House of Howard Earls of Arundel in the 4th quarter. Earl Marshal is a hereditary royal officeholder and chivalric title under the sovereign of the United Kingdom used in England (then, following the Act of Union 1800, in the United Kingdom). It is the eighth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord High Constable and above the Lord High Admiral. The Earl Marshal has responsibility for the organisation of State funerals and the monarch's coronation in Westminster Abbey. He is also a leading officer of arms. The office is hereditary in the Howard Family in their
William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke Clare, though the title of earl would not be officially granted until 1199 during the second creation of the . In 1216, he was appointed protector for the nine-year-old Henry III, and regent of the kingdom. Before him, his father's family held a hereditary title of Marshal to the king, which by his father's time had become recognized as a chief or master Marshalcy, involving management over other Marshals and functionaries. William became known as 'the Marshal', although by his time much of the function was delegated to more specialized representatives (as happened with other functions in the King's household).