British nobility

The British nobility is made up of the peerage and the gentry of the British Isles. In the United Kingdom, only the peers of the realm maintain significant legal privileges while lower noble ranks have always been mostly ceremonial.

Though the UK is today a constitutional monarchy with strong democratic elements, historically the British Isles were more predisposed towards aristocratic governance in which power was largely inherited and shared amongst a noble class. The nobility of the four constituent home nations and crown dependencies therefore has played a major role in shaping the history of the British Isles, and remnants of this nobility exist throughout the UK's social structure and institutions.

Traditionally, the British nobility rank directly below the British royal family. In the modern era, this ranking is more of a formally recognised social dignity, rather than something conveying practical authority; however, through bodies such as the House of Lords, the nature of some offices in the Royal Household, and British property law, the British nobility retain some aspects of political and legal power.

Membership in the Peerage is strictly personal and either for life (life peerages) or transmissible by primogeniture only (hereditary peerages). All British subjects who are not themselves Peers of the Realm are technically commoners, regardless of ancestry, wealth, or other social factors. This includes Princes of the United Kingdom who have not yet been granted a Peerage. The term "Commoner" does not imply that the person is not noble in the Continental sense, but rather that he is not a Peer and is therefore entitled to be elected to the House of Commons.

The vast majority of the British nobility (in the Continental sense) is formed by the Gentry, which consists of baronets, knights, esquires and gentlemen.

All ranks and titles higher than Gentleman are strictly personal and either limited to the lifetime of the holder or transmitted by primogeniture, usually to heirs male of the body of the original recipient. Male-line descendants of members of the royal family, peers, baronets, knights and esquires do not sink below the rank of Gentleman as long as they are armigerous. Coats of arms are marks of nobility in Britain unlike on the Continent, where a grant of arms does not necessarily result in ennoblement or confirmation of nobility.^[1]

The British nobility should not be confused with the British upper class, though functionally the nobility may be said to make up a significant portion of the upper class. Those belonging to the upper or upper middle class are able to formally accede to the nobility by obtaining a grant of arms.