A duke of my own.

A Duke Of My Own would make a pretty good title, wouldn't it?

I have been known to complain about the excessive number of dukes in romantic fiction, but here I am with a duke of my own, His Grace the Duke of Ithorne. He's not my first duke. That was in a short story, A Mummers' Play. My only other full length duke (another odd image there!) was the Duke of St. Raven in the book. St Raven. In that case, Tris Tregallows had come late to the title. In the case of Ithorne, however, he was born a duke, as his father died before his birth.Quite a burden for a tiny mite. To add to it, his mother is soon forced to leave him. She falls in love with a French lord but is not allowed to take so important a child out of the country.

Character backstory.

That's the back story, and as with most of my characters' histories, it just unfurled for me without my planning. It means that he's every inch the duke, but also makes his occasional escape into the persona of Captain Rose of the Black Swan understandable, as is his close friendship with his cousin, Robin, Earl of Huntersdown (A Lady's Secret), and his foster-brother, Christian Hill (The Secret Wedding.)Here's Thorn's arrival in A Lady's Secret. Robin has been injured in a sword fight and sent for help.

Robin woke to a deep voice drawling, "What have you been up to now, you madman?"

"Thorn?" he asked, opening his eyes, but only slowly recollecting events. He moved, winced as pain shot up his leg, but then grinned. "Thank heaven and hell. Help has arrived."

"It certainly has," the Duke of Ithorne said, sinking onto a chair that an awestruck Mrs. Andrew had just pushed up to the bed. He turned and thanked her, which made her blush. Presumably he was here as plain Captain Rose, but still they swooned.

He wasn't exactly a handsome man, but somehow women never noticed. Like many young men he wore his own hair, but it was neatly tied back and his buckskin breeches, plain brown coat, and neck cloth were impeccably neat. It was most annoying...

Real Dukes.

There were a surprising number of young dukes in 1764, most of them married or soon to be married, so the older, single duke of romantic fiction isn't exactly realistic, it would seem.

Devonshire was 44, but would soon die and his son, aged 16 would inherit. I put him in here because he's the one who would marry Georgiana Spencer of the movie Duchess.

Beaufort was 20, and at 22 would marry. That's his duchess, about 20 years later.

Grafton was 29 and 8 years married to Anne Liddell, but soon to divorce her. That's Grafton on the left.

Manchester was 27. In 1762 he'd become duke and married Elizabeth Dashwood.

Marlborough was 26 and at 24 had married Lady Caroline Russell.

Northumberland was 22 and around the time of The Secret Duke married Anne Stuart, whom he divorced in 1779.

Portland was 26 and in 2 years would marry Lady Dorothy Cavendish.

St. Albans is 24 and one year married to Lady Catherine Ponsonby.

I thought of creating a dukes' club for the book, because they would have quite a bit in common, but it didn't fit my storyline.

A real duke in my books.

The last young duke is Bridgwater, shown right, pointing to his achievements. He was 28 in 1764, and is a character in my novel Tempting Fortune, because Lord Bryght Malloren has invested in his canal building plans. Bridgwater's canals were a major force in the revolution of transportation in the 18th century and the progress of the Industrial Revolution. So dukes were not necessarily idle wastrels or above practical matters. In fact, in the 18th century, the time of the Enlightenment, most of the aristocracy were involved in the arts and sciences, including industry, astronomy, global exploration, and agricultural improvements.

Bridgewater makes an appearance in The Secret Duke as the king's worrying behaviour begins to be spoken of. In the end, of course, the poor man -- George III, not Bridgwater, will go mad, probably from porphyria.

It seems many readers can't get enough of dukes, but my question is, how do you feel about young dukes as heroes? Does that undercut some idea of power? Thorn's in his twenties, but there's nothing wrong with men in their twenties. They could be said to be in their prime.

 What do you think?

If you haven't read the excerpt from The Secret Duke, it's here.

And this is a painting from 1764 which captures something of the thoughtful, reserved duke. Or perhaps he's simply pondering the mess he's in now Bella Barstowe is back in his life!

Cheers,

Jo

Comments

[NinaP]

Great post Jo! I am looking forward to meeting Captain Rose.

Question: Where did you get your list of real dukes? I would love to discover who was who in the British aristocracy during the Autumn of 1815. (other than the obvious, that is)

Thanks,
Nina

[Keira Soleore]

Jo, my view of dukes is that they're fine, welcome even. I'll believe that there were a few (not the dozens our stories would have us believe), young (after all death rates were high and life expectancy low), and unattached dukes. The sole issue I have with them is that they better behave dukely, i.e., they better be seen administering their vast estates, having their fingers in high political pies, and, in general, having a complete sense of their consequence. I find dukes who're chums with their valets and footmen, or ones who spend all their time with their heroines with no thought to their lands ludicrous.

[Jo Beverley]

Keira, I too like fictional dukes to be playing a ducal role. :)

Nina, I dug the information out of the website www.thepeerage.com plus knowing the dukedoms of the time.

It's a fun place to look for upper class ancestry etc.

Jo

[Susan/DC]

I like heroes in their 20s. They are adults yet not quite fully formed, and I like the idea of the heroine helping to shape the kind of man the hero will become. There is also something quite appealing about a young man's passion, both physical and emotional.

From your list of young dukes, it is quite remarkable that one-quarter, 2 of 8, divorced their wives. There must be fascinating stories behind those relationships.

It's also interesting that there do not seem to be large age differences between the dukes and their duchesses. There was a time in romance where it almost seemed to be a rule that the hero had to be at least a decade older than the heroine, but that doesn't seem to be true of the couples on your list, unless (for example) the 23 y.o. St Albans married Catherine Ponsonby when she was 13.

[NinaP]

Thanks Jo! I'm off to check out that link. :-)

[Patricia Barraclough]

I've always found it odd that Dukes in so many of the stories are around thirty. You would think they would not wait so long to assure they had a son to carry on the line.
Since most were raised to assume the title, they most likely be more mature and responsible than many at a younger age. I don't think a young age would have an impact on his influence and power. That goes with the title. His maturity and wisdom will be a factor, both of which will improve with age.

[Kim in Hawaii]

My favorite Duke is Francis Russell, the 7th Duke of Bedford (May 13, 1788 – May 14, 1861). He married the Honorable Anna Maria Stanhope, in 1808 The Duchess of Bedford would later serve as Lady in Waiting to Queen Victoria. She is credited with “creating” afternoon tea – she was hungry before dinner and invited her friends for a coze. The Duchess was the inspiration for inviting romance authors to a tea party with military spouses – any dear Jo provided the information article about English titles.

The Duke’s historic home is Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire. But he enjoyed fishing, so he frequented the River Tamar in Devon (west side of Dartmoor, next to the Cornish border). He significantly contributed to the town of Tavistock. In fact, he was styled as the Marques of Tavistock before he inherited the title of Duke of Bedford.

In 2007, my husband and I spent 10 days at the Old Solomn’s Farm B& B along the River Tamar in Cornwall. On the last day, we noticed the historic marker on the barn, noting it had once been owned by the Duke of Bedford.

[Jo Beverley]

Susan, the divorces are interesting. I might research those for another blog.

The age thing doesn't surprise me that much. It doesn't work with the usual historical romance storyline, but with heirs the parents tended to marry them off young, or at least betroth them young, when they could still control their choice.

Of course the choice didn't always turn out to be ideal, which might explain the divorces, dukes perhaps being in a position to make that happen.

One cause that tended to make it easier for a peer to divorce his wife was lack of an heir. There'd be sympathy from his peers.

If anyone knows more about the divorces mentioned, please share.

Jo

[Jo Beverley]

I've put up the second excerpt of The Secret Duke.
http://www.jobev.com/tsdexc2.html

Enjoy!

Jo

[Helen Vreugdenhil]

A very enjoyable book on this subject is Brian Masters' "The Dukes: the Enoblement and History of 26 Families." Quite literally, each duke who has ever lived is mentioned - and there were a very limited number of them. They also tended to marry into each other's families, which undermines a great many romance plots! I love these lines from the Amazon review: 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.

[Andrea Penrose]

What interesting facts about the dukes, Jo, and thanks for the peerage link.

I'm fine with young dukes in stories . . . in fact I'm fine with most any premise as long as an author can draw me into the story and create believable characters.

And Helen, I love Lloyd George's comment on the cost of a duke!

[Lyn S]

I was also going to post a recommendation for Brian Masters, "The Dukes". It is a great book that can be read in chunks. He covers the Dukes from 1483 to 1988 which is the revision I own. He notes that in the 651 years since the creation of the first duke, only 500 people have held that title. As to Lloyd George's comment Masters quotes the "Marquess of Worcester, grandfather to the 1st Duke of Beaufort, wrote: "Since I was a Marquess I am worse by one hundred thousand pounds, and if I should be a duke, I should be an arrant beggar,"
As for being in trade, the "Duke of Richmond worked on the factory floor to learn about engineering, then learned business techniques to make his Goodwood Estate self-sufficient."

These bits are just from the Introduction.It is neat to see how the families formed and succeeded, or not, past the novels you write.

[Rebecca]

This was such a fantastic post. Thank you so much for these thoughts!!

[Jo Beverley]

Thanks for the comments, everyone.

There's an area in England called the Dukeries, because a number of dukes had their seats there. It's near Nottingham.

Jo

[Janice]

You have to take each regency as if it were the only regency there is, or you wind up having to step over the dukes littering the ground. I don't mind a story about a duke per se, though; it's the stories about dukes who act like plain ordinary gentlemen that are wallbangers for me.

Duking took up a lot of a person's day, and dukes were never without their entourage or at least a companion or two, for safety as well as consequence. These dukes who hang out in wayside inns without so much as a servant (so as to meet the heroine cutely incognito) are nonsense. Nor do I buy these dukes who, though not otherwise presented as being idiots, marry known pros (and their mothers accept them). Yet I just read two fairly recent regencies this weekend in which characters did just that. It is a testament to the authors' storytelling ability that I stuck with these books which so strained credulity :)