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A woman with the rank of a marquess, or the wife of a marquess, is a marchioness / ˌ m ɑː r ʃ ə ˈ n ɛ s /. [4] The dignity, rank, or position of the title is a marquisate or marquessate. The honorific prefix " The Most Honourable " precedes the name of a marquess or marchioness of the United Kingdom .
Marquess, Margrave, or Marquis (literally "Count of a March" (=Border territory)) was the ruler of a marquessate, margraviate, or march. The female equivalent is Marchioness, Margravine, or Marquise. Grand Župan, a more influential Župan. Landgrave (literally "Land Count"), a German title, ruler of a landgraviate (large / provincial territory).
From that period the title appears to have been dormant until it was revived by Henry VI in 1442. The only woman to be appointed as a marquess in her own right was Anne Boleyn, who was created Marchioness of Pembroke in preparation for her marriage to Henry VIII. The investiture ceremony was held at Windsor Castle on 1 September 1532.
If a prince or peer dies, his wife's style does not change unless the new peer is a married man (or a woman, if the succession permits). Traditionally, the widowed peeress puts "Dowager" in her style – for example, "The Most Hon. the Marchioness of London" becomes "The Most Hon. the Dowager Marchioness of London".
The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. From that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were closed to new creations, and new peers were created in a single Peerage of Great Britain.
Marquess comes from the French marquis, which is a derivative of marche or march. This is a reference to the borders ('marches') between England, Scotland, and Wales, a relationship more evident in the feminine form, Marchioness. The first marquess in a peerage of the British Isles was created in 1385.
Marquis, marchese and margrave (Markgraf) all had their origins in feudal lords who held trusted positions in the borderlands. The English title was a foreign importation from France, tested out tentatively in 1385 by Richard II , but not naturalized until the mid-15th century, and now more often spelled " marquess ".
This is a list of the 34 present and extant marquesses in the peerages of the Kingdom of England, Kingdom of Scotland, Kingdom of Great Britain, Kingdom of Ireland, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which became the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 1922.