| Earldom of Rosebery held with Earldom of Midlothian | |
|---|---|
  Quarterly, first and fourth vert, three primroses within a double tressure flory-counter-flory Or (for Primrose); second and third argent, a lion rampant double queued sable (for Cressy). | |
| Creation date | 10 April 1703 |
| Created by | Queen Anne |
| Peerage | Peerage of Scotland |
| First holder | Archibald Primrose, 1st Earl of Rosebery |
| Present holder | Harry Primrose, 8th Earl of Rosebery |
| Heir apparent | Albert Primrose, Lord Dalmeny |
| Remainder to | issue male and female successively |
| Subsidiary titles | Earl of Midlothian Viscount of Rosebery Viscount of Inverkeithing Viscount Mentmore Lord Primrose and Dalmeny Lord Dalmeny and Primrose Baron Rosebery Baron Epsom Baronet |
| Seat | Dalmeny House |
| Former seat | Mentmore Towers |
Earl of Rosebery is a title in thePeerage of Scotland created in 1703 forArchibald Primrose, 1st Viscount of Rosebery, with remainder to his issue male and female successively. Its name comes fromRoseberry Topping, a hill near Archibald's wife's estates inYorkshire. The current earl isHarry Primrose, 8th Earl of Rosebery.
Archibald, the first Earl, was the fourth and youngest son ofSir Archibald Primrose, 1st Baronet, aLord of Session under the title Lord Carrington, whose eldest son William was the father of James Primrose, who was createdViscount of Primrose in 1703. Archibald had already been createdLord Primrose and Dalmeny andViscount of Rosebery in 1700, with remainder to his issue male and female successively, and in default thereof to the heirs of entail in the lands of Rosebery, and was madeLord Dalmeny andViscount of Inverkeithing at the same time as he was given the earldom (and with similar remainders). These titles were also in the Peerage of Scotland.
He was succeeded by his son, James Primrose, the second Earl. In 1741, on the death of his cousin Hugh Primrose, 3rd Viscount Primrose, he succeeded as fifth Baronet, ofCarrington (see theViscount of Primrose, which title became extinct on the death of the third Viscount, for earlier history of the baronetcy). His son, Neil Primrose, the third Earl, sat in theHouse of Lords as aScottish representative peer from 1768 to 1784. He was succeeded by his son,Archibald John Primrose, the fourth Earl. He representedHelston andCashel in theHouse of Commons of the United Kingdom and served asLord Lieutenant of Linlithgowshire. In 1828 he was createdBaron Rosebery, of Rosebery in the County of Edinburgh, in thePeerage of the United Kingdom, which gave him and his descendants an automatic seat in the House of Lords.
His grandson,Archibald Philip Primrose, the fifth Earl (the son ofArchibald Primrose, Lord Dalmeny), was a prominentLiberal politician. He served asForeign Secretary in 1886 and between 1892 and 1894 and asPrime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1894 and 1895. In 1911 he was honoured when he was createdBaron Epsom, of Hyde in the County of Surrey,Viscount Mentmore, of Mentmore in the County of Buckingham, andEarl of Midlothian, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Lord Rosebery was married toHannah de Rothschild, the wealthy daughter and heiress of BaronMayer Amschel de Rothschild.
Their eldest son,Albert Edward Harry Primrose, the sixth Earl, representedMidlothian in Parliament from 1906 to 1910 but then did not take an active part in politics until the 1940s, when he served inWinston Churchill's1945 caretaker government asSecretary of State for Scotland. He was also Chairman of theNational Liberal Party from 1945 to 1947. Since 2024 the titles are held by his grandson, the eighth Earl.
Theheir apparent to the earldom is usually styledLord Dalmeny, but the seventh Earl, while heir apparent to his father, the sixth Earl, was styledLord Primrose instead, to avoid using the same courtesy title as his elder half-brotherRonald, who had been styledLord Dalmeny before his death in 1931. On the seventh earl's accession, his son and heir returned to the usual practice and was styledLord Dalmeny until himself succeeding to the title.
.jpg)
The family seat isDalmeny House, nearDalmeny,City of Edinburgh, in Scotland, and until 1977 also resided atMentmore Towers, nearMentmore,Buckinghamshire, in England.
Theheir apparent is the Earl's son, Albert Caspian Harry Primrose, Lord Dalmeny (born 2005).
The Earl has his own horse-racing colours: primrose with rose hoops and a rose cap. These were registered in 1868.
 |
|
