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Duchy of Lancaster

The Duchy of Lancaster is one of only two Duchies in the United Kingdom, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall.

The Duchy of Lancaster was created for John of Gaunt, a younger son of King Edward III of England,when John married the Lancaster heiress. It is the private property of the crown, and has been since 1399, when the Dukedom of Lancaster, held by Henry of Bolingbroke, merged with the crown on his accession to the throne. The Duchy consists of lands in Northern England, especially in Lancashire. The chief officer of the Duchy is the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a high position which is sometimes a cabinet post. Since, for at least the last two centuries, the Chancellor rarely has had any significant duties pertaining to management of the Duchy itself, he is usually available as a minister without portfolio.

The monarch derives the Privy Purse from the revenues of the Duchy.The lands of the Duchy are not to be confused with the Crown Estate,whose revenues have been handed to the Treasury in exchange for receiving a yearly civil list payment since the eighteenth century.

Table of contents
1 Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1413-1803
2 1803-1902
3 1902 to present

Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1413-1803

1803-1902

1902 to present