The Dukes (New ed)

There are only twenty-six non-royal dukes in the British peerage.

Their origins divide nicely into Tudor looters, Royal bastards, opportunist generals, territorial, metropolitan or Scottish magnates.

Lloyd George said that a duke, fully equipped, cost more than a dreadnought to maintain and with their palaces, possessions and retinues, they are nearly all splendid.

Some of them are, of course, now poor; some of them have great wealth; some of them hit every headline and othes are obscure.

But within each duchy Brian Masters tells the story of quaint grandees determined to survive.

This revised and updated edition includes new information which was not available for the original book, and brings up to date the account of families whose titles have passed to a subsequent generation in the intervening years.