Peerages in the United Kingdom form a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles, composed of various ranks, and within the framework of the Constitution of the United Kingdom form a constituent part of the legislative process and the British honours system. The British monarch is considered the fount of honour and is notionally the only person who can grant peerages, though there are many conventions about how this power is used, especially at the request of the British government. The term peerage can be used both collectively to refer to the entire body of titled nobility, and individually to refer to a specific title. British peerage title holders are termed peers of the Realm.
The order of precedence in the United Kingdom is the sequential hierarchy for Peers of the Realm, officers of state, senior members of the clergy, holders of the various Orders of Chivalry, and is mostly determined, but not limited to, birth order, place in the line of succession, or distance from the reigning monarch. The order of precedence can also be applied to other persons in the three legal jurisdictions within the United Kingdom:
Michael Andrew Foster Jude Kerr, 13th Marquess of Lothian, Baron Kerr of Monteviot,, commonly known as Michael Ancram, was a British politician and peer who served as Deputy Leader of the Conservative Party from 2001 to 2005. He was formerly styled Earl of Ancram until he inherited the marquessate in 2004.
Duke of Atholl, named after Atholl in Scotland, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland held by the head of Clan Murray. It was created by Queen Anne in 1703 for John Murray, 2nd Marquess of Atholl, with a special remainder to the heir male of his father, the 1st Marquess.
Duke of Montrose is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of Scotland. The title was created anew in 1707, for James Graham, 4th Marquess of Montrose, great-grandson of famed James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose. Montrose was elevated as a reward for his important support of the Act of Union. It has remained since then in the Graham family, tied to the chieftainship of Clan Graham.
Marquess of Huntly is a title in the Peerage of Scotland that was created on 17 April 1599 for George Gordon, 6th Earl of Huntly. It is the oldest existing marquessate in Scotland, and the second-oldest in the British Isles; only the English marquessate of Winchester is older. The Marquess holds the following subsidiary titles: Lord Gordon of Strathaven and Glenlivet and Earl of Aboyne, and Baron Meldrum, of Morven in the County of Aberdeen.
The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain between the Acts of Union 1707 and the Acts of Union 1800. It replaced the Peerage of England and the Peerage of Scotland, but was itself replaced by the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1801.
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 in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain. New peers continued to be created in the Peerage of Ireland until 1898
Archibald Campbell, Marquess of Argyll, 8th Earl of Argyll, Chief of Clan Campbell was a Scottish nobleman, politician, and peer. The de facto head of Scotland's government during most of the conflict of the 1640s and 1650s known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, he was the main leader of the Covenanter movement that fought for the Establishment of Presbyterianism in opposition to the preference of King Charles I and the Caroline Divines for instead Establishing both High Church Anglicanism and Bishops. He is often remembered as the principal antagonist to the Royalist general James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose.
The Titles Deprivation Act 1917 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which authorised enemies of the United Kingdom during the First World War to be deprived of their British peerages and royal titles.
James Angus Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose ID, styled Earl of Kincardine until 1925 and Marquess of Graham between 1925 and 1954, was a Scottish-born Rhodesian politician, farmer and aristocrat. He served as Minister of Agriculture in the Rhodesian government of Ian Smith, and in 1965 was a signatory to Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence.
Ewen James Hanning Cameron, Baron Cameron of Dillington,, is a British farmer, landowner and life peer who sits as a crossbench member of the House of Lords.
Peter St Clair-Erskine, 7th Earl of Rosslyn,, known professionally as Peter Loughborough, is a Scottish peer and police officer. He is Lord Steward of the Royal Household and Personal Secretary to Their Majesties, as well as a former Metropolitan Police Commander. The Earl's lands include Rosslyn Chapel.
Commodore James Graham, 6th Duke of Montrose,, styled Marquess of Graham until 1925, was a Scottish nobleman, naval officer, politician and engineer. He took the first film of a solar eclipse and is credited as the inventor of the aircraft carrier.
Clan Graham has two main families of Scottish clans, the Grahams of Menteith and the Grahams of Montrose. Each have their own tartan patterns. William Graham became the 7th Earl of Menteith in 1610 in what is now Perthshire, Scotland. The Grahams of Montrose had territories in both the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands, and the chief of the clan rose to become the Marquess and later Duke of Montrose.
Clan Murray is a Highland Scottish clan. The chief of the Clan Murray holds the title of Duke of Atholl. Their ancestors were the Morays of Bothwell who established the family in Scotland in the 12th century. In the 16th century, descendants of the Morays of Bothwell, the Murrays of Tullibardine, secured the chiefship of the clan and were created Earls of Tullibardine in 1606. The first Earl of Tullibardine married the heiress to the Stewart earldom of Atholl and Atholl therefore became a Murray earldom in 1626. The Murray Earl of Atholl was created Marquess of Atholl in 1676 and in 1703 it became a dukedom. The marquess of Tullibardine title has continued as a subsidiary title, being bestowed on elder sons of the chief until they succeed him as Duke of Atholl.
William James Robert Peel, 3rd Earl Peel,, styled Viscount Clanfield until 1969, is a British hereditary peer who was a Conservative peer from 15 May 1973 until October 2006 when, on his appointment as Lord Chamberlain of the Royal Household, he became a crossbench (non-partisan) member of the House of Lords.
The British nobility is made up of the peerage and the (landed) gentry. The nobility of its four constituent home nations has played a major role in shaping the history of the country, although the hereditary peerage now retain only the rights to stand for election to the House of Lords, dining rights there, position in the formal order of precedence, the right to certain titles, and the right to an audience with the monarch.
Catherine Elizabeth McDonnell Graham, Duchess of Montrose was a Canadian-Scottish philanthropist. She was the wife of The 8th Duke of Montrose.
The order of precedence in Ireland was fixed by Royal Warrant on 2 January 1897 during Ireland's ties to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
