False titles of nobility

Fake titles of nobility are supposed titles of nobility which have, in fact, been fabricated, and are not recognized by any government, or have not been so recognized in the past. They have received an increasing amount of press attention as the number of schemes which attempt to sell these titles has increased.

British titles

It is impossible to purchase genuine British titles of nobility or peerage titles directly, with one exception: it is possible to acquire a feudal title in the grade of baron in Scotland. Until the Abolition of Feudal Tenure (Scotland) Act of 2000, the transfer of such a barony required some interest in land, specifically the caput baronium (the seat of the barony), since the Act the titles stand on their own and transference by sale without land is legal. Scottish feudal baronies have been transferred by sale for well over half a millennium.

Persons holding feudal baronies may petition for a Grant of Arms with the additiaments of a feudal baron (a baronial chapeau and robe), however, the Lord Lyon King of Arms is restricting new grants of Arms with baronial chapeau and robes (especially for those without a direct connection to Scotland). It is the possession of the barony itself that ennobles the holder, not a Grant of Arms. There is an organization of Scottish barons, the Convention of the Baronage of Scotland. The Scottish feudal baron is addressed as The Much Honored, The Baron of X; his wife (or the female holder of a barony in her own right) is styled the Baroness of X or Lady of X (there is historic evidence for allowing the husband of a baroness in her own right to be styled Baron by the grace of Scotland); the eldest son of a baron is styled The Younger of X. Feudal baronies include baronies in the Baronage of Scotland (granted by a past King of Scotland), baronies in the Ancient Baronage of the Isles (granted by a past Lord of the Isles), and a handful of baronies granted by other senior Scottish peers or prelates (in ancient times the King of Scotland was not the sole front of honor). The Scottish Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms (a Court of Session ~ part of the supreme courts of Scotland) has ruled that a Scottish feudal baron is the equal of a Continental baron who is the chief of his family (in some European nations all males take the title but only the head or chief of the family has a superior rank).

The British embassy to the United States, warns that "the sale of British titles is prohibited by the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act, 1925." [http://www.britainusa.com/faq/showfaq.asp?SID=390] ; this refers to peerages, baronetages, knighthoods, and related honours but excludes Scottish feudal titles. Historically, only the Sovereign has been allowed to grant titles.

The title of Lord of the Manor, a minor feudal title (and not a title of nobility), however, can be traded, though not all sellers of such are genuine. It's important to note here that this title does not grant any change in the prefix of the holder's name. Lords or Ladies of the Manor may style themselves thus: "The Lord/Lady of the Manor of" or "The Lord/Lady of". The preposition "of" must be retained to differentiate from a title of peerage.

Continental European titles

Many who choose to invent false titles of nobility take advantage of the pool of genuine titles of nobility which derive from a time when a country, now a republic, was once a monarchy, for example France, Austria and the many parts of Germany which had sovereign nobles. One advantage of assuming such a title, is that, contrarily with the British nobility, there is usually no longer any official arbitrator who can or will judge between two separate claimants to such a title. In some such countries, titles may nevertheless be protected by an appropriate law, such as France, or by an extension of copyright law, like in Portugal.

External links

* [http://www.faketitles.com Faketitles.com] , by Richard, 7th Earl of Bradford, describing several schemes to sell fake titles of nobility.
* [http://www.faketitles.com/conned.pdf Are You Being Conned?] by Baronage Press
* [http://www.pgsa.org/Hearldry/HeraldSnob.htm On Heraldry and Heraldic Snobbery] Polish Genealogical Society of America - A Translation from Symon Konarski' s work by Leonard Suligowski.