Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Under English common law you may call yourself, and be known by, any name or style you choose, provided there is no fraudulent intention behind it. The principle is old, well settled, and needs nobody’s permission — which is the whole reason this trade exists.

Your title is proclaimed under the arms of the House of Pierpont-Archer and entered in the House register the same day it is written, against a reference that appears on the certificate. What the certificate records is a deed in the older sense of the word — an act performed and set down — rather than a deed in the conveyancing sense.

You can buy an honorific one. In the UK nothing stops you being called Lord or Lady, with the approval of a House’s name behind it.

What cannot be bought is a peerage. Peerages are granted by the Crown under letters patent and published in The London Gazette; there is no fee, no application and no shop. So when a seller offers a “title deed”, an “official registry entry” or a “legally recognised” lordship, they are describing something that does not exist — and you can check that for yourself in about a minute. Our peerage hierarchy chart sets out the real ranks and who makes them.

Ours are £49 for the Lord or Lady package and £89 for the couple, with the printed Excellence Package a further £39. Each carries the recipient’s name in gold, a reference in the House of Pierpont-Archer register, and a square metre of Scottish woodland dedicated in their name. See the packages.

If we had to draw an equivalence, the closest rung is Baron — and the reason is the form of address.

A baron is almost never called “Baron Somewhere” in ordinary speech. He is called Lord Somewhere. That is true of a viscount, an earl and a marquess too, but baron is the base of the peerage and much the most numerous rank of the five, so when somebody says “Lord” and has a peer in mind, a baron is usually who they mean. It is the rung your honorific echoes, and it is precisely why the style sounds right at a dinner table rather than faintly odd.

What the resemblance is is a resemblance of style, not of standing. A barony is created by the Crown, carries precedence, and until 1999 came with a seat in the House of Lords; in Scotland the equivalent degree is Lord of Parliament. Ours is proclaimed by the House of Pierpont-Archer and carries the pleasure of the thing. The form of address is the same. The machinery behind it is not, and we would rather tell you that than have you find out from somebody less friendly. The whole ladder is set out on our peerage hierarchy chart.

What it does carry is the thing it was bought for: a name set in gold, a wax seal, and somebody’s genuine delight at being addressed as Lord by people who mean it fondly. That is the whole of the offer, and we would rather say so than dress it up.

Yes — to the USA, to Canada, to Australia, and to anywhere else. The certificate is delivered by email, so it reaches a recipient in New York, Toronto or Sydney within the hour exactly as it would in Britain — there is nothing to wait for and nothing to clear customs.

If you add the Excellence Package, the printed certificate goes out by Royal Mail tracked international post, and most customers in the US, Canada and Australia have it within 5–7 working days. International postage is included in the £39; there is no surcharge at checkout. Choose your country on the checkout page and give us the full postal address, including the state or province.

No. The square metre is dedicated in the recipient’s name in our register — a symbolic gesture tied to real woodland. Under the Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012, plots of “inconsiderable size” cannot be registered in the Land Register of Scotland, so no ownership changes hands and nothing appears on any public register.

A personalised honorific certificate delivered by email — the recipient’s name, their honorific title, your optional dedication line, the woodland dedication entry, and a certificate number — ready to print or frame. If you add the Excellence Package, the same certificate on heavy stock is posted to you in its Nobility packaging.

The emailed certificate arrives within 1 hour of your order. The Excellence Package is usually dispatched within 3 working days of the order.

We reissue everything, free, for as long as you have it. Tell us the new surname from the email address you ordered with and we will rewrite the personalised certificate in the married name and update the House register entry to match, keeping the original reference so the history stays intact. There is no charge and no time limit.

If you hold the Excellence Package, we reprint and repost that too — same terms.

Yes. The dedication register is tied to real Scottish woodland, and part of every purchase goes toward its preservation. The full story — where it stands and where the money goes — is on Our Crest and House.

The personalised certificate is made to your order, but if something is wrong — a typo we made, a certificate that never arrived — tell us and we will put it right. Full details are in Refunds & Cancellations.

Some of it, yes, and we would rather be precise than pleased with ourselves. Part of every purchase goes to the upkeep of the woodland the dedications point at, and we give 10% of our profits to One Tree Planted, a reforestation charity. A novelty certificate is not a climate policy — but the trees are real, and so is the money.