The Dukes of Norfolk

Very few high families in England have had so dramatic a history as the Fitzalan-Howards. All the first four Howard dukes were attainted, the 3rd duke escaped execution only because Henry VIII died that morning (though two of his neices who became queens of England were beheaded), the 4th duke was unjustly executed, the 5th duke went insane, the 6th duke was excluded from public life because of his Catholicism, the 7th duke's wife left him in a public scandal, the 8th duke died prematurely, the 9th duke was childless and saw the end of his branch of the family, the 10th duke died an alcoholic, the 11th duke lost two wives and produced no legitimate children, the 12th duke's wife left him shortly after their marriage, the 13th duke's eldest son died suddenly just before his majority, the 14th duke died young and painfully, and the 15th duke's only son was born blind and epileptic. As the leading Catholic family in England, they were aristocratic outlaws -- yet they were and are that nation's premier peers, hereditary marshals of England, and possessed of great wealth. The author (who is Fitzalan Pursuivant Extraordinary) makes clear that high title is no guarantee of success or happiness. And yet their dukedom has survived for more than five centuries. As Earl Marshal, the 16th duke was responsible for organizing the corona-tions of two sovereigns, the funerals of two more (as well as that of Sir Winston Churchill), and the investiture of the present Prince of Wales; with the advent of radio and television, this made him widely recognized to the public at large. Semi-scholarly (there are numerous footnotes) and heavily illustrated, this volume is most instructive to the general reader and of particular interest to the student of peerage pedigrees.