From New York Town to Duke of York Island in Antarctica, the Dukedom of York has a much broader cultural resonance than you could right away realise.
The Duke of York army gradual march can frequently be heard ringing out all through the Converting the Guard in London and some of the town’s best-known theatres carries the identify. The similar is right for pubs in puts like London and Belfast, and a moment global battle battleship and a passenger steamer proportion the similar identify too.
Similarly, the holders of the name Duke of York have, for over six centuries, held a outstanding place in British royalty and society. Usually conferred on the second one son of the reigning monarch, this dukedom has been intently related to being the “spare to the heir” – the brother born to enhance the crown reasonably than inherit it.
Just about the sovereign however destined for a special adventure, the tale of the dukes of York is one in all privilege and dutiful carrier, with a liberal peppering of scandal and twists of destiny.
The present holder of the dukedom, Prince Andrew, has agreed to not use the titles and honours conferred upon him – the primary time this has came about within the dukedom’s historical past.
This can be a lengthy historical past of guys whose lives had been formed via their distinctive place inside the monarchy. Proximity to energy with out ownership could also be the defining issue, however the dukes of York extra frequently than now not actively or by accident turn that rule on its head – nearly part of those “spares” discovered themselves changing into king, a method or any other.
HMS Duke of York on an Arctic convoy to Russia in 1942.
Wikipedia/Imperial Conflict Museum
There were 11 males formally styled Duke of York and 3 holders of the name Duke of York and Albany – a fusion of 2 titles, one from Scotland and one from England, devised as an illustration of team spirit following the 1707 Act of Union.
Edmund of Langley was once the primary duke, after being granted the name via his father Edward III in 1385. He’s the Duke of York who seems in Shakespeare’s Richard II, a play named after the duke’s nephew and son of Edward, the Black Prince.
Richard’s dying in fight in 1460, all through the Conflict of the Roses, then left the name to Edward Plantagenet. When Edward gained the Fight of Towton in March 1461, therefore changing into Edward IV, the Dukedom of York merged with the crown and become extinct, bringing a with regards to the 76-year life of this primary iteration of the name.
Extremely, those are the one examples of the name being inherited. In over 560 years since, no Duke of York (or Duke of York and Albany) has ever without delay handed the name to a sound inheritor. Of the following ten males bearing both name, 4 died with out heirs, 5 discovered themselves as inheritor to the throne following the dying in their elder brother (or his abdication, as came about in 1936) after which king. And in Prince Andrew’s case, and not using a male inheritor – having had two daughters.
The duke who disappeared
Edward IV – himself a former Duke of York, recreated the dukedom for his moment son, Richard of Shrewsbury, thus beginning the lengthy affiliation of this name with the second-born son. Richard was once married on the age of 4 and was once some of the Princes within the Tower who disappeared and was once presumed lifeless in 1483 elderly 9.
The dukes who become kings
The name was once revived in 1494 for Henry Tudor however once more died out when Henry Tudor become King Henry VIII (1509). The similar came about to Charles Stuart, who was once given the dukedom in 1605 but in addition become king (Charles I, 1625).
James Stuart, the duke who gave his identify to New York Town.
Wikipedia
James Stuart, moment son of Charles I, was once technically Duke of York from delivery, however this was once formalised in 1644. In 1660, James was once granted the parallel Scottish name of Duke of Albany. New York state, its capital Albany, and New York Town derive their names from this duke. James succeeded his childless brother Charles II and become James II of England and James VII of Scotland in 1685, when the name merged with the crown. James was once later deposed within the 1688 revolution.
In 1892 Queen Victoria bestowed the name on her grandson, Prince George, the second one son of the Prince of Wales and long run Edward VII. Alternatively, this introduction got here following the dying of George’s older brother. He become George V (1910) and the name merged with the crown.
George made his moment son, Prince Albert, Duke of York in 1920. First of all greater than relaxed being within the shadows of his elder brother Edward VIII, the abdication disaster of 1936 – the yr of 3 kings – swiftly noticed Albert transform George VI. As a result of this duke, the longer term Queen Elizabeth II was once to begin with styled “Princess Elizabeth of York”.
3 double dukes
Even though the dukedoms of York and Albany were concurrently held via the similar individual every now and then, 3 males have held the unified “double dukedom” as Duke of York and Albany within the 18th century, but all died with out heirs.
They had been Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who served within the 9 years’ battle and the battle of the Spanish succession, Prince Edward, who was once in brief heir-presumptive, and Prince Frederick Augustus, moment son of George III.
This Duke of York served a long length as commander-in-chief of the British Military, together with all through the Napoleonic wars. He’s possibly the possibly inspiration for the “Grand Old Duke of York” rhyme. He’s additionally memorialised at the Duke of York Column the place Regent Side road meets The Mall in London.
The Duke of York Column in London, erected to honour Prince Frederick Augustus, often referred to as the Grand Outdated Duke of York.
Wikipedia/Prioryman, CC BY-SA
Queen Victoria once more separated those titles, growing her fourth son, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany in 1881, and her eldest grandson Duke of York in 1892.
Andrew become Duke of York in 1986 when he married Sarah Ferguson. Whilst he has agreed to not be styled as such, he technically has now not been stripped of the name. However, and not using a male inheritor, the dukedom will transform extinct upon his dying, regardless.
Even though it might be assumed that the name would were recreated for Prince Harry as the second one son of King Charles III, his self-imposed exile and ongoing controversies imply that the way forward for the Dukedom of York stays unsure. Possibly the following revival will take some attention.
