Editing Marquess (section)

==United Kingdom==
{{Peerage |Ranks=expanded}}
{{Main article|Marquesses in the United Kingdom}}

In Great Britain and historically in Ireland, a marquess ranks below a [[duke]] and above an [[earl]]. A woman with the rank of a marquess, or the wife of a marquess, is a '''marchioness''' {{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|ɑː|r|ʃ|ə|ˈ|n|ɛ|s}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/marchioness?showCookiePolicy=true|title=Marchioness|publisher=[[Collins Dictionary]]|date=n.d.|access-date=22 September 2014}}</ref> 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]].<ref name="Debrett's">{{cite web |date=n.d. |title=Marquess and Marchioness |url=http://www.debretts.com/forms-address/titles/marquess-and-marchioness |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110144107/http://www.debretts.com/forms-address/titles/marquess-and-marchioness |archive-date=10 November 2014 |access-date=22 September 2014 |publisher=Debrett's |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

In [[Great Britain]], and historically in [[Ireland]], the spelling of this title is '''marquess'''. In Scotland, the French spelling '''marquis''' is sometimes used. 

[[File:Coronet of a British Marquess.svg|thumb|right|The [[coronet]] for a marquess in the British realms]]

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 (territory)|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 lord]]s had the rank of marquess, though some were [[earl]]s. On the evening of the [[Coronation of Queen Victoria]] in 1838, the Prime Minister [[Lord Melbourne]] explained to her why (from her journals):
<blockquote>I spoke to [Lord Melbourne] 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 [[Viscount]]s," 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.<ref>''Queen Victoria's Journals'', Thursday 28th June 1838, Buckingham Palace, Princess Beatrice's copies, Volume:4 (1st June 1838–1st October 1838) p. 84, [http://www.queenvictoriasjournals.org/search/displayItemFromId.do?FormatType=fulltextimgsrc&QueryType=articles&ItemID=qvj02134&volumeType=PSBEA#zoomHolder online], accessed May 25, 2013</ref></blockquote>