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Duke of Sussex is a substantive title, one of several royal dukedoms in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is a hereditary title of a specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. It has been created twice and takes its name from the historic county of Sussex in England.

First created in 1801, the title lapsed in 1843 but was revived when Queen Elizabeth II bestowed it on her grandson Prince Harry on 19 May 2018 just before his marriage to Meghan Markle, who then became the Duchess of Sussex.

History

A title associated with Sussex first appeared with the Kingdom of Sussex, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom that was annexed by the Kingdom of Wessex around 827, that later became part of the Kingdom of England. In charters, Sussex's monarchs were sometimes referred to as ealdormen, or duces in Latin, which is sometimes translated as "dukes".

First creation, 1801

The title of Duke of Sussex was first conferred on 24 November 1801 upon Prince Augustus Frederick, the sixth son of King George III. He was made Baron Arklow and Earl of Inverness at the same time, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The title became extinct upon the Prince's death in 1843.

Although the Prince was survived by a son and daughter by Lady Augusta Murray, their marriage (purportedly solemnized at St George's Hanover Square Church, Westminster, in 1793) had been annulled for lack of royal permission under the Royal Marriages Act 1772, rendering the children illegitimate under English law and unable to inherit titles from their father. Both children by the annulled marriage died childless, rendering the issue of their inheritance moot.

On 2 May 1831, the Prince married a second time (and again in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772) to Lady Cecilia Gore at Great Cumberland Place, London. Not being the Prince's legitimate wife, Lady Cecilia could not be received at court. On 30 March 1840, she was given the title of Duchess of Inverness in her own right by Queen Victoria.

Second creation, 2018

In 2018, the dukedom of Sussex was recreated and granted to Prince Harry, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth II and 5th great-grandnephew of the previous duke, to mark the occasion of his wedding to Meghan Markle on 19 May 2018, who thereby became the first ever Duchess of Sussex. On his wedding day, it was announced that he would become Duke of Sussex in England, with the subsidiary titles of Earl of Dumbarton in Scotland and Baron Kilkeel in Northern Ireland. In 2019, an heir to the dukedom and the other titles, Prince Archie of Sussex, was born.

Dukes of Sussex

1801 creation

Duke	Portrait	Birth	Marriage(s)	Death	Arms
Prince Augustus Frederick House of Hanover 1801–1843 also: Earl of Inverness and Baron Arklow (1801)		27 January 1773 Buckingham House, London son of King George III and Queen Charlotte	4 April 1793 Lady Augusta Murray 2 children 2 May 1831 Lady Cecilia Underwood No children	21 April 1843 Kensington Palace, London aged 70
Prince Augustus's first marriage to Lady Augusta Murray produced two children. However, due to the Royal Marriages Act 1772, the marriage was invalid (he had not asked for his father's approval to marry) and his children were thus illegitimate and could not succeed to his titles; so, accordingly, all his titles became extinct on his death.

2018 creation

Duke	Portrait	Birth	Marriage(s)	Death	Arms
Prince Harry House of Windsor 2018–present also: Earl of Dumbarton and Baron Kilkeel (2018)		15 September 1984 St Mary's Hospital, London son of King Charles III and Diana, Princess of Wales	19 May 2018 Meghan Markle 2 children	Living (age 40)

Line of succession

• Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex (born 1984)
  • (1) Prince Archie of Sussex (born 2019)

Family trees

See also

• Earl of Sussex

References

1. ^ Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle: Announcement of Titles, The Royal Household, 19 May 2018.
2. ^ "No. 62358". The London Gazette. 20 July 2018. p. 12928.
3. Edwards, Heather (2004). "Ecgberht [Egbert] (d. 839), king of the West Saxons in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford University Press. Retrieved 22 June 2014.
4. "No. 15429". The London Gazette. 24 November 1801. p. 1403.
5. "No. 19842". The London Gazette. 31 March 1840. p. 858.
6. "Meghan Markle's royal title is Duchess of Sussex". The Independent. 17 April 2018. Retrieved 23 May 2018.

v t e Extant dukedoms in the peerages of Britain and Ireland
Royal dukedoms	Cornwall and Rothesay Cambridge Sussex York Edinburgh Gloucester Kent
England	Norfolk Somerset Richmond Grafton Beaufort St Albans Bedford Devonshire Marlborough Rutland
Scotland	Hamilton Buccleuch Lennox Queensberry Argyll Atholl Montrose Roxburghe
Great Britain	Brandon Manchester Northumberland
Ireland	Leinster Abercorn
United Kingdom	Wellington Sutherland Westminster Gordon Argyll Fife
Italics: This title is held by a peer who holds another of higher precedence.

• Dukes of Sussex
• Dukedoms in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
• Noble titles created in 2018
• Noble titles created in 1801
• Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex