The Right to Bear Titles

Should women be allowed to inherit aristocrat titles? The Aristo News discussed this topic on July 10 in an article entitled The Aristocracy in the 21st Century. We've just learned that the same debate is alive within the hallowed halls of the Spanish aristocracy.

There has been a change to Spanish law that will now allow elder sisters to inherit the family title, in place of her younger brothers. However, some people within this Spanish aristocracy fear that this will allow older sisters to retroactively claim titles already held by their younger brothers, uncles, etc. According to The Irish Times more than 1,000 families are worried about the repercussions of retroactive claims on noble titles held by the younger men in these aristocratic families, which is why they're demanding a change to the law.

But why is this an issue now? Spain has had absolute and equal cognatic primogeniture since 2006.

We at The Aristo News are strong supporters of equality. We think that the current holders should be allowed to retain their titles, but on the death of present holder, the eldest child (or living relative) should inherit the title. Simple, right?

Yet it's interesting to note that the Spanish monarchy still practices male preference primogeniture. How can the King of Spain have one set of rules for the noble families and another for himself? If change is supposed to start at the top, maybe this situation wouldn't be such a mess now.

Jacobites to Regain Aristo Titles?

The Scotsman is reporting that certain Scottish noble families could regain their noble titles after losing them during the Jacobite uprisings in the 18th century. Certain noble lines lost their estates, titles and lives because they were seen as having "corrupt blood". This campaign to alleviate these families of centuries of ill will has support in the Scottish Parliament, so we'll see how this turns out. If this campaign is successful, it could restore ancient titles to descendants of earls of Panmure, Southesk and Kellie, as well as the Duke of Berwick. It's also interesting to note that on July 24 the heads of Scotland's noble families will meet in the Scottish Parliament for the very first time. Will this be a subject of conversation? Oh, if only we were a fly on that wall.