1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff from house stuff marks dot com where 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:15,120 Speaker 1: smart happens. I am Marshall Brain with today's question, who 3 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:18,640 Speaker 1: are the Duke of York, the Duke of Kent and 4 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: so on? And how did they get their titles? The 5 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:29,000 Speaker 1: British Royal family is like other families, made up of spouses, children, grandchildren, grandparents, uncle's, 6 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,200 Speaker 1: aunts and cousins. The head of the British Royal family 7 00:00:32,640 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: is Queen Elizabeth Too, and she is the one who 8 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: decides who are bona fide members of the family and 9 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:43,320 Speaker 1: what titles they will carry. To answer your question, a 10 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 1: duke is the highest rank you can achieve without being 11 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,559 Speaker 1: a king or a prince. Historically, a duke is a 12 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:54,640 Speaker 1: high ranking nobleman, landowner or a prince, and in feudal 13 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:57,600 Speaker 1: times was the lord over some part of the country. 14 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: Today the titles are largely embolic, and there are twenty 15 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:06,399 Speaker 1: eight dukedoms. Some people, like Prince Charles, have several dukedoms, 16 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:10,320 Speaker 1: and some dukedoms are currently unassigned. When a duke who 17 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:14,039 Speaker 1: does not have an air dies, the title returns back 18 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:16,559 Speaker 1: to the royal family to be given out to someone new. 19 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:21,200 Speaker 1: Not everyone who carries the title duke or Earl is 20 00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: a member of today's royal family. Britain has a system 21 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:29,680 Speaker 1: of peerage which ranks members of the nobility and aristocracy. 22 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: Many titles of nobility were one many years ago through 23 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:37,400 Speaker 1: great wealth, favors to the king or good deeds, and 24 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: they're passed on from one generation to the next. This 25 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: is known as the inherited peerage. For example, Earl Spencer, 26 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: the brother of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, is 27 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: the ninth man in his family to carry that title. 28 00:01:53,800 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: Before he came Earl of Spencer. Note that the practices 29 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 1: to drop the of upon the death of his father, 30 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: he was known as Charles Spencer or as Viscount Althorpe, 31 00:02:05,760 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: a title his son Lewis now carries. Other noble titles 32 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:14,000 Speaker 1: are given on merit or on special occasions. The life 33 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:18,560 Speaker 1: peerage are titles that the monarch confers on exceptional people 34 00:02:18,639 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: during their lifetimes, and those titles do not pass to 35 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:27,000 Speaker 1: children or descendants. Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of Britain, 36 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:31,760 Speaker 1: is now Baroness Thatcher. The British Prime Minister, consults with 37 00:02:31,800 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 1: the Queen about who is deserving of a life peerage 38 00:02:34,840 --> 00:02:37,920 Speaker 1: and several people are elevated to the peerage every year. 39 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: Life peers get a seat in the House of Lords, 40 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: but a law passed in limits the right of hereditary 41 00:02:45,800 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: peers to have a seat. The order of the titles 42 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,640 Speaker 1: in British isles nobility from highest the lowest are first 43 00:02:53,639 --> 00:02:57,080 Speaker 1: of all, the duke and duchess title. The name is 44 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:01,720 Speaker 1: derived from the Latin ducks, which means lead. Most dukedoms 45 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:04,600 Speaker 1: carry a place name, although that means little to the 46 00:03:04,639 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: modern titles because the holders are not the sovereigns of 47 00:03:08,040 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: that land area. The title marquis appeared in England with 48 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: the Norman conquest and was given to nobles who were 49 00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:18,440 Speaker 1: in charge of border areas. The name is related to 50 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,720 Speaker 1: older words for the frontier. The title earl comes from 51 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,960 Speaker 1: a Norse word which meant leader. It's equivalent to account 52 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:31,359 Speaker 1: in European nobility. The term viscount comes from the Latin 53 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:34,760 Speaker 1: word for companion, and was sort of an assistant nobleman 54 00:03:34,800 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 1: in the old days. Baron is the lowest rank of 55 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:41,560 Speaker 1: nobility and came to England with the Norman's Also, and 56 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: the word is derived from the Norman word for a freeman. 57 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: If you have a life peerage. This is the highest 58 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,120 Speaker 1: title you can carry. Below these are the lower nobility, 59 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 1: who carry the titles baronet. This title is granted to 60 00:03:56,240 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: members of the upper classes, referred to as the gentle. 61 00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: The story is that King James the First created the 62 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: title to raise money. Then there's a knight. In medieval times, 63 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: knights were the soldiers of the king or of princes. 64 00:04:11,920 --> 00:04:14,920 Speaker 1: Now the queen grants knighthood to her subjects who have 65 00:04:15,000 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: achieved great success in their professions. Paul McCartney, the former 66 00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:23,120 Speaker 1: Beatle has been knighted, for example. The female equivalent is 67 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:28,440 Speaker 1: dom or Dame Esquire in medieval times, and Esquire was 68 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: a candidate for knighthood. Nowadays, it's applied to members of 69 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,920 Speaker 1: the gentry, just below the knights. The queen bestowed titles 70 00:04:36,960 --> 00:04:39,920 Speaker 1: on her sons at their marriages and gave her daughter 71 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 1: a special title. She has several titles that are hers 72 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: to do with as she wishes. If an inherited peer 73 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: dies without an error, the title becomes the crown's property. Again. 74 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: Some titles that the queen's son's hold are part of 75 00:04:55,000 --> 00:04:59,160 Speaker 1: the Scottish or Irish peerage. The prince's titles can be 76 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:04,039 Speaker 1: inherited by their sons. Be sure to check out our 77 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: new video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how staff 78 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 1: Work staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing 79 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:15,400 Speaker 1: possibilities of tomorrow. The hou staff Works iPhone app has arrived. 80 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: Download it today on iTunes.