The Grand Duke, or The Statutory Duel opened on March 7, 1896 at the Savoy Theatre, London. This was the last G&S opera and ran for only 123 performances.

In the Grand Duke, Gilbert and Sullivan return to the theme of their first collaboration; Thespis in which a  troupe of actors takes political power. In brief, Ludwig, an actor, takes the job of the company manager, Ernest Dumkopf and then takes the place of the miserly Grand Duke Rudolph of Pfennig Halbfennig, after "killing" each of them by drawing the ace from a deck of cards in two "statutory" duels. By winning the statutory duels, Ludwig accepts all of Ernest's and Rudolph's rights and obligations. He soon finds himself with far more wives, and prospective wives, than he knows what to do with! Once again, a lawyer solves the problem by the application of a simple but effective interpretation, and all ends happily.

The Grand Duke was written with a long and rambling libretto that requires thoughtful shortening, and it calls for more principal voices than the other G&S operas. As a result it is produced far less often than most of the others. Nevertheless, the story contains some very funny moments and amusing characters, the settings are colourful and the music cheerful if possibly more complicated than in the other operas. Some find this opera to be the most underrated of the G&S works.

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