Earl Scots or , Cornish . An earl has the title "Earl of [X]" when the title originates from a placename, or "Earl [X]" when the title comes from a surname. In either case, he is referred to as "Lord [X]", and his wife as "Lady [X]". A countess who holds an earldom in her own right also uses "Lady [X]", but her husband does not have a title (unless he has one in his own right). The eldest son of an earl, though not himself a peer, is entitled to use a courtesy title, usually the highest of his father's
Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford to rely on Sir John Thynne for some financial support. Under Queen Mary he was "restored in blood", but was not given back his title; Queen Elizabeth I created him Earl of Hertford, in the earldom's second creation, in 1559. Between April and May 1605 following the Treaty of London (1604) he was sent on an Embassy by King James I to Albert VII, Archduke of Austria, sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands between 1598 and 1621, at Brussels, to receive his oath of peace. His first wife, Lady Catherine Grey, was a potential claimant to Elizabeth's throne, and law established