page_title: Marquess
section_title: United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: Marquess / United Kingdom
context_page_description: A marquess is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The term is also used to translate equivalent Asian styles, as in Imperial China and Imperial Japan. The German language equivalent is Markgraf.
context_section_description: The honorific prefix "The Most Honourable" precedes the name of a marquess or marchioness of the United Kingdom.
  In Great Britain, and historically in Ireland, the correct spelling of the aristocratic title of this rank is  marquess (although on the European mainland and in Canada, the French spelling of marquis is used in English). In Scotland, the French spelling is also sometimes used. In Great Britain and historically in Ireland, the title ranks below a duke and above an earl. A woman with the rank of a marquess, or the wife of a marquess, is called a marchioness /ˌmɑːrʃəˈnɛs/ in Great Britain and Ireland, or a marquise /mɑːrˈkiːz/ elsewhere in Europe.  The dignity, rank or position of the title is referred to as a marquisate or marquessate.
  The theoretical distinction between a marquess and other titles has, since the Middle Ages, faded into obscurity. In times past, the distinction between a count and a marquess was that the land of a marquess, called a march, was on the border of the country, while a count's land, called a county, often was not. As a result of this, a marquess was trusted to defend and fortify against potentially hostile neighbours and was thus more important and ranked higher than a count. The title is ranked below that of a duke, which was often largely restricted to the royal family.
  The rank of marquess was a relatively late introduction to the British peerage: no marcher lords had the rank of marquess, though some were earls. On the evening of the Coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838, the Prime Minister Lord Melbourne explained to her why (from her journals):
  I spoke to Ld M. about the numbers of Peers present at the Coronation, & he said it was quite unprecedented. I observed that there were very few Viscounts, to which he replied "There are very few Viscounts," that they were an old sort of title & not really English; that they came from Vice-Comites; that Dukes & Barons were the only real English titles; — that Marquises were likewise not English, & that people were mere made Marquises, when it was not wished that they should be made Dukes.
caption: The coronet for a marquess in the British realms