Duke of Cornwall

Duke of Cornwall is a title in the Peerage of England, traditionally held by the eldest son of the reigning British monarch, previously the English monarch. The Duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created in England and was established in a royal charter in 1337 by King Edward III. In 2022, Prince William became Duke of Cornwall with the accession to the throne of his father, King Charles III; William's wife, Catherine, became Duchess of Cornwall.

Legend

Some folk histories of the British Isles, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain, claim that the first leader of Cornwall was Corineus, a Trojan warrior and ally of Brutus of Troy, portrayed as the original settler of the British Isles. From then through the Arthurian period, such legendary dukes of Cornwall stood apart from the high king of Britain, while serving as his closest ally and, at times, as his protector. Notably in this tale, Gorlois, duke of Cornwall under King Uther Pendragon, rebelled when the king became obsessed with Gorlois' wife Igraine. Uther killed Gorlois and took Igraine: the son was King Arthur.

History

The historical record suggests that, following the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Cornwall formed part of a separate Kingdom of Dumnonia, which included Devon, although there is evidence that it may have had its own rulers at times. The Celtic southwest of Britain was gradually conquered by the emerging Germanic Kingdom of England, and after the Norman Conquest in 1066, the new rulers of England appointed their own men as earl of Cornwall, the first of whom was in fact a Breton of Cornouaille in Brittany.
Edward of Woodstock, the eldest son of Edward III, was made the first duke of Cornwall in 1337, after Edward III claimed the title of King of France. Cornwall was the first dukedom conferred within the Kingdom of England.

Succession

The charter that established the estate on 17 March 1337 set out the rule that the duke and possessor of the estate would be the eldest son and heir apparent of the monarch. There were some deviations from this rule until a legal case in 1606, which held that the rule should be adhered to.
When the estate is without a duke, the possessor is the monarch, even if the former duke left surviving descendants. The monarch's grandson, even if he is the heir apparent, does not succeed to the dukedom. Similarly, no female may ever be duke of Cornwall, even if she is heir presumptive or heir apparent.
Under tradition, it is possible for an individual to be Prince of Wales, and heir apparent, without also holding the position of Duke of Cornwall. The title 'Prince of Wales' is the traditional title of the heir apparent to the throne, granted at the discretion of the sovereign, though not automatically, and is not restricted to the eldest son.
For example, after the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales, George II's heir apparent was his grandson George. The young Prince George was created Prince of Wales but did not become Duke of Cornwall because he was the king's grandson, rather than his son. When the sovereign has no legitimate son, or when the heir apparent is not the sovereign's son, the estates of the duchy revert to the Crown until a legitimate son is born or until the accession of a new monarch who has a son.
James Francis Edward Stuart, son of James II, was born Duke of Cornwall in 1688. Although his father lost the throne, James Francis Edward was not deprived of his own titles and honours as a result of his father's deposition. Instead, from the Hanoverian perspective, it was as a result of his claiming his father's lost thrones that James was attainted for treason on 2 March 1702, and his titles were thus forfeited under English law. However, from the Jacobite perspective, on his father's death in 1701 the duchy was merged with the Crown.

Rights of the duke

The duchy includes over 220 square miles of land, more than half of which lies in Devon. The duke has the right to the estates of all those who die without named heirs in Cornwall, and also appoints the High Sheriff of Cornwall; in most of England and Wales the Crown has these rights, the other exception being the Duchy of Lancaster, a private estate held in trust for the sovereign. The duke having these rights has contributed to the debate over the constitutional status of Cornwall.
In 2013, the duchy had a revenue surplus of £19 million, a sum that was exempt from income tax, though Prince Charles, the duke, chose to pay the tax voluntarily. Until 2011, if there was no Duke of Cornwall the income of the duchy went to the Crown. Under the Sovereign Grant Act 2011, revenues of the duchy now pass to the heir to the throne regardless of whether or not they are Duke of Cornwall. When the heir is a minor, 10% of revenues pass to them, with the balance passing to the Crown; the Sovereign Grant is reduced by the same amount.

Arms

The coat of arms of the duke of Cornwall is blazoned as sable, fifteen bezants, that is, a black field bearing fifteen golden discs. The arms are now used as a badge by the prince of Wales, and they appear below the shield in his coat of arms, along with his other badges.
The arms were adopted late in the 15th century, based on the arms of Richard, Earl of Cornwall. The bezants in Richard's arms were intended to represent peas, known in French as pois, as a punning reference to the French region of Poitou, of which he was count.
On 21 June 1968 a royal warrant augmented the aforementioned arms with the heir apparent's coronet, which consists of four crosses patée and four fleurs-de-lises with one arch. The supporters are two Cornish choughs, each supporting an ostrich feather. The motto used with the arms is, meaning "high-spirited" in Middle Low German, the personal motto of the Black Prince.

Dukes of Cornwall, 1337 creation

All dukes of Cornwall who have been the eldest living son of the sovereign are generally considered to have held the same creation of the dukedom. The following is a table of these dukes of Cornwall, with the processes by which they became duke and by which they ceased to hold the title:

Duke of Cornwall	Monarch	From	To	Other title held while Duke
Edward of Woodstock	Edward III	1337	1376	Prince of Wales, Prince of Aquitaine, Earl of Chester
Henry of Monmouth	Henry IV	1399	1413	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Lancaster
Henry of Windsor	Henry V	1421	1422	Duke of Aquitaine
Edward of Westminster	Henry VI	1454	1471	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester
Edward of York	Edward IV	1471	1483	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Earl of March, Earl of Pembroke
Edward of Middleham	Richard III	1483	1484	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Earl of Salisbury
Arthur Tudor	Henry VII	1486	1502	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester
Henry Tudor	Henry VII	1502	1509	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of York
Henry Tudor	Henry VIII	1511	1511
Edward Tudor	Henry VIII	1537	1547	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester
Henry Frederick Stuart	James I	1603	1612	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick and Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, Prince and Great Steward of Scotland The italicised henceforth "Duke of Rothesay, etc "
Charles Stuart	James I	1612	1625	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, etc., Duke of Albany, Duke of York, Marquess of Ormond, Earl of Ross, Lord Ardmannoch
Charles James Stuart	Charles I	1629	1629	Duke of Rothesay, etc.
Charles Stuart	Charles I	1630	1649	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, etc.
James Francis Edward Stuart	James II	1688	1702	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, etc.
George Augustus	George I	1714	1727	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Hereditary Elector of Hanover, Duke of Rothesay, etc., Duke of Cambridge, Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton, Baron Tewkesbury
Frederick Louis	George II	1727	1751	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, etc., Duke of Edinburgh, Marquess of Ely, Earl of Eltham, Viscount Launceston, Baron Snowdon
George Augustus Frederick	George III	1762	1820	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, etc.
Albert Edward	Victoria	1841	1901	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, etc., Earl of Dublin
George Frederick Ernest Albert	Edward VII	1901	1910	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, etc., Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, Baron Killarney
Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David	George V	1910	1936	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, etc.
Charles Philip Arthur George	Elizabeth II	1952	2022	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, etc., Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich
William Arthur Philip Louis	Charles III	2022	Incumbent	Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Rothesay, etc., Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, Baron Carrickfergus