Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster

The Duchy of Lancaster is one of only two Duchies in the United Kingdom, the other being the Duchy of Cornwall.

The Duchy of Lancaster was created for John of Gaunt, a younger son of King Edward III of England, when John had acquired its constituent lands through marriage to the Lancaster heiress. It is not the property of The Crown, but is instead the personal (inherited) property of the monarch and has been since 1399, when the Dukedom of Lancaster, held by Henry of Bolingbroke, merged with the crown on his appropriation of the throne (after the dispossesion from Richard II). The Duchy consists of lands in many parts of England, especially in Lancashire. The chief officer of the Duchy is the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a high position which is sometimes a cabinet post. Since, for at least the last two centuries, the estate being run by a deputy, the Chancellor rarely has had any significant duties pertaining to management of the Duchy itself, he is usually available as a minister without portfolio.

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