Duke of Grafton is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1675 by Charles II of England for his second illegitimate son by the Duchess of Cleveland, Henry FitzRoy. The most famous duke was probably Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, who served as Prime Minister in the 1760s.
The Duke of Grafton holds three subsidiary titles, all created in 1672 in the Peerage of England: Earl of Euston, Viscount Ipswich, and Baron Sudbury. Between 1723 and 1936 the Dukes, being descended from the 1st Duke's wife Isabella FitzRoy, 2nd Countess of Arlington, also held the titles Earl of Arlington, Viscount Thetford and Baron Arlington. Those titles fell into abeyance between the 9th Duke's sisters, with the abeyance of barony Arlington being ended in 1999.
The title of the Dukedom refers to the Honour of Grafton in the south east of Northamptonshire, the titular village now being called Grafton Regis. The family seat is Euston Hall in Suffolk.
The Duke's eldest son is styled with the courtesy title Earl of Euston, and the eldest son of the Earl with the title Viscount Ipswich.
Read more about Duke Of Grafton: Dukes of Grafton (1675), Further Reading
Famous quotes containing the words duke of, duke and/or grafton:
“When the Prince of Wales [later King George IV] and the Duke of York went to visit their brother Prince William [later William IV] at Plymouth, and all three being very loose in their manners, and coarse in their language, Prince William said to his ship’s crew, “now I hope you see that I am not the greatest blackguard of my family.””
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“A fully equipped duke costs as much to keep up as two Dreadnoughts, and dukes are just as great a terror—and they last longer.”
—David Lloyd George (1863–1945)
“Sometimes the hardest part of my job is the incessant reminder of the fact we’re all trying so assiduously to ignore: we are here temporarily ... life is only ours on loan.”
—Sue Grafton (b. 1940)