Hereditary peer

The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of July 2026, there were 798 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes, excluding the Duke of Edinburgh who is a life peer, the holder being an hereditary earl), 34 marquesses, 189 earls, 107 viscounts, and 439 barons (not counting subsidiary titles). As a result of the Peerage Act 1963, all peers except those in the peerage of Ireland were entitled to sit in the House of Lords. After the House of Lords Act 1999 came into force, only 92 of them, elected from all hereditary peers, were permitted to do so, unless they were also life peers. The rights of these 92 to sit in the Lords were removed by the House of Lords (Hereditary Peers) Act 2026; they left the Lords when the 2024–26 session ended in April 2026, except for eight who already had life peerages, and 26 more subsequently re-entered after being granted life peerages. Not all hereditary titles are titles of the peerage. For instance, baronets and baronetesses may pass on their titles, but they are not peers. Scottish barons are also titled nobles but not peers. Conversely, the holder of a non-hereditary title may belong to the peerage, as with life peers. Peerages may be created by means of letters patent, but the granting of new hereditary peerages has dwindled: eight hereditary peerages have been created since 1965, five of them for members of the British royal family. The most recent grant of a hereditary peerage was in 2019 for the youngest child of Elizabeth II, Prince Edward, who was created Earl of Forfar. The most recent grant of a hereditary peerage to a non-royal was in 1984 for former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, who was created Earl of Stockton...