Marquess of Ailesbury | |
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| Born | David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce 12 November 1952 |
| Nationality | British |
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| Issue | 3, including Catherine |
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David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, 9th Marquess of Ailesbury (born 12 November 1952), styled The Hon. David Brudenell-Bruce until 1974 [1] and Earl of Cardigan between 1974 and 2024, is a British peer.
David Brudenell-Bruce is the son of Michael Brudenell-Bruce, 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, and Edwina Sylvia de Winton Wills of W.D. & H.O. Wills.[ citation needed ] His parents divorced when he was six years old.[ citation needed ] He attended Hawtreys prep-school, Eton College, Rannoch School, and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.
As his father declined to take the courtesy title Earl of Cardigan when he became heir-apparent to the Marquessate in 1961, young David was never titled Viscount Savernake (the usual title of the second heir) but directly assumed the courtesy earldom when his father became Marquess in 1974.
Brudenell-Bruce has been Secretary of Marlborough Conservatives since 1985, and has been a member of the Executive of the Devizes Constituency Conservative Association since 1988.
Since 1987, he has been the 31st Hereditary Warden of Savernake Forest, a privately owned forest in Wiltshire. [2] [3] The Savernake Estate has not been sold in almost 1,000 years, and the family are descended from the Seymour family, with Jane Seymour being the 3rd wife of King Henry VIII, and the only wife to bear the King a son, King Edward VI.
In 2005, his family trust granted a commercial lease to a US-based hotel corporation to turn his ancestral home, Tottenham House, into a luxury golf resort. [4] The American company failed to pay its rent in the recession, and ceased trading. The Earl was then in dispute with the trustees of the Savernake Estate over their management and disposal of its assets. [4] [5] In July 2011, it was reported that the estate was in severe financial difficulties. [6] In August 2011, the Earl was involved in a dispute with the Savernake estate's trustees over his plans to sell some of the family silver, [7] and again in March 2012 over their plans to sell some of the family paintings. [8] In 2014 the Earl took court proceedings against the trustees, claiming that they had paid themselves excessive remuneration. The High Court agreed, concluding that the trustees had failed in part of their duties, and that Mr Moore had paid himself remuneration to which he was not entitled; Mr Moore was ordered to reimburse over £100,000 and the trustees were made to pay £64,225 to the trust as compensation for loss of rent. [9]
In separate 2014 proceedings, the Court of Appeal upheld the trustees' decision to sell Tottenham House to an unnamed buyer for £11.25m. [10] By 2013, the earl's financial affairs at his Trustees' hands had suffered to the extent that he was claiming Jobseeker's Allowance whilst training to be a HGV lorry driver. [11] In 2017 he was able to remove both trustees from office, and restore his family income. [12]
The Marquess of Ailesbury witnessed the Battle of the Beanfield, a notorious incident in 1985 in which Wiltshire Police were accused of brutalising a convoy of travellers on land near Stonehenge, making over 300 arrests, said to be the biggest arrest of civilians in the United Kingdom in 100 years. Largely as a result of his testimony, police charges against members of the convoy were rejected in the Crown Court. In relation to this several national newspapers criticised him and questioned his suitability as a witness. He successfully sued these papers for claiming that he made false statements and that he was providing accommodation for the New Age Travellers. Lord Cardigan later said:
I hadn't realised that anybody that appeared to be supporting elements that stood against the establishment would be savaged by establishment newspapers. Now one thinks about it, nothing could be more natural. I hadn't realised that I would be considered a class traitor. If I see a policeman repeatedly truncheoning a very pregnant woman over the head from behind (as I did) I do feel I'm entitled to say "that's a terrible thing you're doing, Officer". I went along, saw a dreadful episode in British Police history, and simply reported what I saw. [13]
By his first marriage to Rosamond Winkley (died 2012), [14] he had his first two children, Thomas James Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan (born 1982), and Lady Catherine Anna Brudenell-Bruce (born 1984). [4] [15]
After his divorce, he married in 2011 Catherine Joanne Powell, of Flagstaff, Arizona, now Marchioness of Ailesbury. In October 2013 his wife gave birth to a daughter.[ citation needed ]
On 12 May 2024, he succeeded his father as 9th Marquess upon his death.
Marquess of Ailesbury, in the County of Buckingham, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 17 July 1821 for Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury.
Earl of Cardigan is a title in the Peerage of England, currently held by the Marquesses of Ailesbury, and used as a courtesy title by the heir apparent to that Marquessate, currently Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan, son of the 9th Marquess. The Brudenell family descends from Sir Robert Brudenell, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas from 1520 to 1530. His great-grandson, Sir Thomas Brudenell, was created a Baronet in the Baronetage of England, styled "of Deene in the County of Northampton", on 29 June 1611. On 26 February 1628, he was raised to the Peerage of England as Baron Brudenell, of Stanton Wyvill in the County of Leicester, and on 20 April 1661 he was further honoured when he was made Earl of Cardigan, also in the Peerage of England. On his death, the titles passed to his son, Robert, the 2nd Earl, and on the 2nd Earl's death to his grandson, George, the 3rd Earl, the 2nd Earl's only son, Francis, Lord Brudenell, having predeceased his father.
Lord Kinloss is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1602 for Edward Bruce, later Master of the Rolls, with remainder to his heirs and assigns whatsoever. In 1604 he was also made Lord Bruce of Kinloss, with remainder to his heirs male, and in 1608 Lord Bruce of Kinloss, with remainder to any of his heirs. He was succeeded by his son, the second Lord, who was killed in a duel in 1613.
George William Frederick Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Lord Bruce between 1814 and 1821 and Earl Bruce between 1821 and 1856, was a British peer, Liberal politician and courtier.
Seymour, Semel or St. Maur, is the name of an English family in which several titles of nobility have from time to time been created, and of which the Duke of Somerset is the head.
Savernake Forest stands on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately 4,500 acres.
Ernest Augustus Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 3rd Marquess of Ailesbury PC, styled Lord Ernest Bruce from 1821 until 1878, was a British courtier and politician. He served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household between 1841 and 1846 and again between 1852 and 1858. An MP for 46 years, he succeeded his elder brother in the marquessate in 1878.
Deene Park, the seat of the Brudenell family since 1514, is a country manor located 5 miles north-east of Corby in the county of Northamptonshire, England. The hall itself is a Grade I listed building dating back to the 14th century which has been modified several times since then to create the current structure.
Tottenham House is a large Grade I listed English country house in the parish of Great Bedwyn, Wiltshire, about five miles southeast of the town of Marlborough. It is separated from the town by Savernake Forest, which is part of the Tottenham Park estate.
Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Marquess of Ailesbury, styled The Honourable Charles Brudenell-Bruce from birth until 1783, Lord Bruce from 1783 to 1814 and The Earl of Ailesbury from 1814 to 1821, was a British peer and politician.
George William Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 4th Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Viscount Savernake from 1878 to 1886, was the son of George John Brudenell-Bruce and Lady Evelyn Mary Craven, and succeeded his grandfather as 4th Marquess on the latter's death on 18 October 1886. On his death in 1894 he was succeeded in the marquessate, and his other titles, by his uncle. According to family records, he went by the name William and was known informally as Willie.
George William James Chandos Brudenell-Bruce, 6th Marquess of Ailesbury,, styled Earl of Cardigan between 1894 and 1911, was a British peer and an officer of the auxiliary forces. According to his hand-written memoirs, he went by the name Chandos.
Chandos Sydney Cedric Brudenell-Bruce, 7th Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Earl of Cardigan or Lord Cardigan between 1911 and 1961, was a British peer.
Michael Sydney Cedric Brudenell-Bruce, 8th Marquess of Ailesbury, styled Viscount Savernake until 1974, was a British peer.
Thomas James Brudenell-Bruce is a British viscount, the son and heir apparent of David Brudenell-Bruce, 9th Marquess of Ailesbury. From birth he was styled Viscount Savernake as second heir to the Marquessate, as his grandfather had been but his father had not been.
Thomas Brudenell-Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury, KT, styled The Honourable Thomas Brudenell until 1747 and known as The Lord Bruce of Tottenham between 1747 and 1776, was a British courtier.
Charles Bruce, 3rd Earl of Ailesburyand 4th Earl of Elgin, of Ampthill, Bedfordshire and Savernake Park, Wiltshire, styled Viscount Bruce of Ampthill from 1685 to 1741, was a British landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons from 1705 until 1711 when he was raised to the peerage as one of Harley's Dozen and sat in the House of Lords.
Lady Catherine Anna Brudenell-Bruce, known as Bo Bruce, is an English singer-songwriter. She released an EP, Search the Night (2010), and an album, Before I Sleep (2013), both of which received a degree of chart success. She is also known for her appearance on The Voice UK. In 2015, Bruce and her future husband, Henry Binns, formed Equador.
George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan, styled Lord Brudenell between 1698 and 1703, was a British peer.
The Ailesbury Mausoleum situated in the churchyard of St Mary's Church, Maulden, in Bedfordshire, is a Grade II listed structure built in 1656 by Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin (1599–1663), of nearby Houghton House in the parish of Maulden, for the purpose of housing the coffin and "splendid monument" of his second wife, Lady Diana Cecil, a daughter of William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Exeter and widow of Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford. In the opinion of the architectural historian Sir Howard Colvin (1991) it is one of the first two free-standing mausoleums ever built in England, together with the Cabell Mausoleum at Buckfastleigh in Devon.
