Edward Fitzalan-Howard: the man overseeing King
Charles’s coronation
Holding hereditary role of earl marshal, 18th Duke of
Norfolk is responsible for organising big ceremonial occasions
Caroline
Davies
Wed 3 May
2023 16.00 BST
The man
with behind-the-scenes responsibility for King Charles III’s coronation is the
earl marshal, a hereditary role traditionally held by the highest-ranking duke
in England.
This is the
18th Duke of Norfolk, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 66. With the role involving
overseeing big ceremonial occasions, such as state funerals of sovereigns as
well as the accession and coronation of new ones, it is fair to say he has been
extremely busy since last year.
The title
was created in 1672, and all past and present dukes of Norfolk have been
descended from Edward I.
The
Fitzalan-Howard family is one of Britain’s oldest aristocratic families, with
their seat at Arundel Castle in West Sussex, which has been in the family for
more than 850 years.
The father
of five, who is known to his friends as Eddie, is reported to be worth more
than £100m and is regarded as the most senior lay member of the Roman Catholic
church in Britain and a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.
Educated at
Ampleforth College and Lincoln College, Oxford, he previously reportedly ran a
bottled gas company, a joinery business, and is said to be a keen racing driver
and accomplished skier.
Fitzalan-Howard’s
brother, Lord Gerald Fitzalan-Howard, appeared on the ITV reality show Keeping
Up with the Aristocrats, while their sister, Lady Marcia Fitzalan-Howard, is an
actor who has appeared in The New Statesman and Midsomer Murders, among other things.
In 2015,
his niece, Kinvara Balfour, granddaughter of the 17th Duke of Norfolk, called
for the “archaic, mad and bonkers” law of primogeniture to be overhauled,
saying her mother, Lady Tessa, had missed out on inheriting Arundel Castle in
West Sussex, the seat of the Duke of Norfolk, because she was not born a boy,
with it going to her younger brother.
Since the
16th century, the earl marshal has had authority over the kings of arms,
heralds and pursuivants at the College of Arms, the body that regulates
heraldry. Among the many titles he holds, he is also said to be one of three
claimants to the role of chief butler of England.
Sem comentários:
Enviar um comentário