pretation of nephew: and therefore when his late majeſty created his grandſon, the ſecond ſon of Frederick prince of Wales deceaſed, duke of York, and referred it to the houſe of lords to ſettle his place and precedence, they certified[1] that he ought to have place next to the duke of Cumberland, the king’s youngeſt ſon; and that he might have a ſeat on the left hand of the cloth of eſtate. But when, on the acceſſion of his preſent majeſty, thoſe royal perſonages ceaſed to take place as the children, and ranked only as the brother and uncle, of the king, they alſo left their ſeats on the ſide of the cloth of eſtate: ſo that when the duke of Gloceſter, his majeſty’s ſecond brother, took his ſeat in the houſe of peers[2], he was placed on the upper end of the earls’ bench (on which the dukes uſually fit) next to his royal highneſs the duke of York. And in 1718, upon a queſtion referred to all the judges by king George I, it was reſolved by the opinion of ten againſt the other two, that the education and care of all the king’s grandchildren while minors, and the care and approbation of their marriages, when grown up, did belong of right to his majeſty as king of this realm, during their father’s life[3]. And this may ſuffice for the notice, taken by law, of his majeſty’s royal family.
Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (3rd ed, 1768, vol I).djvu/242
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The Rights
Book I.
