Explained 

Talked about Richard II and showed portrait of Richard III.

We put the emphasis on the first syllable with these titles Steve. Most of them sound how they look. Marsheness and Vycount/Vycountess are the pronunciations for the difficult ones.

Here in Britain Steve we are always aware of our huge history going back more than 1000 years... we have traditions about titles etc. which have endured across the centuries. I personally know a peer, who is addressed as Lord.... but he won't allow anybody to say it, and keeps quiet about it. It is an inherited title.

the Clergy also are referred to as Nobles, for instance Archbishops are called Your Grace, like Dukes and Bishops are called 'My Lord Bishop' as if an Earl. All 5 Ranks of Nobility are Lords and Ladies, hence the House of Lords in Parliament/Palace of Westminster, where all ranks of Lords sit. Knights are not Nobility but they are called instead Sir Tom or Sir Joe for example and their wives are Lady Jones or Lady Biden for e.g. Princes and Princesses are titles that only identify a child of the Monarch (King or Queen) or a close relative e.g. a cousin of said Monarch and are given a recognised title relating to a geographic area when they reach the age of majority or marry e.g Duke of Cornwall, or York or Sussex. There's more for later, too.

A quick note on pronunciatation of these titles, (unfortunately the commentator of this video was American). The Title of Duke is pronounced "JEWke" (I'm afraid that Americans always have trouble with Duke!) Viscount is "VIYcount" and Marquise is "marKWIS"

Interesting that at the mention of Richard ll, up popped an picture taken from a portrait of Richard lll, who reigned 100 years later .

Wait, that’s not Richard II that’s Richard III

thanks for this one. I have heard these titles most of my life, but never thought about where they originated from. every day's a learning day!

I call my cat his lordship sometimes , thinks he owns the place 😄

One very small criticism, if I might. In Britain, we mostly do not drop the yod. Therefore the word "duke" is not pronounced "dook" but "djuke", so it sounds very similar to the "juke" in "jukebox".

Oops! Image of Richard II is Richard III.

Non royal dukes are hereditary titles and are called your grace, but royal dukes are sons/grandsons of a monarch and are referred to as his royal highness as they are also princes.

when king john was forced to sign the Magna Carta, he was fearing his nobles referred to as "the barons" i learned from your video that at that time, there were only earls and barons and many more barons than earls. the barons had only held their territories for 3 generations and were not going to let a maniac like John mess things up, so they made him promise to stay in his lane.

Though spelt Marquess, the pronunciation of if isn't how the narrator gave it in this. It's based still off of the French pronunciation (which is were the rank derived from) and is pronounced as 'Mar-kee'

Glad you're doing this.Well done Steve.👍☮️

During Anglo Saxon times the King would appoint his Earldorman as a regional "boss" who would administer it on behalf of the King. That Earldorrman would, in all probability, also be one of the King's Housejarles, one of his personal retinue and armed man. This was really the most common set up in that time. This all changed following the Norman Conquest. When this happened the new King William inherited one of the most efficiently run set up in Western Europe. Within a very short time the Anglo Saxon Earldorman had been replaced with the new regime's people. There followed a form of genicide against the old families. The Earldorman was not part of the Norman set up. But William renamed them as Earls. Those Earls were collectively known as the Barons. An Earl would be appointed to a county, roughly. The Earl of Oxford. The Earl of Surrey and so on. As time went on and history progressed, there came about the Dukes. Dukes were confined to the Royal Family such as John Of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. The Earls held immense power and throughout historý deposed and acclaimed kings. As the coubtry emerged from its bloody internecine wars, the role of the Barons became more like the Councillors as was intended. But various kings introduced other titles. The Viscounts the Marquesses. And changes came about to reflect the respect an md power of their offspring. Most Dukes have a long list of supplementary titles: Earl of This, Baron That. Their eldest sons could, and still can, use one of their titles to show their nobility. For instance, the Duke of Marlborough's son is known as the Marquis of Blandford. The son of the Earl of Snowdon is the Viscount Lindley. These are known az Courtesy titles and have no seat in the House of Lords as their fathers have, or had. The Son of a Duke is a Marquis The son of a Marquis is, often, a Viscount The son of an Earl is also a Viscount. The Son of the Duke of Norfolk, England's premier Duke, is the Earl of Arundel. It is complicated but, in many ways, quite simple. Over the years I have worked with many aristocrats and know how to address them. Any Baron, Viscount, Earl, or whatever is addressed as My Lord, until he invites you to call him Terry or Mike. A Duke and Duchees are addressed as Your Grace. A Baronet is an hereditary knight who can pass his Baronetcy to his eldest son. A Knight' s title dies with him

Viscount is pronounced VY COUNT (male) and VY COUNTESS ( female). Marquess is pronounced MAR KWISS ( male)and MAR SHIN ESS ( female).

Well mate this was a fairly accurate video except for one thing. In Anglo-Saxon England there were two ranks of nobility, the Earl/Ealderman and below that the Thegn (pronounced Thane). an Earl/Ealderman ruled over, as stated, a shire or county or a group of these whereas a Thegn was normally in charge of a hamlet, village or town. Hope this info is of some use 😉😊 ...oh and a Baronet is a hereditary title but it doesn't entitle the bearing to sit in the House of Lord. The first Baronets were created in 1611 to assist in the plantation of Ulster and again in the 1640s for the plantation of Nova Scotia 🤔😉😊

I recommend Lynsey Holiday’s video on this same subject. She explains things a bit more thoroughly. She has a ton of excellent videos for folks new to this subject. Also, the Monarchy series by David Starkey is a really in-depth look at the history of the monarchy. Both can be found on here.

Lots of the nobility served in the Army/Navy and are famous for giving their troops money on retirement which is why so many pubs are named after nobility. One of the most popular was the Marquess of Granby where I lived for a few years, it was a free house (not owned by a brewery) and won many awards for it's excellent ales :) So blessed to live in the UK.

Not mentioned here is that Scotland also had its own nobility - which along with the English one, was replaced by the UK nobility as per the Acts of Union in 1707. As most of them are hereditary, passing from father to eldest living son or male relation, there are descendants of all three who still enjoy their titles, lands and privileges today. Only a very small number have continued via the female line - mainly because that requires the written intentions of the King or Queen of the day. This occurred with the last non-royal dukedom created by Queen Victoria in 1889 - actually an elevation of the formal Earl of Fife to Duke of Fife, who was marrying the queen's most senior granddaughter, Princess Louise, who later became Princess Royal during the reign of her father, King Edward VII. As the marriage produced only daughters however, the King added a "special remainder" several years later, which allowed the eldest daughter to inherit as Duchess of Fife in her own right. There is a more recent example in the rank of Earls, whereby the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma - who was the maternal uncle of the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh also had just two daughters. The late Queen endowed the dukedom "with special remainders" so that the earldom could be inherited by the elder daughter and her heirs male. The second title holder was therefore Prince Philp's first cousin, Countess Mountbatten of Burma - who also became Countess Brabourne, by marriage. Both titles are now held by her eldest grandson. There are now just 24 non-royal, hereditary dukes, with no prospect of any new ones being created in the future. Members of the Royal Family currently hold the dukedoms of Cornwall, Rothesay & Cambridge (Prince of Wales), Sussex (Prince Harry), York (Prince Andrew), Gloucester (Prince Richard) and Kent (Prince Eddie). If King Charles follows the previously announced intentions of his parents, his youngest brother Prince Edward may be elevated to a recreation of the Dukedom of Edinburgh - he is as things stand, a Royal Earl... Between them, these Princes (or their eldest sons and heirs apparent) also hold the Earldoms of Chester, Carrick & Strathearn (Prince of Wales), Dumbarton (Prince Harry), Inverness (Prince Andrew), Wessex and Forfar (Prince Edward) Ulster (Alex Windsor, son of the Duke of Gloucester) and St Andrews (George Windsor, son of the Duke of Kent). Prince Edward is also Viscount Severn, though this title is now used by his son, (Prince - technically, but he doesn't use the title as such) James Mountbatten-Windsor. They are also the Barons of Renfrew and Carrickfergus (Prince of Wales), Kilkeel (Prince Harry), Killyleagh (Prince Andrew), Culloden (Xan Windsor, son of the Earl of Ulster) and Downpatrick (son of the Earl of St Andrews). The Prince of Wales also holds the additional titles of Lord of the Isles, Prince of Scotland and Great Steward of Scotland. Royal Dukes and Earls with the style of Prince normally have the titular dignity of "His Royal Highness," however the one exception to this was in the case of the Duchess of Windsor, whom her future husband as King Edward VIII declared, was the reason he had to abdicate his Throne in 1936. While he reverted to his princely style and titular dignity, the duchess was specifically prevented from using the titular dignity of HRH and forced to use Her Grace, instead - as if she was the wife of a non-royal duke! The Dukes of Fife have long since ceased to be royal, as will the next generations of Sussex, Gloucester and Kent - as indeed has the only Royal Marquessate to have been created in recent history - the closest being the 4th Marquess of Milford Haven, whose great grandfather was the former Prince Louis of Battenburg, who was the maternal grandfather of the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. As well as the marquessate, this family uses the additional titles of Earl of Medina and Viscount Alderney. There has been no additional marquessates created since 1936. Likewise, the last non-royal Earldom was created in 1984, for the former Prime Minister, Harold Wilson. It seems unlikely that any new hereditary peerages will be created in future - especially as since 1999, only 92 of all noble ranks except Barons appointed as Life Peers, have been allowed to sit in the House of Lords at any one time. This represents less than one-eighth of the total number of people entitled to do so. Even Royal Dukes and their families - save for the Prince of Wales, now have no automatic right to take up what would previously have been their seat in the House of Lords - if elected, they'd have to be one of the 92. As the Royal Family is politically impartial however, they very rarely attended any debates after their welcoming ceremonies. All except the king are entitled to vote of course, but it is unknown whether they actually do so! You may wish to watch the interesting BBC documentary entitled, "The Last Dukes," which involved several of them or their families talking about various aspects of being one. This is available on RU-vid.

Many people assume that titles such as King, Queen, Prince and Princess are higher still. This isn't necessarily true. These four titles are royal family titles and describe someone's relationship to a ruling monarch, past or present. They are not higher than. say, a duke. In reality, people with royal family titles usually have other noble titles.

Another point sort of overlooked or at least under-emphasize by this video’s creator is that Duke started as just a title of nobility for members of the royal family. Starting with the Duchy of Cornwall as a means for the heir to the throne to be financially independent and hold tangible power over nobility before becoming the monarch. But, later the monarch begin to give these titles to nobility who had made an immense contributions to the kingdom, like in the case of the Duke of Wellington. This is important to remember why Dukes are addressed as your grace while the other nobility are addressed at lord. This is because your grace, was reserved for important members of royalty including the king until Henry the VIII made that change to your majesty to be more like the French king. But, this difference in address stayed for all dukes. L

With the exception of Duke/ Duchess, they are all styled as Lord or Lady..... . He does explain at the end of the video, a baronet is a hereditary knight but is not part of the nobility.

I'm glad you learned how to pronounce Viscount before your comments got flooded. 😂

Also manorial lordships, knights and Baronets

Hi Steve. If you would like to see a video of the ranks of nobility and the British government together representing the totality of the British political establishment I recommend 'the quenn opens British parliament 2015' for viewing. Regards from across the Northumberland which used to be the Kingdom on Northumbria with it's own capital (Bamburgh) and King before the formation of England.

Their children all hold the courtesy titles. Lord and Lady for all children of a duke and Marquess. Lord for the eldest son of an earl, the Honourable for younger sons and lady for all daughters. The Honourable for all children of viscounts and barons. Eldest sons of a duke, marquess and earl can hold as a courtesy their fathers subsidiary title. For example The Duke of Marlborough's eldest son can use his lower title Marquess of Blandford and his eldest son can use Earl of Sunderland, both with no definite article "the".

The way in which you get more ranks is because of royalty. Members of the royal family may be dukes etc but are referred to differently to 'normal' dukes. Indeed, certain duchies can only be given out by the monarch, usually to members of the royal family, such as the Duke of Cambridge. We also get different titles for members of both houses of Parliament. In the Commons (i.e. elected) MP's are the Right Honourable... whereas the Peers in the House of Lords can have varying titles. As standard, they are given the title Baronet, which is different to a Baron as it isn't really nobility.

Forgive the shocking typography.....lol....my keyboard needs fixing...

Morning, I like your vids but could you do me a solid and balance your audio? The sound from the original video is so low that I turn it up to hear the actual monologue, then you speak and rattle my ear drums!

Strictly, Duchess isn't the female equivalent of a Duke. A Duchess is the wife of a Duke. The late Queen Elizabeth was Duke of Normandy (not Duchess) because she was Duke in her own right. Incidentally, Kings and Queens were addressed as "Your Grace" until Henry VIII.

Please react to "British schindler"/"Nicolas Winton". I want people to know about this wonderful man who rescued Jewish children from the Nazis. Also "Heroes Among Us: Incident at Bamber Bridge" is an interesting watch

WITH SOME EDITION N MODERNAZING IT LOOKS NICE🤔

Marquess is the English spelling - although it can be written Marquis (with an "i" instead . Barons, Viscounts, Earls and Marquesses are all, generically "Lords". So Baron Boothby is Lord Boothby, Viscount (you say "vYe-cownt" - dont say the "s") Severn is Lord Severn, the Earl of Leicester("LEss-tuh") is Lord Leicester and the Marquess of Salisbury ("SOrls-brie") is Lord Salisbury - correspondingly the wives of the above are Baroness Boothby (Lady Boothby), Viscountess Severn (Lady Severn), the Countess of Leicester (Lady Leicester) and the Marchioness ("marsh-yoness")of Salisbury (Lady Salisbury. Dukes and Duchesses are always exactly that so the Duke of Norfolk ("nOr-fek" - NO "L"!!!!) would never ever be Lord Norfolk although in EXTREMELY formal situations - like coronations - he MIGHT be referred to as "my lord Duke" - but even though the word "lord" does appear in that instance - so, too, does "Duke". Dont get too hung up on this but the "Your Grace" is just how you address (in person), a Duke (or duchess). So you might say to the Duke of Norfolk on being introduced "An honour to meet you, Your Grace - my name is Steve". So that differs from all the others - barons, viscounts, earls and marquesses - where to any of them, that same introduction would be "An honour to meet you, My Lord - my name is Steve". If writing to them, the envelope would be either 1) The Right Honourable Baron Boothby although in the same way, "Mister" is shortened to Mr, it is more than acceptable to write Rt. Hon. The Lord Boothby 2)The Rt. Hon. The Viscount Severn 3)The Rt. Hon The Earl of Leicester HOWEVER - marquesses are The Most Hon so 4)The Most Hon The Marquess of Salisbury and finally the form for Dukes is EITHER 5) The Most Noble The Duke of Norfolk OR His Grace The Duke of Norfolk To be honest, the video you watched wasn't very consistent or clear and succeeded mostly in being confusing, albeit was essentially correct. And to be fair to it, be assured that even the hopefully clear, more comprehensive - but more logical - guide I have written for you here, only starts to scratch then surface!!! There is a wholoe kit and kaboodle to do with Older and Younger Sons of Peers and their wives - and also what they call each other. Also there are written forms of address which are NEVER used verbally. The mode of address - as elsewhere - changes drastically between level of social (dis)parity, level of acquaintance/intimacy and in different settings! My suggestion is to gloss over this and focus on thingsn which are just as interesting but somewhat more relevant!

History Tea Time with Lindsay Holiday has a longer, more in-depth video, going more into detail as to how those titles developed. (I'm referring to an older video here, although she appears to have an updated one. Maybe check out both.) And re Counties, there's a great Map Men video on the Jay Foreman channel.

You visit reading the past page for her latest video

He doesn't mention the coronets which are shown next to the rank. These are important if you want to e.g. identify silver, uniforms or a coat of arms from the crown or coronet which is at the top!

Only the person who holds the title is a noble. His wife and children are commoners. Their titles are courtesy titles only. If a woman holds a title in her own right, her husband is not given a courtesy title but her children have them.

In Britain, Monarch is an hereditary Title and nowadays goes to the eldest CHILD of the late Monarch. The five Noble ranks are also hereditary but go to the eldest, closest MALE heir. The individual Peer is Lord and/or Sir. An exception to this would be, eg Baroness Thatcher, a Life peerage, not a hereditary Title, in her own name, for services rendered. As a pair, ALL five ranks are referred to as Lord & Lady, unless you are speaking to them personally in which case the personal form, eg, ''Your Grace'' (for a Duke/Duchess) would be used. Being announced at a function they would be ''Lord & Lady Buckingham''. Individually, all Titles are attached to a geographic location, eg the Duke of Buckingham. In a meeting of Peers, they might refer to each other by this geographic suffix, thusly, ''My dear Buckingham, how the devil are you?'' And they might also sign papers as such. While four of the five Ranks are referred to as ''OF'' wherever, eg the Earl of Onslow, Barons exclude the ''of'' and are simply Baron Onslow. Peers can hold more than one Title simultaneously, so the 8th Earl of Onslow (ie 8th to hold that title consecutively) is also the 10th (or 11th?) Baron Onslow, as the family were elevated to the Barony a couple of generations before the Earldom was created. ''Knight'' is NOT Peerage, it is a lifetime Title and addressed as Sir... whatever. Strangely a Knight's wife is also a Lady. It is not unusual for subsequent male generations of the same family to be knighted, which is an indication of the advantages and opportunities conferred on a Knight's sons.

Dukes and Duchesses are mainly members of the royal family as well as Earl and Countess of Wessex who will soon be The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, their daughter Louise was made a Princess recently by The King their son is James Viscount Severn. The Queen’s cousins The Duke and Duchess of Kent, also Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester (of these royals only HRH The Duke of Kent and his brother Prince Michael are working royals, I’m not sure about the Gloucesters). The Duke of York and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson known as Sarah Duchess of York are still living together and are still very close despite being divorced in the 90s after King Charles III and Diana Princess of Wales Lady Diana Spencer (she visited my hometown of Grimsby in 1982 (to open Grimsby General Hospital after her death in 1997 permission was granted to name the hospital after her Diana Princess of Wales Hospital) and 1988, I saw her and a young Prince William and Prince Harry at Horseguards Parade in June 1991 as well The late Queen Elisabeth II.There are other Dukes and Duchesses The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire who own Chatsworth House in Derbyshire which is a really great day out visiting the house, gardens and grounds. Former Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher was a Baroness also former prime minister John Major turned down a peerage being made a Lord.

Royal Dukes , Gloucester & Kent Are Both His Royal Highness & Then We Have Sussex Who Doesn’t Have The H.R.H. Now !!

Basically all are referred to as Lord and Lady except Duke and Duchess who get called His or Her Grace. Unless they are Royal.

'Baron' means something different in Scotland. A 'Baronet' is a sort of hereditary Knight. All ranks referred to in this video can be called 'Lord' and 'Lady', except for Duke and Duchess. The video makes a major mistake when it refers to King Richard II, and shows a picture of Richard III! Sons of Dukes and Marquesses, and daughters of Dukes, Marquess, and Earls, can be referred to as Lord/Lady - Christian name - Surname. For example, Princess Diana was referred to as Lady Diana Spencer before her marriage. The other children are given the prefix 'Honourable', abbreviated to 'Hon.' The higher ranks of nobility often had several lower ranked titles too. Their eldest son can "borrow" one of these titles as a "courtesy title". For example, the Queen's youngest son, Prince Edward, is Earl of Wessex, but his son, James, is called by a subsidiary title of his father's, Viscount Severn. In spite of my left-wing views, I prefer feudalism to capitalism. Yes, you were subject to your feudal Lord, but he had responsibilities to you as well. He was expected to defend you. If there is a riot in England, and your property is damaged, for centuries we've had the right to claim compensation from the Government, because they have failed to protect you. This obligation by the nobility to you is called by a French phrase. 'Noblesse oblige'. ( Nobility has obligations.) Her obvious clear grasp of this is a lot of why Elizabeth II was so much loved.

Hi Steve, how do these compare to the nobility ranks in the US? Just curious.

A baronet is simply a form of hereditary knighthood. They are commoners and not lords. They are addressed as sir and their wife as lady. The last baronet to be created was Sir Denis Thatcher in 1990.

Respect for you that you are leaning things about Britain. 👍👍 You could also try videos about other EU countries.

Re. House of Lords. I recommend you check out Jay Foreman's "How to become a Lord."

'Lord' is not a title, it is a form of address.

Americans always get Duke wrong, the U is pronounced you so Dyouk not Dook.

My raking is lady Ruth Christian Victoria brown

Please may I ask you to slightly increase the sound on the video to which you are reacting. It is barely audible!.

Glad you found the video recommendation useful. The fact that 'Lord' and 'Lady' are more forms of address used for many ranks, rather than ranks in themselves, is often confusing to people who don't know about it. The House of Lords is a bit hard to find good videos about because there are a lot from people who just want to criticise it, which isn't very helpful. This one from TL;DR News isn't perfect as it was topical to some events that were going on at the time, but they do at least explain it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qHpIj-gZcOc.html

HI STEVE DEBRA HERE FROM SOUTH WALES Here in the UK the S in Viscount is silent so it is pronounced Vicount and his wife is a Viscountess (Vicountess) Marquess and Marchioness (pronounced Marchoness) Duke and Duchess Earl and Countess Baron and Baroness

Very good video. ALso notice that many times people carry more than one title. The Earl of Snowdon is also Viscount Linley, so his heir (his eldest son in this case) may use the title of Viscount Linley (a lesser tit: e) and be addressed as Lord Linley. Funny there is a parallel here with military ranks, because frequently nobles were expected to be essentially officers in the kings army. Many of the ranks that we use in western countries were adopted from different languages over many centuries and its completely arbitrary - why is Sergeant not more important than Lieutenant or why is Major less important than General? many of these words just meant "high military official" Next is separating RANK from TITLE. RANK describes how closely you are related to the king/queen. TITLE is something that you inherit from your parents (usually your father) and you pass on to one of your heirs. Example The kings cousin Richard is a PRINCE (Rank) because he is the grandson of King George V. His father was created Duke of Gloucester and he has inherited that title. His son, I think his name is Alex, will inherit title Duke of Gloucester but not the rank of Prince because he is now too far distantly related from the crown. The reverse, Lilibet, the daughter of the Duke of Sussex, if she chooses, can use the RANK of Princess because she is now the grandchild of the king. In the future, she will likely marry and lets say she marries the Earl of Uster. She would be Princess Lilibet, Countess of Ulster or if she marries a commoner. Princess Lilibet, Mrs. John Smith. You almost NEVER lose your rank - that would take literally an act of Parliament, but I think that the King/queen can give or remove titles as they like.

please could you turn up the volume on the video you are watching, it's very low compared to your voice .

REACT MORE ABOUT GURKHA

How come the narrator of the website you've picked is an American (with "matching" accent), more valid really if the chap was English rather than someone else who'd simply read up on it eh?

So, whenever you watch a period drama or fantasy and someone refers to a king as "my lord" You shout 'WRONG' at the screen!

I'm not in favour of the Monarchy and those who have titles, also I don't believe in the unelected house of Lords where they can block what the house of Commons have voted for, we elect the MPs in the house of Commons but don't have any say about the house of Lords

no women in the uk hold the title duchess or marchoness in their own right only as wives there are a few women countesses all scotish a few baronesses very few titles go father to son somebody said earl was top of the pile no duke first

His list is WRONG. In the British system, the correct order is Earl, Duke, Marquis, Viscount, Baron. Royal Princes also can be given the title Earl or Duke. Most Knighthoods that are awarded are Barons. Only two Earldoms were awarded in the last century (20th Century) to men who were not Princes. There were to Sir Winston Churchill, and Sir Clement Atlee. Both of whom were given the titles because the lead the UK through World War 2 to victory: - Winston Churchill prosecuted the war, managing allied and doing speeches; while Clement Attlee actually ran the country, organisation food supplies, housing, welfare, fuel, transportation, policing, civil defence, rebuilding, war materials etc. Earl, is the highest rank, other than King or Prince, that there is in the ranks of British Nobility.

Very basic explanation it's a bit more complex than that.