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
Marshal 1219, people throughout Europe (not just England) referred to William Marshal simply as "the marshal". The office of hereditary Marshal (or Earl Marshal) thus evolved into that of a Great Officer of State. The task of maintaining law and order within the King's Court then devolved upon the office of Knight Marshal (established in 1236). Together with his officers, the King's (or Queen's) Marshalmen, the Knight Marshal continued to have restricted powers of arrest within a radius of the sovereign's palace until 1846, when the office was abolished. In 1595, Queen Elizabeth I issued letters patent giving powers to a