Yes and no! If you live in a country that still recognizes such titles, then gaining them (these days) is really just a matter of doing something worthwhile! Here in Canada, peerages were removed many years ago, but they have a long history in our country. Many, many Canadian Prime Ministers and Governor Generals have been either Knights or Lords. I frankly thought it was a bad idea to take peerages away because it’s amazing what a person will do nowadays to gain a Knighthood. They are often “bought” these days in the U.K. by performing some great act of charity, such as donating huge amounts of money to Libraries or Museums. If someone were to donate a couple of million dollars to the local Library, I certainly wouldn’t have a problem referring to them as “Sir John Doe” for the rest of their lives! However, as a member of the Commonwealth, it is generally accepted that if you meet someone with a Peerage, you do respect the title and rank accordingly. I once had the “Lord of Great Ellington Hall” of Norfolk England as a Reviewing Officer at my Regimental Review, and we referred to him as “Your Lordship” for the event. In the U.K, however, Peerages are very important, very traditional to the average person. They often tend to hold on to their titles very jealously and like to be called by their titles. In terms of reclaiming a Title held by an ancestor, that can be VERY tricky to not only prove, but to get recognized. If the title your ancestor received was in fact Hereditary and not many outside the Royal Family are anymore. In fact, when the Duke of Edinbrough dies, the title actually dies with him, but HRH Prince Edward will be “recreated” as the Duke of Edinbrough. If the title was indeed hereditary, then you must be able to prove it with a “Letter of Patent”. Such documentation is USUALLY held by the family of a Duke/Lord etc and passed to each successive eldest son. If you do not have such documentation, you can ask the Heraldry Council in the U.K. (Or equivalent organization in whatever country you are seeking to regain your family title) to find it for you. However, such an endeavor will no doubt prove extremely expensive and may not yield any results at all. But, if the Council does in fact come up with something, they will either recognize the Title and give you your documentation (In which case you are “officially” a Lord/Lady/Duke/Duchess/Whatever) or they will declare the title dead and you are out of luck. You need to be very careful when making such claims however, as there have always been organizations out there willing to “sell” you titles, which have no real basis to be recognized by legitimate holders of such titles. These companies were big business in the 70’s and have recently begun to surface again. They usually pull a scam such as offering to sell you one square foot of land in the U.K. and tack on a title to that land, such as “Holland House” and tell you that you may then refer to yourself as “Lord Holland” “Lord of Holland House” or other such. Technically, there is nothing stopping you from doing so, but it isn’t exactly recognized by the Heraldry Council, and therefore, (IMHO) not a Peerage Title. So start with the Heraldry Council and find out if the expense, time and trouble are worth it for you.

This is a difficult question to answer because it requires a lengthy answer, but in short, the answer is NO. The only way you can inherit your ancestor's title, that is, if you're talking about England, Northern Ireland and Wales, is if your parent has an aristocratic title to inherit, or you're the only surviving grandson of a peer, then you could inherit your grandfather's aristocratic title. Incidentally, aristocratic titles CANNOT be bought nor sold because they're what is known as an hereditary property, which simply means that it can only be inherited, but NOT bought nor sold, ever. In other words, unless you're the eldest male, and the son of an aristocrat, that is, someone with the title, Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, or Baron, then you can't inherit your ancestor's aristocratic title, that is, if you're talking about an ancestor from England, Northern Ireland, or Wales. Things are different in Scotland. If you have an aristocratic ancestor, who was Scottish, then it's possible that you could inherit your ancestor's title, but it would entirely depend upon your ability to prove your kinship to that particular title-holder and how the title was created. Titles were created in various ways in the UK. The most common being, "to the male-heir and his descendants." This doesn't mean ANY male-heir, but the male-heir in the direct male line, that is, father to son, and so forth. However, in Scotland, there's a peculiar term known as "to the heris-male whatsoever," which ultimately means that if a particular Scottish aristocratic title was created in tail to "the heirs-male whatsoever," then as long as you're a descendant of that particualr male title holder, despite the distance of your kinship, whether it be second or first cousins, then you can conceivably inherit your ancestor's titel. In conclusion, the likelihood of inheriting an aristocratic ancestor's noble title is not very likely and if it is possible, then it will cost an extreme amount of money, in order, to hire lawyers to prove your case, etc. In Scotland, you would have to prove your case before the Court of the Lord Lyon because the Committe for Privileges only hears cases that cover England, Northern Ireland, and Wales. If you were to inherit you ancestor's title, then more than likely, you'd only inherit the title NOT any money nor landed estate; unless, of course, you were fortunate enough to have a very well-to-do ancestor, who retained their estate along with their title, which is not very likely if they're a very distant relative, or even ancestor. Incidentally, there's a difference between aristocrats and Lords of the Manor. Lords of the Manor are part of the untitled nobility, collectively known as the Gentry and are really nothing more than upper-class commoners. Lords of the Manor are not equal to peers. Peers being aristocrats iwth the titles of Duke/Marquess/Earl/Viscount/Baron or in Scotland the lowest ranking-nobleman is called a Lord of Parliament, or quite simply, Lord. I hope this helps to answer your question!

Not in the U.S., we don't recognize such titles. Remember, we fought a 13-year war for independence so that we could have a country where "all men are created equal". Then 85 years later we fought the bloodiest war in our history for the same reason.

MY ONLY COMMENT THREE WORDS "DUKES OF HAZZARD" NEXT QUESTION PLEASE

From what I read it seems that if a titled dynasty dies out - - say the Duke, the Duchess, and all their legitimate heirs as well - - the title reverts to the reigning monarch, whose prerogative is is to either retain it for himself or bestow on the person of his choice. Interestingly, the wife of one of my distant ancestors was a mistress of either George I or II; in return, the ancestor was given a vast landgrant ..... which is today the state of North Carolina and part of eastern Tennessee.