Granville George Fergus Leveson-Gower, 6th Earl Granville (born 10 September 1959) is a British peer, landowner, and artist. He was known as Lord Leveson until 1996 and was a member of the House of Lords from 1996 to 1999.
The elder son of Granville Leveson-Gower, 5th Earl Granville, whose mother Rose Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville, was a daughter of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne and a sister of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, he was educated at Eton College [1] and from 1973 to 1976 was Page of Honour to Queen Elizabeth II, [2] [1] who was his godmother. [3] He then joined the University of Aberdeen to take a degree in English literature and History. [3]
In 1960, his father bought the island of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides from the Duke of Hamilton, [4] and he grew up there. [5]
On 31 October 1996, he succeeded as Earl Granville (1833), Viscount Granville (1814), and Baron Leveson of Stone (1814), all in the peerage of the United Kingdom, at the time giving him a seat in the House of Lords. [1] This was lost when the House of Lords Act 1999 came into force. [6]
Granville is the resident laird of North Uist, living on the island at Callernish House, Griminish, near Lochmaddy, a house shaped like a doughnut designed in the 1960s by Sir Martyn Beckett. [3] In 1999, a local smokehouse business came up for sale and Granville took it over, aiming to produce high quality smoked salmon and sea trout. [5] Twenty years later, managing the Hebridean Smokehouse was reported to have heen his "day job" during those years. [3] With a passion for beachcombing, Granville has also become an artist and sculptor, inspired by flotsam and jetsam [3] and has exhibited his work in North Uist and Edinburgh. [7]
On 23 May 1997, Granville married Anne Topping, a daughter of Bernard Topping, and they had three children: [1]
In 2021, Granville was reported to be living at Callernish with a new wife, Florence Pearson, an artist, their two young sons, a labrador trained to find ambergris, and a parrot. [3]
Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt was a Church of England bishop. He was the Bishop of Carlisle from 1791 to 1807 and then the Archbishop of York until his death.
Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl Granville,, styled Lord Leveson until 1846, was a British Liberal statesman and diplomat from the Leveson-Gower family. He is best remembered for his service as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Duke of Sutherland is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom which was created by William IV in 1833 for George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Marquess of Stafford. A series of marriages to heiresses by members of the Leveson-Gower family made the dukes of Sutherland one of the richest landowning families in the United Kingdom. The title remained in the Leveson-Gower family until the death of the 5th Duke of Sutherland in 1963, when it passed to the 5th Earl of Ellesmere from the Egerton family.
Earl Granville is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is now held by members of the Leveson-Gower family.
William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St Germans, known as William Elliot until 1823, was a British diplomat and politician.
William Spencer Leveson-Gower, 4th Earl Granville,, styled The Honourable William Leveson-Gower until 1939, was a British naval commander and governor from the Leveson-Gower family.
Henry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk,, styled Earl of Surrey between 1815 and 1842, was a British Whig politician and peer.
Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, KG PC, known as Viscount Trentham from 1746 to 1754 and as The Earl Gower from 1754 to 1786, was a British politician from the Leveson-Gower family.
John Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Gower, PC was an English Tory politician and peer who twice served as Lord Privy Seal from 1742 to 1743 and 1744 to 1754. Leveson-Gower also served in the Parliament of Great Britain, where he sat in the House of Lords as a leading member of the Tories, prior to switching his political affiliation and serving in various Whig-led government ministries until his death in 1754.
Robert Alexander Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford, 12th Earl of Balcarres, Baron Balniel,, known by courtesy as Lord Balniel between 1940 and 1975, was a Scottish hereditary peer and Conservative politician who was a member of Parliament from 1955 to 1974. Lord Crawford and Balcarres was chief of Clan Lindsay and also acted, from 1975 to 2019, as Premier Earl of Scotland.
Henry Charles Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort, KG, styled Marquess of Worcester until 1803, was a British politician.
George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland KG, PC, known as Viscount Trentham from 1758 to 1786, as Earl Gower from 1786 to 1803 and as the Marquess of Stafford from 1803 to 1833, was an English politician, diplomat, landowner and patron of the arts from the Leveson-Gower family. He was the wealthiest man in Britain during the latter part of his life. He remains a controversial figure for his role in the Highland Clearances.
Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 4th Duke of Sutherland,, styled Lord Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower until 1858, Earl Gower between 1858 and 1861 and Marquess of Stafford between 1861 and 1892, was a British peer and politician from the Leveson-Gower family.
Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville,, styled Lord Granville Leveson-Gower from 1786 to 1815 and The Viscount Granville from 1815 to 1833, was a British Whig statesman and diplomat from the Leveson-Gower family.
Granville George Leveson-Gower, 3rd Earl Granville was a British diplomat from the Leveson-Gower family who was an envoy to several countries.
Rose Constance Leveson-Gower, Countess Granville was the third daughter of the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne by his wife, Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. An elder sister of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, she was therefore a maternal aunt of Queen Elizabeth II.
Rear-Admiral John Leveson-Gower was a Royal Navy officer and politician from the Leveson-Gower family. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Lagos in August 1759 during the Seven Years' War. As captain of HMS Valiant he was present at the Battle of Ushant on 17 July 1778 during the American War of Independence. He went on to be a junior Lord of the Admiralty and then First Naval Lord. He also sat as Member of Parliament for several constituencies.
Granville William Gresham Leveson-Gower JP DL FSA was a British Liberal Party politician.
Jane Granville, Countess of Bath, was the wife of John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath, and the mother of the 2nd Earl. She was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Catherine of Braganza, the queen consort of King Charles II of England.
Granville James Leveson-Gower, 5th Earl Granville MC was a British soldier, banker, peer, and landowner, a member of the House of Lords from 1953 until his death.
