Can nobility be passed on through the mother?

Question

Or does nobility stop after a female descendant? Can you still have a title if your mother was descended from a princely family?

Answer 1

Nobility is one of the most chauvinistic institutions in the world. Everything passes through the father. It's also based on primogeniture - that is, everything goes to the first son, and if he dies, the title goes to the next son, until you run out of sons. Many noble families no longer exist because the only descendant(s) were female.

The exception is in the royal family, where a woman can take the throne if there is no male heir, and her children are called Prince or Princess, regardless of the stature of the father.

Answer 2

Evelyn S's  answer is correct  for Britain. However, there are many countries, most famously France, that have the "Salic law" which explicitly forbids transmission of hereditary titles through the female line.

Answer 3

Yes, under certain conditions,  nobility begins and ends with a lass (to borrow a phrase from Scotland's King James V).  

Nobility can be passed through the female line in Scotland if there are no male heirs since unlike many peerage titles, many Scottish titles can pass through the eldest daughter rather than go into abeyance.  Presumably, this title, in turn, could pass to the eldest or only daughter of a female heir if no male heirs claimed the title.



However, under English inheritance laws, all daughters are considered co-heirs, so many older peerage titles have fallen into abeyance between numerous daughters.  If a daughter of an English peer is the only child, or her sisters are deceased and have no living issue, than she or her heir is vested with the title.  Otherwise, since a peerage--or an estate--cannot be shared or divided, the title goes into abeyance and is held by no one. In Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice",  the Bennett estate will pass to a male cousin rather than allow the inheritance to go into abeyance; thus, Mrs. Bennett's concern that all her daughters marry well is well-founded.  Likewise, Princess Diana's father, the Earl of Spencer, was particularly concerned that he sire a son.

The Queen of the Netherlands, Queen Beatrix ascended the throne in 1980 when her mother Juliana abdicated.  Similarly, if a British queen had no male descendants, the Crown would go to her oldest daughter if she had only given birth to daughters.

Answer 4

It most cases,the line is passed down through the father.There are a very few exceptions,though.

Answer 5

Scottish law allows nobility to be transmitted by a woman.

Example: The Countess Errol was Chief of 3 Scottish Clans, Errol, Hay and Moncrieff. Her son, the present Earl Errol, inherited from his mother.