# Can I buy a British title? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-a-british-title/604903 "2011-12-03T00:13:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2011, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-a-british-title/604903/41 "2011-12-04T23:26:36Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > But the question is “Can I buy a British title?”, not “Should I buy a British title?” And whether it’s right or wrong to have a peerage system or whether it’s anachronistic, or whether you should treat people differently based on birth, that doesn’t affect whether one is allowed to buy a British title or not. [Moderating] Correct. Let’s drop the hijacks about the appropriateness of titles and whether they entail worship of people with titles. Those are better addressed in Great Debates. Let’s stick to the subject of the OP. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-a-british-title/604903/42 "2011-12-05T01:03:39Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Are you serious? > > Umm, the request was that you name “one single person in Britain who worships titled people”… I can assure you that Jesus does not. You’re reading his point backwards. He’s one Lord that some people _do_ worship (questions of validity of claims about Him to one side). ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-a-british-title/604903/43 "2011-12-05T01:33:52Z")
What about “buying” a title by having a noble marry you for money? Would this get you a title in some way? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-a-british-title/604903/44 "2011-12-05T02:06:46Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > What about “buying” a title by having a noble marry you for money? Would this get you a title in some way? Only if you’re a woman and your spouse is a man. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-a-british-title/604903/45 "2011-12-05T16:55:08Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > Only if you’re a woman and your spouse is a man. I believe that there are also restrictions on whether you get the title if the husband (not spouse, because it has to be a husband) passes away before you do. If you have any kids (used to be male, now can be female for the royal succession, but I don’t know if that applied to all titles and peerages or if they were already first-born-regardless-of-gender) then THEY get the title, not the wife, and if there aren’t any kids, I think (but can’t find a cite at the moment) that it goes to the next-available relative of the husband (siblings, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces/nephews). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-a-british-title/604903/46 "2011-12-05T23:31:14Z")
> [@Lasciel](#): > > I believe that there are also restrictions on whether you get the title if the husband (not spouse, because it has to be a husband) passes away before you do. If you have any kids (used to be male, now can be female for the royal succession, but I don’t know if that applied to all titles and peerages or if they were already first-born-regardless-of-gender) then THEY get the title, not the wife, and if there aren’t any kids, I think (but can’t find a cite at the moment) that it goes to the next-available relative of the husband (siblings, parents, uncles, aunts, cousins, nieces/nephews). You’re mixing apples and orange juice here. The _peerage_, with its prerogatives (which these days have dwindled to the right to be or vote for representative peers) always passes to the son, and may or may not pass to or through a daughter or else to a heir male (senior relative sharing exclusively paternal lineage). The wife of a peer retains her title for life with some exceptions (remarriage being one IIRC), but that’sw by courtesy, not because she inherited her husband’s title.. ---
**Author:** ![Malden\_Capell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malden_capell/32/5274_2.png) [@Malden\_Capell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malden_Capell)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-a-british-title/604903/47 "2011-12-05T23:38:18Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > You’re mixing apples and orange juice here. The _peerage_, with its prerogatives (which these days have dwindled to the right to be or vote for representative peers) always passes to the son, and may or may not pass to or through a daughter or else to a heir male (senior relative sharing exclusively paternal lineage). The wife of a peer retains her title for life with some exceptions (remarriage being one IIRC), but that’sw by courtesy, not because she inherited her husband’s title.. Hereditary peerages, anyway. Life peerages expire on the death of the holder. If I’m not mistaken, it is possible to have peerages that go through the male line or are absolute primogeniture. ---
**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2011, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-a-british-title/604903/48 "2011-12-06T00:04:40Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > You’re mixing apples and orange juice here. The _peerage_, with its prerogatives (which these days have dwindled to the right to be or vote for representative peers) always passes to the son, and may or may not pass to or through a daughter or else to a heir male (senior relative sharing exclusively paternal lineage). The wife of a peer retains her title for life with some exceptions (remarriage being one IIRC), but that’sw by courtesy, not because she inherited her husband’s title.. That is what I meant, and I’m glad you said it better than me. I wasn’t trying to imply that the wife would have the title stripped from her, just that the “prerogatives” of the title (which I thought was what was under discussion) don’t go to her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-i-buy-a-british-title/604903.md?page=2)