Two German princes who were also British dukes—as relatives of our Royal Family—were stripped of their British titles during the First World War. There are some who feel that these titles should be restored to the descendants of the men who fought against us one hundred years ago. Alistair Lexden reflected on the issue in light-hearted vein in a letter published in The Telegraph on February 2.
SIR---Maurice Logan-Salton (Letter, January 30) makes a futile plea for the repeal of the Titles Deprivation Act 1917.
Parliament will never make time for such a superfluous measure. The heirs of the two dukes who sided with the Kaiser can petition the Privy Council for the restoration of the forfeited titles if they want them back.
A speedy decision is assured since so little work is available for the Privy Council, which is now larger than the House of Commons, David Cameron’s profligate creations having added 179 to the total membership.
They might well be sympathetic to a request from Prince Hubert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to become Duke of Albany; the poor man cannot have his German ducal title because he is the product of a morganatic marriage.
But would they find in favour of Prince Ernst August of Hanover if he asked to become Duke of Cumberland? The widely publicised photographs of him urinating in public would not help his cause. There might also be a reluctance to revive a title blackened by Highland butchery and the scandalous life of a later Duke who was widely suspected of incest and murder in the early nineteenth century.
Lord Lexden
London SW1