Duke of Lennox

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Dukedom of Lennox
held with
Dukedom of Richmond, Dukedom of Gordon
Coronet of a British Duke.svg
Duke of Richmond CoA.svg
Arms of the Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Gordon
Creation date1581 (first creation)
1675 (second creation)
Created by James VI (first creation)
Charles II (second creation)
Peerage Peerage of Scotland
First holder Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox
Present holder Charles Gordon-Lennox, 11th Duke of Richmond
Heir apparentCharles Gordon-Lennox, Earl of March and Kinrara
Remainder tothe 1st Duke's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten
Extinction date1672 (first creation)
Seat(s) Goodwood House

The title Duke of Lennox has been created several times in the peerage of Scotland, for Clan Stewart of Darnley. The dukedom, named for the district of Lennox in Dumbarton, was first created in 1581, and had formerly been the Earldom of Lennox. The second duke was made Duke of Richmond; at his death, the dukedom of Richmond became extinct. The fourth duke was also created Duke of Richmond; at the death of the sixth duke, both dukedoms became extinct. The Dukedom of Richmond and one month later that of Lennox were created in 1675 for Charles Lennox, an illegitimate son of Charles II. The Duke of Richmond and Lennox was created Duke of Gordon in 1876. Thus, the duke holds four dukedoms (if including Aubigny-sur-Nère), more than any other person in the realm; or (not counting the putative French title) three, equal since 2022 to Prince William, Duke of Cornwall, of Rothesay and of Cambridge.

Contents

Dukes of Lennox (1581)

Arms of Esme Stuart, 1st Duke of Lennox Blason Esme Stuart (1542-1583) 1er Duc de Lennox.svg
Arms of Esmé Stuart, 1st Duke of Lennox
Created by James VI of Scotland
#NamePeriodDuchessNotesOther titles
1 Esmé Stewart [1]
1542-1583		1581-1583Catherine de BalsacRelative and favourite of King James VI Earl of Lennox
2 Ludovic Stewart [2]
1574-1624		1583-1624 Lady Frances Howard Son of the preceding Duke of Richmond
Earl of Lennox
Earl of Richmond
3 Esmé Stewart
1579-1624		1624 Katherine Clifton, 2nd Baroness Clifton Brother of the preceding Earl of Lennox
Earl of March
4 James Stewart
1612-1655		1624-1655 Lady Mary Villiers Son of the preceding Duke of Richmond
Earl of Lennox
Earl of March
Baron Clifton
5 Esmé Stewart
1649-1660		1655-1660unmarriedSon of the preceding
6 Charles Stewart
1639-1672		1660-1672Lady Elizabeth Rogers
Lady Margaret Banaster
Frances Stewart 		Cousin of the preceding Duke of Richmond
Earl of Lennox
Earl of March
Earl of Lichfield
Baron Clifton

Dukes of Lennox (1675)

Created by Charles II of Scotland
#NamePeriodDuchessNotesOther titles
1 Charles Lennox
1672-1723		1675-1723Lady Anne BrudenellExtramarital son of Charles II Duke of Richmond
Earl of March
Earl of Darnley
Baron of Settrington
Lord of Torboulton
2 Charles Lennox
1701-1750		1723-1750 Lady Sarah Cadogan Son of the preceding
3 Charles Lennox
1735-1806		1750-1806Lady Mary BruceSon of the preceding
4 Charles Lennox
1764-1819		1806-1819 Lady Charlotte Gordon Nephew of the preceding
5 Charles Gordon-Lennox
1791-1860		1819-1860Lady Caroline PagetSon of the preceding
6 Charles Gordon-Lennox
1818-1903		1860-1903Lady Frances GrevilleSon of the precedingDuke of Richmond
Duke of Gordon
Earl of March
Earl of Darnley
Earl of Kinrara
Baron of Settrington
Lord of Torboulton
7 Charles Gordon-Lennox
1845-1928		1903-1928widowedSon of the preceding
8 Charles Gordon-Lennox
1870-1935		1928-1935 Hilda Brassey Son of the preceding
9 Frederick Gordon-Lennox
1904-1989		1935-1989Elizabeth HudsonSon of the preceding
10 Charles Gordon-Lennox
1929-2017		1989-2017Susan Grenville-GreySon of the preceding
11 Charles Gordon-Lennox
b. 1955		since 2017Janet Elizabeth AstorSon of the preceding

The heir apparent is Charles Gordon-Lennox (b. 1994), eldest son of the 11th Duke.

Family Tree

See also

Related Research Articles

Lord Darnley is a noble title associated with a Scottish Lordship of Parliament, first created in 1356 for the family of Stewart of Darnley and tracing a descent to the Dukedom of Richmond in England. The title's name refers to Darnley in Scotland. Outside the Peerage of Scotland, another Earldom of Darnley was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1729.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Stuart</span> British royal house of Scottish origin

The House of Stuart, originally spelled Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter fitz Alan. The name Stewart and variations had become established as a family name by the time of his grandson Walter Stewart. The first monarch of the Stewart line was Robert II, whose male-line descendants were kings and queens in Scotland from 1371, and of England, Ireland and Great Britain from 1603, until 1714. Mary, Queen of Scots, was brought up in France where she adopted the French spelling of the name Stuart.

The Dukedoms of Richmond and of Lennox have usually been held by the same person since 1623. In 1675, King Charles II created his illegitimate son Charles Lennox Duke of Richmond and Duke of Lennox, and the two Dukedoms have since been held concurrently by Lennox's descendants. Since 1734 he has also held the Dukedom of Aubigny. Since 1876 he has also held the Dukedom of Gordon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Richmond</span> Title in the Peerage of England

Duke of Richmond is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times in British history. It has been held by members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Gordon</span> Peerage of Scotland, and of the United Kingdom

The title Duke of Gordon has been created once in the Peerage of Scotland and again in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

Earl of March is a title that has been created several times, respectively, in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derives from the "marches" or borderlands between England and either Wales or Scotland, and it was held by several great feudal families which owned lands in those districts. Later, however, the title came to be granted as an honorary dignity, and ceased to carry any associated power in the marches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Darnley</span> Hereditary title in the Peerage of Scotland

Earl of Darnley is a hereditary title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of Scotland and once in the Peerage of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond</span> Illegitimate son of Charles II of England

Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox, of Goodwood House near Chichester in Sussex, was the youngest of the seven illegitimate sons of King Charles II, and was that king's only son by his French-born mistress Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. He was appointed Hereditary Constable of Inverness Castle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond</span> British politician and peer

Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, 7th Duke of Richmond and Lennox, 2nd Duke of Gordon,, 7th Duke of Aubigny, styled Lord Settrington until 1860 and Earl of March between 1860 and 1903, was a British politician and peer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Lennox</span> Scottish title

The Earl or Mormaer of Lennox was the ruler of the region of the Lennox in western Scotland. It was first created in the 12th century for David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon and later held by the Stewart dynasty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Stewart, 1st Duke of Richmond</span> Scottish nobleman

James Stewart, 1st Duke of Richmond, 4th Duke of Lennox KG, lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a Scottish nobleman. A third cousin of King Charles I, he was a Privy Councillor and a key member of the Royalist party in the English Civil War. In 1641–42, he served as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports. He spent five months in exile in 1643, returning to England to defend the city of Oxford for the king.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baron Clifton</span> Title in the Peerage of England

Baron Clifton, of Leighton Bromswold in the County of Huntingdon, is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1608 for Sir Gervase Clifton, who commissioned Prebendal house which was built by John Thorpe and later owned by the Clifton baronets branch of the family. The peerage was created by writ, which means that it can descend through both male and female lines. Lord Clifton died without surviving male issue and was succeeded by his daughter Katherine, the second Baroness. She married Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox. They were both succeeded by their eldest son James, the fourth Duke and third Baron. When he died the titles passed to his son, the fifth Duke and fourth Baron. On his death in 1660 at the age of 11, the barony separated from the dukedom. The barony was inherited by the late Duke's sister Mary, the fifth Baroness. She married Richard Butler, 1st Earl of Arran, but died aged only 18. She was succeeded by her first cousin the sixth Duke of Lennox, who became the sixth Baron Clifton as well. He was the son of Lord George Stuart, the fourth son of the third Duke and the second Baroness Clifton. On his death, the barony and dukedom again separated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond</span> English nobleman

Charles Stewart, 3rd Duke of Richmond KG was an English peer who was the fourth cousin of Charles II of England, being both descended in the male line from John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox</span> Scots earl exiled to France

Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Lennox, 6th Seigneur d'Aubigny of the Château d'Aubigny at Aubigny-sur-Nère in the ancient province of Berry, France, was a Catholic French nobleman of Scottish ancestry who on his move to Scotland at the age of 37 became a favourite of the 13-year-old King James VI of Scotland. Esmé Stewart was the first cousin of James' father, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley. Despite his conversion to Calvinism he was never trusted by the Scots and returned to France where he ended his days. Sir James Melville described him as "of nature upright, just and gentle". He was the first to popularise the firstname Esmé in the British Isles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox</span> Scottish nobleman

Esmé Stewart, 3rd Duke of Lennox, KG, 7th Seigneur d'Aubigny, lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a Scottish nobleman and through their paternal lines was a second cousin of King James VI of Scotland and I of England. He was a patron of the playwright Ben Jonson who lived in his household for five years.

Stewart of Darnley, also known as the Lennox Stewarts, were a notable Scots family, a branch of the Clan Stewart, who provided the English Stuart monarchs with their male-line Stuart descent, after the reunion of their branch with the royal Scottish branch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Aubigny</span> French peerage held by British noble

Duke of Aubigny is a title that was created in the Peerage of France in 1684. It was granted by King Louis XIV of France to Louise de Kérouaille, the last mistress of King Charles II of England, and to descend to Charles's illegitimate issue by her, namely to the descendants of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, 1st Duke of Lennox (1672–1723) of Goodwood House in Sussex. Louis XIV also granted her the Château de la Verrerie, a former secondary seat of the Stewart Seigneurs d'Aubigny, Franco-Scottish cousins of the Stewart monarchs, seated from 1422 to 1672 at the Château d'Aubigny in the parish and manor of Aubigny-sur-Nère in the ancient province of Berry in France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Stewart, 9th Seigneur d'Aubigny</span> Scottish nobleman and royalist military commander

Lord George Stewart, 9th Seigneur d'Aubigny was an Anglo-Scottish nobleman of French descent and a third cousin of King Charles I of England. He supported that king during the Civil War as a Royalist commander and was killed, aged 24, at the Battle of Edgehill in 1642.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Stewart of Darnley</span> Scottish nobleman

Sir John Stewart of Darnley, 1st Comte d'Évreux, 1st Seigneur de Concressault, 1st Seigneur d'Aubigny was a Scottish nobleman and famous military commander who served as Constable of the Scottish Army in France, supporting the French against the English during the Hundred Years War. He was a fourth cousin of King James I of Scotland, the third monarch of the House of Stewart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Château de la Verrerie (Cher)</span>

The Château de la Verrerie is a château in Oizon, in the ancient province of Berry in France. It is an historic ancestral seat of a junior branch of the Scottish House of Stewart, known by the territorial title Seigneur d'Aubigny. It is situated about 14 miles south-east of Aubigny-sur-Nère, and the Château d'Aubigny, the original seat of its owners.

References

  1. ↑ "Esmé Stuart, 1st Duke of Lennox – Mary Queen of Scots". www.maryqueenofscots.net. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  2. ↑ "The Duke of Lennox, a preternatural political talent". KU News. Retrieved 5 August 2024.

Further reading

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