Earl of Chester - Royal County Palatine

Royal County Palatine

The earldom escheated to the Crown in 1237 on the death of John the Scot, Earl of Huntingdon, seventh and last of the Earls. It was annexed to the Crown in 1246. King Henry III then passed the Lordship of Chester, but not the title of Earl, to his son the Lord Edward in 1254; as King Edward I he in turn conferred the title and the lands of the Earldom on his son, Edward, the first English Prince of Wales. By that time the Earldom of Chester consisted of two counties: Cheshire and Flintshire.

The establishment of royal control at Chester made possible King Edward I's conquest of north Wales, and Chester played a vital part as a supply base during the Welsh Wars (1275–84), so the separate organisation of a county palatine was preserved. This continued until the time of King Henry VIII. Since 1301 the Earldom of Chester has always been conferred on the Princes of Wales.

Briefly promoted to a principality in 1398 by King Richard II, it was reduced to an earldom again in 1399 by King Henry IV. Whereas the Sovereign's eldest son is born Duke of Cornwall he must be made or created Earl of Chester (and Prince of Wales; see the Prince Henry's Charter Case (1611) 1 Bulst 133; 80 ER 827). Prince Charles was created Earl of Chester on 26 July 1958, when he was also made Prince of Wales.

The independent palatinate jurisdiction of Chester survived until the time of King Henry VIII (1536), when the earldom was brought under the control of the Crown. The palatinate courts of Great Sessions and Exchequer survived until the reforms of 1830.

The importance of the Royal County of Chester is shown by the survival of Chester Herald, in the College of Arms, for some six hundred years. The office, currently held by Timothy Hugh Stewart Duke, has anciently been nominally under the jurisdiction of Norroy King of Arms.