The man with behind-the-scenes responsibility for King Charles III’s coronation is the earl marshal, a hereditary role traditionally held by the highest-ranking duke in England.
This is the 18th Duke of Norfolk, Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 66. With the role involving overseeing big ceremonial occasions, such as state funerals of sovereigns as well as the accession and coronation of new ones, it is fair to say he has been extremely busy since last year.
The title was created in 1672, and all past and present dukes of Norfolk have been descended from Edward I.
The Fitzalan-Howard family is one of Britain’s oldest aristocratic families, with their seat at Arundel Castle in West Sussex, which has been in the family for more than 850 years.
The father of five, who is known to his friends as Eddie, is reported to be worth more than £100m and is regarded as the most senior lay member of the Roman Catholic church in Britain and a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.
Educated at Ampleforth College and Lincoln College, Oxford, he previously reportedly ran a bottled gas company, a joinery business, and is said to be a keen racing driver and accomplished skier.
Fitzalan-Howard’s brother, Lord Gerald Fitzalan-Howard, appeared on the ITV reality show Keeping Up with the Aristocrats, while their sister, Lady Marcia Fitzalan-Howard, is an actor who has appeared in The New Statesman and Midsomer Murders, among other things.
In 2015, his niece, Kinvara Balfour, granddaughter of the 17th Duke of Norfolk, called for the “archaic, mad and bonkers” law of primogeniture to be overhauled, saying her mother, Lady Tessa, had missed out on inheriting Arundel Castle in West Sussex, the seat of the Duke of Norfolk, because she was not born a boy, with it going to her younger brother.
Since the 16th century, the earl marshal has had authority over the kings of arms, heralds and pursuivants at the College of Arms, the body that regulates heraldry. Among the many titles he holds, he is also said to be one of three claimants to the role of chief butler of England.
