On 9 March 1620 the Emperor Ferdinand II officially recognised the title, an act which infuriated James I of England.

He had already been created Baron of Pontefract, Viscount Falmouth and Earl of Northumberland in 1674, also in the Peerage of England.

In 1749 King George II created Algernon (who had inherited the Dukedom of Somerset in 1748) Earl of Northumberland and Baron Warkworth, of Warkworth Castle in the County of Northumberland, with special remainder to his son-in-law Sir Hugh Smithson, 4th Baronet.

[1][2] The above steps formed a deliberate move to allow ancient names and titles of the Percys to be revived in the male-heir exhausted senior branch of the Dukedom of Somerset, which at that time was about to see its largest removal – to another noble but very cadet branch (a fourth cousin) on Algernon's death.

[3] In 1784 the 1st Duke was also granted the substantive title Lord Lovaine, Baron of Alnwick in the County of Northumberland, in the Peerage of Great Britain, with remainder to his second son Lord Algernon Percy,[4] who succeeded and who was created Earl of Beverley in 1790, and thus it too became a courtesy title.

In 1957, on the death of his fourth cousin once removed, James Stewart-Murray, 9th Duke of Atholl, Hugh succeeded as 9th Baron Percy, the title thus re-merging with the Dukedom.

Charlotte Percy, Duchess of Northumberland, wife of the third Duke, was governess of the future Queen Victoria.

[13] Warkworth and Prudhoe castles were the residences of the Earls of Northumberland in the Middle Ages, and ownership was retained by the later Dukes.

Albury Park is a former residence which has been converted into apartments, while the surrounding estate is still directly owned by the Duke.

[14] The traditional burial place of the Dukes is the Northumberland Vault in Westminster Abbey in London, the Percys thus being the last family to maintain such a privilege.

The piper's main duty is to play at the Shrove Tuesday football match in Alnwick, but they are invited to a variety of other functions.