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Earl of Pembroke

Title in the Peerage of England

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 25, 2026
Entity authoritySource title only
Source-derived summary

Earl of Pembroke is a title in the Peerage of England that was first created in the 12th century by Stephen, King of England. The title, which is associated with Pembroke, Pembrokeshire in West Wales, has been recreated ten times from its original inception. Due to the number of creations of the Earldom, the original seat of Pembroke Castle is no longer attached to the title.

As of 2018, the current holder of the earldom is William Herbert, 18th Earl of Pembroke, which is the 10th creation of the title. For the past 400 years, his family's seat has been Wilton House, Wiltshire. The Earls of Pembroke also hold the title Earl of Montgomery, created for the younger son of Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke before he succeeded as the 4th Earl in 1630. The current Earls of Pembroke also carry the subsidiary titles: Baron Herbert of Cardiff, of Cardiff in the County of Glamorgan (1551), Baron Herbert of Shurland, of Shurland in the Isle of Sheppey in the County of Kent (1605), and Baron Herbert of Lea, of Lea in the County of Wilts (1861). All are in the Peerage of England except the Barony of Herbert of Lea, which is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Earl of Pembroke” as title in the Peerage of England. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2018, 1630, 1551, 1605—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Earl, Pembroke and Title can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as title in the Peerage of England. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 25, 2026. The first chronological checks are 2018, 1630, 1551 and 1605.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Earl of Pembroke” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.