The British
Poet Laureate is an honorary position appointed by the
monarch of the United Kingdom on the advice of the
Prime Minister. The role does not entail any specific duties, but there is an expectation that the holder will write verse for significant national occasions. The origins of the laureateship date back to 1616 when a pension was provided to
Ben Jonson, but the first official holder of the position was
John Dryden, appointed in 1668 by
Charles II. On the death of
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who held the post between November 1850 and October 1892, there was a break of four years as a mark of respect; Tennyson's laureate poems "Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington" and "
The Charge of the Light Brigade" were particularly cherished by the Victorian public. Three poets,
Thomas Gray,
Samuel Rogers and
Walter Scott, turned down the laureateship. The holder of the position as at 2015 is
Carol Ann Duffy, who was appointed in May 2009 on a fixed ten-year term.