Card of the Day: The Coronets of a Marquess and an Earl

Let’s continue our look at the coronets of the British Nobility, thanks to the Churchman Cigarette Company’s 1935 Silver Jubilee Series. As I mentioned yesterday, these coronets are only worn at the coronation of a new monarch, and only after the crown has been placed on the new Sovereign’s head.


We’ll begin with the coronet of a marquess. The monarch is the only one capable of awarding the title of Marquess. There are currently thirty-four such marquessates in Britain.

The title Marquess ranks higher than that of an Earl. In the late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries, many Viceroys of India were appointed as marquesses after their term of office. At the start of the whole kerfuffle of World War I, some of the German relations of King George V were made marquesses in the Peerage of the United Kingdom after renouncing their German princely titles in 1917. This was necessary for obvious reasons.

A British marquess is entitled to own a coronet bearing four strawberry leaves (three visible) and four silver balls around the rim. Though the actual coronet is worn only for coronations, a marquess can bear his coronet of rank on his coat of arms above the shield.

In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above viscount. The feminine form of earl, countess, is used as the equivalent feminine title.

A British earl is entitled to a coronet bearing eight strawberry leaves (four visible) and eight silver balls around the rim.