How does one git one of them fancy titles in Britain - Sir, Lord, Lady, Earl?

[goodwood]

There are a couple of ways to attain a title. Being knighted by the queen for merit is one of them.
Another way is to inherit the title from a childless relative.
Another way is to actual purchase a title from an impoverished aristocrat that is hard up for some cash.
A German law provides for being adopted by a titled person. One is officially adopted by a titled person and reveives and is allowed to legally use the title but the adoptee forks over some cash for the title to the adopting person i.e. Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband.
My family lines go back many centuries with many titles being held from Prince in Germany, Count in France, Earl in England, Baron in Scottland and King in Ireland (when each Irish province was ruled by a King). I would love to have any of those titles back but am not desended from the first born males lines through which the titles pass.
Of course if a woman marries a titled man, she is automatically granted a title i.e. countess, baroness, duchess, etc. However if an untitled man marries a titled woman, she loses her right to the title and is a commoner, like a crown princess of Norway who now lives a common life with her husband and children and is nothing more than Mrs. so and so. Also the same with a crown princess of Japan who married a common bloke.
Titles do have their advantages. From time to time I have pulled a family title to get in to some VIP areas at clubs and announce that I am the Comte De Chanois. lol. Entre nous! While descended directly, i have no right to use that title since it passed to other lines of the family.But in the chaos of crazy, image conscious clubs, a French count is a welcome addition. lol.

 

[goodwood]

If one holds a title of Prince be it his serene highness (as in Monaco) or royal highness one is addressed as "Your Highness". If one is a Duke (one step down from a Prince) one is either addressed as "Your Highness" (if a lesser son from royal parents or "Your Grace" and this also applies to a Duke's wife. Your Grace is also appropriate to address the Pope.
For all other titles, Marquis, Earl, Count, Baron - they are addressed as Lord Ferrer for example. Or called "Your Lordship".

 

[2322]

And another thing.

Knights (the Sirs) and Dames and baronets are not peers. Getting knighted does not make you Lord or Lady anything. Only those of the rank of baron or higher are peers though baronages do not confer a title of peerage. The ranking (from lowest to highest):

Baron and Baroness
Viscount and Vicountess
Earl and Countess
Marquess and Marchioness
Duke and Duchess
Royal Duke and Royal Duchess
Prince and Princess
King and Queen

Now there are even subranks all within this. Everyone is ranked by the type of title, if it is a title of England, Scotland, Ireland, or of the United Kingdom, date it was conferred, and if there is special remainder to allow for daughters to carry the title when no sons are left (otherwise the title goes extinct). Rules about how children are titled are included as well.

It's ridiculously confusing.

The queen can, and has, create anyone anything she likes on her own prerogative and this she has done. She can also strip titles at will though this usually only happens when someone is convicted of a serious crime or wages war against the UK (Hirohito was stripped of his titles at the start of WWII but then later they were reinstated). She can create peers by writ of summons to parliament or by letters patent.

Today they have what are called, "life peerages," which means that while you get a title, your children do not inherit it. It's a one-time, one person deal. Former prime ministers are usually given life peerages so they can sit in Lords. To get a real hereditary peerage requires a great deal of work. You'd better be a war hero or someone the queen likes. Only five hereditary peerages have been created since 1964.

 

[earllogjam]

SLLAAAAP.
No, logjam. He's Canadian.

Is there a difference? :biggrin1:

Besides why would a Canadian choose to live in Atlanta....with the Queen of Pop?

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Is there a difference? :biggrin1:

That's what all the Moroccans asked.

 

[2322]

You mean Elton John is sometimes called Chuck? (I know some people call him Sharon.)

Oops. Sir Elton's catamite.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Getting knighted does not make you Lord or Lady anything.

Well, jason, if your hubby gets knighted, then you become Lady Whatever.

 

[earllogjam]

That's what all the Moroccans asked.

Haha, ever been to Astoria NY? Best tagine in the states there.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Haha, ever been to Astoria NY? Best tagine in the states there.

Ever been to the Place Jma al-Fna?
Even better.
(Oh, the stories ...)

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Oops. Sir Elton's catamite.

Now, let me raise a perhaps spurious point, jace.
To me, a catamite is a pushee, and not a pusher.
Am I right in thinking this? Don't know, and the dicktionaries don't help me.
I suspect Mr. Furnish is a pusher.
And therefore, in my strict and perhaps spurious sense, not a catamite.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Besides why would a Canadian choose to live in Atlanta....with the Queen of Pop?

Oh, but Celine lives in Vegas.
And lots of Canajuns, earl, lots of them, in Atlanta.
Snowbirds, we call them.

 

[earllogjam]

Ever been to the Place Jma al-Fna?
Even better.
(Oh, the stories ...)

Marrakech, yes, still have the snake bite mark on my neck. Did you try the sea snails there?

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Did you try the sea snails there?

No, but they tried me.
Only just missed being gang raped at a Moroccan wedding 20 miles out of Marrakesh.
Not the Third World at that spot ... the Seventeenth, maybe.

 

[2322]

Well, jason, if your hubby gets knighted, then you become Lady Whatever.

You're sooooo picky...:wink:

If a woman is knighted she becomes Dame Edna Bigbosom, her husband remains Mr. Bigbosom.

If a man is knighted he becomes Sir Percival Bigbosom and his wife becomes Lady Bigbosom but not Dame Edna Bigbosom. Her honorific is a courtesy title only as she does not enjoy the same status as her husband as a woman who married a peer would.

Husbands of Dames are screwed entirely. They don't even get a courtesy title.

 

[2322]

Marrakech, yes, still have the snake bite mark on my neck. Did you try the sea snails there?

Snake bite??

This we've got to hear...

 

[odd_fish_9]

Paul McCartney? Geez what is this world coming to? Who's next? Tom Jones, Twiggy, Mick Jagger?

Mick Jagger was knighted in Dec. 2003.

Get with the program, you commoner.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

If a woman is knighted she becomes Dame Edna Bigbosom, her husband remains Mr. Bigbosom.

Master Jace, this is only true unless she is made a knight of the Order of the Garter or the Order of the Thistle, in which case she becomes Lady Edna Bigbosom.

 

[DaveyR]

Lady Senor Rubirosa has a certain charm to it :wink:

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Marrakech, yes, still have the snake bite mark on my neck.

So once again you proved less charming than you thought?

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Lady Senor Rubirosa has a certain charm to it :wink:

Not when I've just broken a heel. Shit!