Has the Duke of York ever been to Yorkshire?

It’s been a while since I’ve posted a photo of Capt. Cook’s Monument on Easby Moor.

Ugly looking isn’t it. Its only beauty coming from its familiarity as part of the landscape.

James Cook is of course Cleveland’s most famous son, even though when he left Middlesbrough was just a hamlet, home to 25 people or so.

But Cook was a Yorkshireman through and through.

Not so the Duke of York, who, apart from his title, seems to have no connection with the county whatsoever.

A title which was first awarded to Edmund of Langley (in Hertfordshire), the fourth surviving son of King Edward III¹Wikipedia Contributors (2021). Edmund of Langley. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_of_Langley,_1st_Duke_of_York [Accessed 17 Feb. 2022].. Since the 15th century, it has become the custom to grant the title to the second son of the reigning monarch²Wikipedia Contributors (2022). Duke of York. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_York [Accessed 17 Feb. 2022]..

There has only been eight Dukes of York, and there’s a few rum uns in there. Richard III, for instance, ‘Now is the winter of our discontent‘. Child murderer, if you hold to that theory.

James II, he was Duke of York before he became King, he was the governor and largest shareholder of the Royal African Company³Wikipedia Contributors (2022). Royal African Company. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_African_Company [Accessed 17 Feb. 2022].. So he was deeply involved in the transatlantic slave trade during the late-17th-century and actually made a personal fortune from it. Wealth that may still be sitting in someone’s investments.

And don’t forget the Grand Old Duke of York, commonly attributed to Prince Frederick, the second son of King George III.

So has our present duke of York, Prince Andrew, ever been to Yorkshire?

Well he was Colonel-in-Chief of the Yorkshire Regiment so I am sure he will have been. He certainly paid a flying visit in 2003, opening the Golden Jubilee Regional Spinal Cord Injuries Centre at the James Cook University Hospital⁴‘Court Circular’ (2003) Times, 18 Oct, 48, available: https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/IF0502518554/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=cdcaff95 [accessed 17 Feb 2022].. Just two years after that infamous photo was taken.

He may no longer have any military titles; no longer be patron of various charities or connected with golf clubs; he may be deemed a “private person” and no longer to be addressed as “His Royal Highness”; he may be out of pocket by £12m, but he still holds the Dukedom of York.

To be treated with due reverence — excuse me while I choke.

• 1
  Wikipedia Contributors (2021). Edmund of Langley. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_of_Langley,_1st_Duke_of_York [Accessed 17 Feb. 2022].
• 2
  Wikipedia Contributors (2022). Duke of York. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_of_York [Accessed 17 Feb. 2022].
• 3
  Wikipedia Contributors (2022). Royal African Company. [online] Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_African_Company [Accessed 17 Feb. 2022].
• 4
  ‘Court Circular’ (2003) Times, 18 Oct, 48, available: https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/IF0502518554/GDCS?u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-GDCS&xid=cdcaff95 [accessed 17 Feb 2022].