The Dukes of Orléans: A ‘Spare’ Title for France’s Second Sons (Part II)
Shortly after his marriage to his first cousin, Princess Henrietta of England, in March 1661, Philippe de France, second son of Louis XIII and younger brother of Louis XIV, was given the Orléans apanage (for its earlier history, see Part I). Philippe had, as Gaston had before him, been known as Duke of Anjou, but…
The Dukes of Orléans: A ‘Spare’ Title for France’s Second Sons (Part I)
France and England share a tradition of using a select group of ducal titles for their second sons—most often York for England and Orléans for France. But not always, since, in both cases, if the holder of the second son title had his own son it carried on into the next generation, so the Crown…
Frankopan: Princes of Adriatic Islands and on the Frontiers of Christianity
Croatia was a kingdom for a thousand years, from 925 to 1918, yet for most of that time it was subject to rule by neighbouring dynasties, the Hungarian Arpads, the Austrian Habsburgs. Its western Adriatic coastline was for centuries dominated by Italian maritime republics, Venice and Ragusa. Croatia’s nobility therefore was always tightly intertwined with…
Like feuding Montagus: the troubled history of the Dukes of Manchester
The city of Manchester was a rough city in the industrial age. The history of the dukes of Manchester shares some of the underworld aspects of the great northern powerhouse, but in fact has nothing to do with the city—like most British dukedoms, the title does not align with the geography. Three modern dukes of…
Jablonowski—Polish princes, kin to French royals
The Kingdom of Poland, a remarkably egalitarian society, officially had no title rankings within its nobility. It therefore had very few families with the titles duke or princes within its borders—those that did bear higher titles received them from foreign powers, either the Holy Roman Empire or Russia. Amongst these, one stands out as also…
Cantacuzino: Byzantine survivors, Romanian patriots and Russian princes
One of the most interesting aspects of the high aristocracy in European history is its fluidity. In the centuries before the rise of nationalism, elites could and often did move from place to place and adapt to new scenarios with relative ease. On this site, we’ve seen examples of this already with the Scottish Hamiltons…
Lannoy: A Quintessentially Belgian Noble House
The new Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, born Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy, comes from an old noble family from the Low Countries. The House of Lannoy is one of the most distinguished noble houses in Belgium, yet nether of the two princely titles they held at different parts of their history—Sulmona and Rheina-Wolbeck—were located in Belgium.…
Nassau-Weilburg and Luxembourg: one of Europe’s oldest princely dynasties on one of its newest thrones
On 3 October 2025, Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, abdicated his throne in favour of his eldest son, Crown Prince Guillaume. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as an independent sovereign state has only had its own ruling family since 1890, though the Duchy of Luxembourg itself (and before that the County) is far more ancient,…
Kent—From Saxon Kingdom to Royal Dukedom
Kent is one of the most familiar names for an English county—but also unique in that it is one of the few that are never appended ‘-shire’ when giving historic names. It is also said to be one of the oldest place names still in use in England, named by the Greeks as Kantion in…
Dukes of Castries: the Wealth of the Mediterranean comes to Versailles
In ancient times there was a road, the Via Domitia, built by the Romans to bring soldiers and trade across the Alps from Italy into southern Gaul, then south to Spain. Cities and towns along this route that hugged the Mediterranean prospered, and fortified positions held by noblemen kept trade safe, and of course provided…
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Follow My Blog
Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.
Dukes and Princes 