Before becoming king, what dukedom did Richard III hold from 1461?

Before becoming king, Richard III held the dukedom of Gloucester from 1461.

Richard was born in 1452, the fourth surviving son of Richard, Duke of York, and Cecily Neville. After his elder brother Edward IV seized the throne in 1461, Richard received the title Duke of Gloucester on 1 November that year. He was still a child, but the title marked his place within the new Yorkist royal family.

The dukedom brought Richard substantial estates and later became associated with his power base in northern England. He was closely connected with Middleham Castle and the Neville family, and he eventually became a major administrator and military commander in the north.

Richard retained the title until 1483, when Edward IV’s death made him Lord Protector for the young Edward V. He then took the crown as Richard III. Gloucester is therefore the title most directly linked with his life before kingship; Somerset, Norfolk and Clarence belonged to other figures or periods of the dynastic struggle.