Dukedom of York | |
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Arms of Prince Andrew, 1st Duke of York (eighth creation): Quarterly 1st and 4th Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (England) 2nd Or a lion rampant Gules within a double tressure flory counterflory Gules (Scotland) 3rd Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (Ireland), with a label of three points Argent, the central point charged with an anchor Azure
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Creation date |
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Monarch |
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Peerage | Peerage of the United Kingdom |
First holder | Edmund of Langley |
Present holder | Prince Andrew, Duke of York |
Heir apparent | none |
Remainder to | the 1st Duke's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten |
Subsidiary titles |
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Extinction date |
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The Duke of York is a title of nobility in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Since the 15th century, it has, when granted, usually been given to the second son of English (later British) monarchs. The equivalent title in the Scottish peerage was Duke of Albany.
Initially granted in the 14th century in the Peerage of England, the title Duke of York has been created eight times. Additionally, the title Duke of York and Albany has been created three times. These occurred during the 18th century, following the 1707 unification of the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into a single, united realm. The double naming was done so that a territorial designation from each of the previously separate realms could be included.
The current Duke of York is Prince Andrew, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II. Prince Andrew currently has no male heirs and has been unmarried since his 1996 divorce.
In medieval times, York was the main city of the North of England and the see of the Archbishop of York from AD 735. Yorkshire was England's largest shire in area.
York under its Viking name "Jorvik" was a petty kingdom in the Early Medieval period. In the interval between the fall of independent Jorvik under Eirik Bloodaxe, last King of Jorvik (d. 954), and the first creation of the Dukedom of York, there were a few Earls of York.