The Duke of Devonshire | |
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Chancellor of the University of Derby | |
In office October 2008 –March 2018 | |
Deputy | John Coyne (2008–11) Kathryn Mitchell (2011–2018) |
Preceded by | Professor Leslie Wagner |
Succeeded by | William Cavendish,Earl of Burlington |
Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot | |
In office 1997–2011 | |
Monarch | Elizabeth II |
Preceded by | Sir Piers Bengough |
Succeeded by | John Weatherby |
Personal details | |
Born | Peregrine Andrew Morny Cavendish 27 April 1944 Chatsworth House,Derbyshire,England |
Spouse | Amanda Heywood-Lonsdale (m. 1967) |
Children | William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington Lady Celina Cavendish Lady Jasmine Cavendish Lady Mary Cavendish |
Parent(s) | Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire Deborah Mitford |
Residence(s) | Chatsworth House Bolton Abbey Lismore Castle |
Title | Duke of Devonshire |
Tenure | 3 May 2004 – present |
Other titles | Earl of Burlington (1944–1950) Marquess of Hartington (1950–2004) |
Predecessor | Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire |
Peregrine Andrew Morny Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire, KCVO , CBE , DL (also known as "Stoker"; [1] born 27 April 1944), is an English peer. He is the only surviving son of Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, and his wife, the former Deborah Mitford. He succeeded to the dukedom following the death of his father on 3 May 2004. Before his succession, he was styled Earl of Burlington from 1944 until 1950 and Marquess of Hartington between 1950 and 2004. His immediate family are owner-occupiers of Chatsworth House and are worth an estimated £905 million. [2] Estates landscaped before 1900 by the family (who maintain a luxury hotels business) are parts of Derbyshire and North Yorkshire. Other capital managed by the Duke includes fine and contemporary art, forestry and farming.
Cavendish was born on 27 April 1944 in Chatsworth House, the second child and only surviving son of Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, and Deborah Mitford. His mother was the youngest of the Mitford sisters. His paternal uncle was William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington, who married Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy (a member of the Kennedy family and younger sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy). He is a first cousin of merchant banker Jonathan Guinness, 3rd Baron Moyne (born 1930), the Irish preservationist Desmond Guinness (1931–2020), Max Mosley (1940–2021), former President of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), and fourth cousin of Diana, Princess of Wales. His niece was fashion model Stella Tennant (1970–2020).
In 1953, his grandmother served as Mistress of the Robes at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Cavendish was a Page of Honour in the ceremony, carrying his grandmother's coronet.
He was educated at Eton College, Exeter College, Oxford, where he read history, and at the Royal Agricultural College (now the Royal Agricultural University), Cirencester. [3]
The duke is well known in the world of horse racing and served as Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot and chairman of Ascot Racecourse Ltd. In 1980 he was elected to the Jockey Club and in 1989 he was appointed its Senior Steward (that is, chairman). [4] During his five-year term of office, he oversaw a number of changes within the racing industry, in particular the creation of the British Horseracing Board which is now the governing authority for British racing. He was appointed first chairman of the board in June 1993 and retired at the end of his term in 1996. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to racing in 1997 and Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO) in the 2009 New Year Honours for his services as Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot. [5] The Duke and Duchess were invited to ride in the King's carriage at Royal Ascot 2023. [6]
He was appointed a trustee of the Wallace Collection in 2007. [7] He is a trustee of Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust. [8]
He is chairman of the Devonshire Arms Hotel Group, a chain of countryside hotels in North Yorkshire and Derbyshire, and deputy chairman of Sotheby's. He collects modern British and contemporary painting and sculpture, as well as works in other areas, many of which are on display at his family seat Chatsworth House. The Duke and Duchess and the house and estate grounds were featured in the BBC documentary series Chatsworth . [9]
In December 2012, he sold Auxiliary cartoon for the Head of a Young Apostle by Raphael for £29.7m at a Sotheby's auction. [10]
As of 2016, he is the owner of Heywood Hill, a notable bookstore in London where his aunt Nancy Mitford used to work. [11]
He took up the position as the third chancellor of the University of Derby at a ceremony on 28 October 2008 in Buxton. [12] [13]
The duke is a current patron of St Wilfrid's Hospice in Eastbourne. [14]
The range of Cavendish Pianos was named after the family name of the duke to recognise his support, which was critical to the establishment of the new firm. [15]
He was the third chancellor of the University of Derby, serving from 2008 to March 2018. [16] He stepped down from the role in 2018 and his son and heir, William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington was nominated and installed as the fourth and current Chancellor of the university in March 2018. [17]
The duke has provided a Swaledale Ram as mascot to the Mercian Regiment since the regiment's inception. In 2017, he presented Private Derby to the Regiment. [18]
The duke was invited to attend the service of thanksgiving for Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh's life at Westminster Abbey on 29 March 2022.
After the death of the Queen on 8 September 2022, The Duke and Duchess were invited to her funeral on 19 September.
In 2023, the duke attended the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla.
The duke married Amanda Carmen Heywood-Lonsdale, daughter of Commander Edward Gavin Heywood-Lonsdale, on 28 June 1967. Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother attended the wedding ceremony. They have three children: [19]
One of the homes of the Duke and Duchess is Chatsworth House in Derbyshire. They are involved in the operation of the house as a tourist attraction. [20] In 2019, the Duke and Duchess visited Sotheby's to view "Treasures From Chatsworth", including art and artifacts from Chatsworth House, that would be displayed in New York. [21] [22]
He succeeded as the 12th Duke of Devonshire, 12th Marquess of Hartington, the 7th Earl of Burlington, the 15th Earl of Devonshire, the 15th Baron Cavendish of Hardwick, and the 7th Baron Cavendish of Keighley on 3 May 2004.
In February 2010, the Duke announced his intention to give up his title if hereditary peers were removed from the House of Lords, on the basis that "the aristocracy is dead" and "because then it would be clear-cut what the people wanted, and it would be confusing to maintain hereditary titles". [23]
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Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, 4 miles (6.4 km) north-east of Bakewell and 9 miles (14 km) west of Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the Cavendish family since 1549. It stands on the east bank of the River Derwent, across from hills between the Derwent and Wye valleys, amid parkland backed by wooded hills that rise to heather moorland. The house holds major collections of paintings, furniture, Old Master drawings, neoclassical sculptures and books. Chosen several times as Britain's favourite country house, it is a Grade I listed property from the 17th century, altered in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 2011–2012 it underwent a £14-million restoration. The owner is the Chatsworth House Trust, an independent charitable foundation formed in 1981, on behalf of the Cavendish family.
Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has been rivalled in political influence perhaps only by the Marquesses of Salisbury and the Earls of Derby.
Deborah Vivien Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was an English aristocrat, writer, memoirist, and socialite. She was the youngest and last-surviving of the six Mitford sisters, who were prominent members of British society in the 1930s and 1940s.
William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, was an English Army officer, Whig politician and peer who sat in the House of Commons from 1661 until 1684 when he inherited his father's peerage as Earl of Devonshire and took his seat in the House of Lords. Cavendish was part of the "Immortal Seven" which invited William of Orange to depose James II of England as part of the Glorious Revolution, and was rewarded for his efforts by being elevated to the Duke of Devonshire in 1694.
William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, was a British nobleman and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1721 to 1729 when he inherited the Dukedom.
William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire,, styled Lord Cavendish before 1729, and Marquess of Hartington between 1729 and 1755, was a British Whig statesman and nobleman who was briefly nominal Prime Minister of Great Britain. He was the first son of William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire and his wife, Catherine Hoskins. He is also a great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of King Charles III through the king's maternal great-grandmother.
William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire,, styled Marquess of Hartington until 1811, was a British peer, courtier, nobleman and Whig politician. Known as the "Bachelor Duke", he was Lord Chamberlain of the Household between 1827 and 1828 and again between 1830 and 1834. The Cavendish banana is named after him.
William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire,, styled Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1831 and 1834 and Earl of Burlington between 1834 and 1858, was a British landowner, benefactor, nobleman, and politician.
Spencer Compton Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire,, styled Lord Cavendish of Keighley between 1834 and 1858 and Marquess of Hartington between 1858 and 1891, was a British statesman. He has the distinction of having held leading positions in three political parties: leading the Liberal Party, the Liberal Unionist Party and the Conservative Party in either the House of Commons or the House of Lords. After 1886 he increasingly voted with the Conservatives. He declined to become prime minister on three occasions, because the circumstances were never right. Historian and politician Roy Jenkins said he was "too easy-going and too little of a party man." He held some passions, but he rarely displayed them regarding the most controversial issues of the day.
Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire,, known as the Marquess of Hartington from 1908 to 1938, was a British politician. He was the head of the Devonshire branch of the House of Cavendish. He had careers with the army and in politics and was a senior freemason. His sudden death, apparently of a heart attack at the age of fifty-five, occurred in the presence of the suspected serial killer John Bodkin Adams.
Andrew Robert Buxton Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire,, styled Lord Andrew Cavendish until 1944 and Marquess of Hartington from 1944 to 1950, was a British Conservative and later Social Democratic Party politician. He was a minister in the government of Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, but is best known for opening Chatsworth House to the public. His sister-in-law was Kathleen Kennedy, sister of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and U.S. senators Robert F. Kennedy and Ted Kennedy.
William John Robert Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington was a British politician and British Army officer. He was the elder son of Edward Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire, and therefore the heir to the dukedom. He was killed in action in the Second World War during fighting in the Low Countries in September 1944 whilst leading a company of the Coldstream Guards.
Louisa Frederica Augusta Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, formerly Louisa Montagu, Duchess of Manchester, was a German-born British aristocrat sometimes referred to as the "Double Duchess" due to her marriages, firstly to the 7th Duke of Manchester and then to the 8th Duke of Devonshire.
Mary Alice Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, was a British courtier who served as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Elizabeth II from 1953 to 1967. She was the granddaughter of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.
Evelyn Emily Mary Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire,, was the wife of Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire. She was the elder daughter of politician and diplomat Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, and grew up amidst public life. Evelyn's marriage to Cavendish, nephew and heir presumptive of Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire, led to her becoming Duchess of Devonshire in 1908. With her position, she oversaw the reorganisation of the Devonshire estates and presided over four English houses and one Irish castle.
William Cavendish, Earl of Burlington, professionally also known by the name Bill Burlington, is a British aristocrat, photographer, and the son and heir of the 12th Duke of Devonshire. He was styled Earl of Burlington before his father's succession to the Dukedom of Devonshire, and has not assumed the title Marquess of Hartington as all previous heirs apparent to the dukedom have done.
The Cavendishfamily is a British noble family, of Anglo-Norman origins. They rose to their highest prominence as Duke of Devonshire and Duke of Newcastle.
Dorothy Boyle, Countess of Burlington and Countess of Cork was a British noble and court official, as well as a caricaturist and portrait painter. Several of her studies and paintings were made of her daughters. Through her daughter Charlotte, who married the 4th Duke of Devonshire. A collection of 24 of her works of art descended to the Duke of Devonshire and kept at Chatsworth House.
St Peter's Church, Edensor, is a Grade I listed church in Edensor, Derbyshire. St Peter's is the closest parish church in the Church of England to Chatsworth House, home of the Dukes of Devonshire, most of whom are buried in the churchyard. St Peter's is in a joint parish with St Anne's Church, Beeley.
Catherine Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, formerly Catherine Hoskins, was the wife of William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire, and mother of the 4th Duke.
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