Prestige Titles · Guide
What Is a Countess?
The female counterpart to an earl, and the title with a curious name.
What a Countess is
A countess ranks with an earl, third in the peerage. The name is a small historical quirk: England used the native earl for men but had no female version, so it borrowed countess from the European count.
Where a Countess ranks
She sits at the third of the five degrees, addressed as Lady. See the order of precedence.
A little history
A countess was the wife of an earl or a woman holding an earldom in her own right, governing estates and households of considerable size and standing in her local county.
Examples:Countess of Wessex · Countess Mountbatten
How to address a Countess
Written as The Countess of [Place] and addressed in person as My Lady. See how to address a Lord or Lady.
Countess and Earl
The male equivalent is Earl, the oldest English title. Read what is an Earl.
How to become a Countess
An earldom is inherited or granted by the Crown, and cannot be bought. What you can do is legally change your title to Countess through a title pack, which gives you a personalised Certificate of Title on parchment and a sealed Master Title Deed. See how to become a Lord or Lady and are titles real and legal?
Become a Countess
Legally change your title to Countess, beautifully presented on real parchment and ready to gift.
Countess Title Pack
£159.00£199.00
Become a Countess →Real parchment certificate · sealed Master Title Deed · a donation to the Woodland Trust
