Duke of Buckingham and Normanby

The dukedom was created in 1703 for John Sheffield, 1st Marquess of Normanby KG, a notable Tory politician of the late Stuart period, who served under Queen Anne as Lord Privy Seal and Lord President of the Council.

He had succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Mulgrave in 1658 and been made Marquess of Normanby in 1694.

The duke's family descended from Sir Edmund Sheffield, second cousin of Henry VIII, who in 1547 was raised to the Peerage of England as Baron Sheffield and in 1549 was murdered in the streets of Norwich during Kett's Rebellion.

His grandson, the 3rd Baron, served as Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire from 1603 to 1619 and was created Earl of Mulgrave in 1626, also in the Peerage of England.

Lady Catherine Darnley later married John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, and hence Constantine Phipps, 1st Baron Mulgrave was the step-grandson of the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby.