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Noble Families of England: The Ducal Houses

England's highest-ranking noble families are its dukes. In the UK, duke is the highest hereditary title in all five peerages of the British Isles, above marquess, earl, viscount and baron [1]. The first duke in a peerage of the British Isles was created in 1337 [2].

How Dukes Rank

In the order of precedence, non-royal dukes without state offices come before all other nobility. Among themselves they rank in order of the date their title was created, after royalty and certain officers of state [1].

Royal Dukedoms

A royal duke is a member of the royal family with the style of His Royal Highness [1]. The Royal Family website’s line of succession lists The Duke of Sussex (5th) and The Duke of Edinburgh (16th) among royal dukes [3]. The dukedoms of Cornwall and Rothesay can be held only by the sovereign's eldest son who is also heir apparent [1].

The Non-Royal English Ducal Houses

Wikipedia's list of current dukedoms in the Peerage of England includes [1]:

Norfolk, the premier non-royal duke
Somerset
Richmond (with Gordon, Lennox and Aubigny)
Grafton
St Albans
Marlborough
Rutland

Dukes in the peerages of Great Britain and the United Kingdom include Northumberland, Manchester, Wellington, Sutherland and Westminster [1].

The Howards, Dukes of Norfolk

The Duke of Norfolk is the premier non-royal peer and the premier duke and earl in the English peerage. The family seat is Arundel Castle in Sussex [4]. Key points:

John Howard was created 1st Duke of Norfolk in 1483, the title's third creation, after supporting Richard III's accession [4].
The 2nd Duke was the grandfather of Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, and the great-grandfather of Elizabeth I [4].
The dukes have historically been Catholic. From the 16th to the 19th centuries they were among the most prominent English Catholic recusants [4].
The 3rd Duke was attainted on 27 January 1547 after falling out of favour with Henry VIII [4].
The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk [4].

Earl Marshal

The College of Arms states that "the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, is one of the two Great Officers of State and the office is hereditary in his family". It adds that state funerals and the Coronation in Westminster Abbey fall under the Earl Marshal's jurisdiction [8]. Wikipedia dates the Norfolk tenure of the office from 1672 [5]. The office is also recognised in statute, for example in an 1824 Act on the oaths of the Earl Marshal and his deputy [6].

(The 1672 date is confirmed by Wikipedia only. The College of Arms page [8] confirms the hereditary office but gives no date.)

How to Address a Duke (Historical Debrett's)

A 19th-century Debrett's gives these forms [7]:

Letter superscription: "To His Grace, the Duke of ——"
Opening: "My Lord Duke"
In person: "Your Grace"

Licence: contains material adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). This article is shared under the same licence. Primary and institutional sources are summarised or briefly quoted.