Viscount/Viscountess

A viscount or the female equivalent, a viscountess, is the holder of a viscounty, a hereditary title awarded by the Crown. Viscounts belong to the upper nobility and would typically have lands that included a town and the surrounding villages and homesteads. A viscount typically acts as the direct vassal of a count, presiding over a portion of the county. This tends to be in either larger counties or when a section of the county has a higher concentration of settlements. Like all members of the peerage, a viscounty is hereditarily entailed. The eldest child of a viscount who is born in wedlock succeeds to a viscounty upon his father/mother's death but will not be officially recognized until his name is recognized by the Crown. Viscounties often pass to the eldest child, though different cultures may prioritize male or female children, and a viscount has the right to designate a younger child heir should he feel it justified.

Methods of Address

Formally, viscounts are styled "The Right Honorable The Viscount of [Viscounty]" and viscounts’ wives are styled "The Lady [Surname] of [Viscounty]." Viscountesses in their own right are either styled "The Right Honorable The Viscountess of [Viscounty]" or "The Right Honorable The Lady [Surname] of [Viscounty]," mainly based on personal preference. A viscountess' husband is styled "The Lord [Surname] of [Viscounty]." This would only be used in the context of an introduction or a letter.

Less formally, one refers to or addresses a viscount as "Lord [viscounty]" and his wife as "Lady [viscounty]." In direct address, viscounts and viscountess can also be referred to as "My Lord/Your Lordship," or "My Lady/Your Ladyship".

Children of viscounts and viscountesses in their own right have the style "The Honorable [Full name]." After the death of the father or mother, the child may continue to use this style.

Type

Nobility, Hereditary

Form of Address

My Lord/ Your Lordship or My Lady/Your Ladyship

Reports directly to

Count/Countess