Wednesday, June 19, 2013

German titles renounced


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June 19, 1917

King George V made the following announcement earlier today:

"The King has deemed it favorable in the conditions brought about by the war that those Princes of his family who are his subjects and bear German names and titles should relinquish these titles and henceforth adopt British surnames.  At the same time and consequent upon this decision the King is pleased to confer peerages of the United Kingdom on the following: The Duke of Teck, Marquis; Prince Alexander of Teck, Earl; Prince Louis of Battenberg, Marquis; Prince Alexander of Battenberg, Marquis."


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The Court Circular also included an announcement about the "further abolition of German titles" now held by members of the British royal family.

"Their Highnesses Princess Helena Victoria and Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein will henceforth be styled as their Highnesses Princesses Helena Victoria and Princess Marie Louise, respectively."


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4 comments:

John said...

When King George made those princes peers, was there a specific reason he chose marquess and earl instead of duke?

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

A good exchange for morganatic titles - The Duke of Teck was certainly not equal to a British duke. Elder sons got marquessates, and a younger son, Alexander, was created an earl. This also affected the Gleichens, but they actually fell a few ranks. In 1913, Edward had the precedence before the marquesses and his sisters were before the daughters of dukes. But in 1917, they gave up their German titles and received the rank of younger son of a Marquess and daughters of a marquess.

Corey Samuels Rosen said...

I read somewhere once that one of the Mountbattens said half jokingly that he didn't have enough money to become a (British) Duke.

Graham G. said...

The future Marquess of Milford Haven.