The peerage in the United Kingdom is a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles, composed of various noble ranks, and forming a constituent part of the British honours system. The term peerage can be used both collectively to refer to the entire body of nobles, and individually to refer to a specific title. British peerage title holders are termed peers of the Realm. The peerage's fundamental roles are ones of government, peers being eligible to a seat in the House of Lords, and of meritocracy, the receiving of any peerage being the highest of British honours.
A courtesy title is a form of address in systems of nobility used for children, former wives and other close relatives of a peer, as well as certain officials such as some judges and members of the Scottish gentry. These styles are used 'by courtesy' in the sense that the relatives, officials and others do not themselves hold substantive titles. There are several different kinds of courtesy titles in the British peerage.
Captain Alexander Arthur Alfonso David Maule Ramsay of Mar DL was the only child of Princess Patricia of Connaught, who renounced her royal title and style when she married then-Captain the Hon. Alexander Ramsay in February 1919. His mother was the youngest child of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, the third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. His father was the third son of John Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie.
A Lord of Parliament was the holder of the lowest form of peerage, entitled as of right to take part in sessions of the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland. Since that Union in 1707, it has been the lowest rank of the Peerage of Scotland, ranking below a viscount. A Lord of Parliament is said to hold a Lordship of Parliament.
Earl of Dalhousie, in the County of Midlothian, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, held by the Chief of Clan Ramsay.
Earl of Haddington is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1627 for the noted Scottish lawyer and judge Thomas Hamilton, 1st Earl of Melrose. He was Lord President of the Court of Session from 1616 to 1625. Hamilton had already been created Lord Binning in 1613 and Lord Binning and Byres, in the County of Haddington, and Earl of Melrose, in the County of Roxburgh, in 1619. These titles were also in the Peerage of Scotland. The title of the earldom derived from the fact that he was in possession of much of the lands of the former Melrose Abbey. However, Hamilton was unhappy with this title and wished to replace it with "Haddington". In 1627 he relinquished the earldom of Melrose and was instead created Earl of Haddington, with the precedence of 1619 and with limitation to his heirs male bearing the surname of Hamilton. This derived from the fact that he considered it a greater honour to take his title from a county rather than from an abbey. Hamilton was a member of the prominent Scottish family of that name and descended from John de Hamilton, younger son of Walter de Hamilton, who was granted the feudal barony of Cadzow and who is also the ancestor of the Dukes of Hamilton and Dukes of Abercorn.
Lord Elphinstone is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created by King James IV in 1510.
Lord Balfour of Burleigh, in the County of Kinross, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1607 for Sir Michael Balfour.
Lord Saltoun, of Abernethy, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1445 for Sir Lawrence Abernethy. The title remained in the Abernethy family until the death in 1669 of his descendant the tenth Lady Saltoun. She was succeeded by her cousin Alexander Fraser, the eleventh Lord. He was the son of Alexander Fraser and Margaret Abernethy, daughter of the seventh Lord Saltoun. The title has remained in the Frasers of Philorth family ever since.
Margaret of Mar, 31st Countess of Mar is a Scottish hereditary peer and politician. She was a crossbench member of the House of Lords from 1975 to 2020 and was one of 92 hereditary peers elected to remain in the Lords in 1999. She is the holder of the original Earldom of Mar, the oldest peerage title in the United Kingdom. She is the only suo jure countess and was the only female hereditary peer in the House of Lords from 2014 to 2020. She is also a farmer and former specialist goats cheesemaker in Great Witley, Worcestershire.
The heir apparent or heir presumptive to a Scottish peerage is known as a Master, or a Mistress if the heir is female. The heir's style is "The Master of [Peerage]" or "The Mistress of [Peerage]".
Katharine Fraser, Mistress of Saltoun, DL is the daughter of Captain Alexander Ramsay of Mar and Flora Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun.
Alexander Arthur Fraser, 20th Lord Saltoun, styled Master of Saltoun until 1933, was a Scottish peer who was one of the longest-serving representative peers, serving from 1935–63.
Alexander William Frederick Fraser, 19th Lord Saltoun, a Scottish representative peer, was the son of Alexander Fraser, 18th Lord Saltoun.
Hugh William Mackay, 14th Lord Reay, Baron Mackay was a British politician and Conservative member of the House of Lords. He was the only male Lord of Parliament to sit in the House of Lords following the abolition of the automatic right of all British hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords in 1999, the only female being The Lady Saltoun.
Bridget Helen "Biddy" Monckton, 11th Lady Ruthven of Freeland, Dowager Viscountess of Monckton, CBE was a British peeress and Conservative member of the House of Lords best remembered as the wartime commander of women's services in India.
The Hereditary Peerage Association is a British representative body for hereditary peers in the United Kingdom formed in 2002 in the wake of the House of Lords Act 1999.
Alexander Elphinstone, 1st Lord Elphinstone was a Scottish peer. He was the son of Sir John Elphinstone of that ilk and of Pittendreich.
Alexander Fraser, 11th Lord Saltoun, was a Scottish peer and the 10th Laird of Philorth.
Lieutenant-General Alexander George Fraser, 17th Lord SaltounKStG KMT, was a Scottish representative peer and a British Army general who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the First Opium War.
