Duke of Cornwall

Duke of Cornwall (Cornish: Duk a Gernow) is a title in the Peerage of England, traditionally held by the eldest son of the reigning British monarch, previously the English monarch. The Duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created in England and was established in a royal charter in 1337 by King Edward III. In 2022, Prince William became Duke of Cornwall with the accession to the throne of his father, King Charles III; William's wife, Catherine, became Duchess of Cornwall.

Some folk histories of the British Isles, such as Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain (1136), claim that the first leader of Cornwall was Corineus, a Trojan warrior and ally of Brutus of Troy, portrayed as the original settler of the British Isles. From then through the Arthurian period, such legendary dukes of Cornwall stood apart from the high king of Britain, while serving as his closest ally and, at times, as his protector (all per Monmouth's collected yarns). Notably in this tale, Gorlois, duke of Cornwall under King Uther Pendragon, rebelled when the king became obsessed with Gorlois' wife Igraine. Uther killed Gorlois and took Igraine: the son was King Arthur.

The historical record suggests that, following the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Cornwall formed part of a separate Kingdom of Dumnonia, which included Devon, although there is evidence that it may have had its own rulers at times. The Celtic southwest of Britain was gradually conquered by the emerging Germanic Kingdom of England, and after the Norman Conquest in 1066, the new rulers of England appointed their own men as earl of Cornwall, the first of whom was in fact a Breton of Cornouaille in Brittany.

Edward of Woodstock (widely known as 'The Black Prince'), the eldest son of Edward III, was made the first duke of Cornwall in 1337, after Edward III claimed the title of King of France. Cornwall was the first dukedom conferred within the Kingdom of England.

The charter that established the estate on 17 March 1337 set out the rule that the duke and possessor of the estate would be the eldest son and heir apparent of the monarch. There were some deviations from this rule until a legal case (the Prince's Case) in 1606, which held that the rule should be adhered to.

When the estate is without a duke, the possessor is the monarch, even if the former duke left surviving descendants. The monarch's grandson, even if he is the heir apparent, does not succeed to the dukedom. Similarly, no female may ever be duke of Cornwall, even if she is heir presumptive or heir apparent (this becoming a possibility after the commencement of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013).

Under tradition, it is possible for an individual to be Prince of Wales, and heir apparent, without also holding the position of Duke of Cornwall. The title 'Prince of Wales' is the traditional title of the heir apparent to the throne, granted at the discretion of the sovereign, though not automatically, and is not restricted to the eldest son.

For example, after the death of Frederick, Prince of Wales, George II's heir apparent was his grandson George (Frederick's eldest son and the future George III). The young Prince George was created Prince of Wales but did not become Duke of Cornwall because he was the king's grandson, rather than his son. When the sovereign has no legitimate son, or when the heir apparent is not the sovereign's son, the estates of the duchy revert to the Crown until a legitimate son is born or until the accession of a new monarch who has a son.