The heir presumptive, it has been revealed, to the earldom of Essex is William Capell.

The heir presumptive, it has been revealed, to the earldom of Essex is William Capell. His fourth cousin, once removed, is the current incumbent--the eleventh--Frederick Paul de Vere Capell, who inherited the title in June at the age of 61. A bachelor, he has not yet produced any legitimate male offspring. The title, first created in 1139 for Geoffrey de Mandeville--a player of no fixed allegiance during the anarchy of King Stephen and the ascendancy of the Empress Matilda--has a checkered history. Several of the lines that have held the title have suffered extinctions, forfeitures, executions, and banishments. Thankfully, ever since 1661, when the earldom was revived in its ninth creation, it has dutifully passed down generations of Capells--the 17th-century founder of which dynasty married Elizabeth, daughter of Algernon Percy, tenth earl of Northumberland (a line that has since risen to ducal status) and scion of an Anglo-Scottish family once known as the "Kings in the North." Mr. Capell resides in Yuba City, California, and is a retired grocery-store clerk.