The peerage and its subsidiary titles were generally considered to have been forfeit by the English parliament in 1695, when James FitzJames was
attainted following the enforced exile of his father. The
College of Arms in its
Roll of the Peerage does not list any such title, which means that it is non-existent today in England. Nevertheless, the titles were recognized in France as
de facto Jacobite peerages by
Louis XIV,
King of France to please the exiled
James II & VII, along with other Jacobite peerages recognized in France, like
Duke of Perth,
Duke of Melfort, etc. On 13 December 1707,
Philip V confirmed or issued the title in Spain, and he conferred the dignity of
Grandee of Spain on James FitzJames, 1st Duke of Berwick. The grandeeship is attached to the Spanish title of Duke of Berwick. If the English peerage title was still extant, that title is only inheritable in the male line. At the death of Don
Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba and 10th Duke of Berwick, the English title would have been inherited by his nephew Don Fernando FitzJames Stuart, 15th Duke of Peñaranda de Duero (1922–1971), and subsequently by Fernando's son
Don Jacobo FitzJames Stuart, 16th Duke of Peñaranda de Duero and current head of the
House of FitzJames (born in 1947 and without children). The Spanish title, with the accompanying dignity of Grandee of Spain, follows the inheritance rules of that country. Spanish noble titles historically have followed the rule of
male-preference primogeniture, which allows a female to succeed if she has no living brothers and no deceased brothers who left surviving legitimate descendants. With the death of the 10th Duke of Berwick in September 1953, his only child, Doña
Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba, succeeded him in his Spanish titles, including the Spanish dukedom of Berwick. With her death in November 2014, the dukedom passed to her eldest son, Don
Carlos Fitz-James Stuart y Martínez de Irujo. ==Dukes of Berwick (1687–1695)==