Titled Relatives

[Kit]

OH has some rather wealthy, albeit distant, relatives.

They are known as Earls, Viscounts etc.

My question is if a woman married a Earl and therefore becomes a Countess does she remain a Countess and he dies and someone else inherits the Earldom?

I've seen one lady referred to as a Dowager Countess but her son had the title. If the heir has to be worked out as the Earl had no sons, does the Countess still become a Dowager?

I thought titles would be interesting but they are a bit of a pain. Some lose their surname and gain a title, others just become the title, or part of the title, yet others becomeaverylongnamewhichancestryandfmpdon'tpickupw ell.

So far I thought the connection, but not relationship, to the Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote the Rime of the Ancient Mariner was more interesting but my heathen OH had no idea what I was talking about.