Duke of Gloucester was created in 1385.

There are a lot of characters called Gloucester (sometimes spelled Gloster), because the Duke of Gloucester was a title, not a name. The most famous Duke of Gloucester of all is Richard Duke of Gloucester, brother of Edward IV, and a significant character in Henry VI Part 3 and in Richard III, in which play he becomes king. Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, is a main character in Henry VI Part 2, and also appears in Henry IV Part 2 and in Henry V. He was Henry V's brother. There is a third Duke of Gloucester who does not appear in any of Shakespeare's plays (although the main character in the play Thomas of Woodstock) but whose widow does appear in Richard II, which play starts with a trial over who murdered Gloucester. Interestingly, all three Dukes of Gloucester were guardians of their nephews Richard II, Henry VI and Edward V respectively, and they all came to a sticky end. And then there is the fictitious Earl of Gloucester in King Lear.

Princess Alice was the title given to the Duke of Gloucester's mother, Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, as she was a member of the British royal family and the wife of Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester.

Thomas Manley has written:

'A short view of the lives of those illustrious princes, Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Mary, Princess of Orange, deceased..'

The Duke of Gloucester is forced to smell his way to Dover because the Duke of Cornwall gouged his eyes.