Hugh Denis Charles FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton (3 April 1919 – 7 April 2011) was the son of Charles FitzRoy, 10th Duke of Grafton, and his first wife Lady Doreen Maria Josepha Sydney Buxton, second daughter of

Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton, (25 October 1853 – 15 October 1934) was a radical British Liberal politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He also served as the second Governor-General of South Africa from 1914 to 1920 ...

. He was known from 1936 to 1970 as the Earl of Euston.

Life and career

He was born in 1919 in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

Union of South Africa The Union of South Africa ( nl, Unie van Zuid-Afrika; af, Unie van Suid-Afrika; ) was the historical predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa. It came into existence on 31 May 1910 with the unification of the Cape, Natal, Tran ...

. He is one of the hundreds of descendants of Charles II of England. He descends through Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton born to the King's mistress Barbara Villiers. Charles had many children but none legitimate; at his death, the crown passed to his brother, a Catholic who was deposed and whose progeny were excluded on that basis, save for his two daughters raised as Protestants. The

House of Stuart The House of Stuart, originally spelt Stewart, was a royal house of Scotland, England, Ireland and later Great Britain. The family name comes from the office of High Steward of Scotland, which had been held by the family progenitor Walter fi ...

thereafter gave way to their distant cousins, the

House of Hanover The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house or ...

. Through the Duke's ancestor Anne Warren, a daughter of Admiral Sir Peter Warren, he is a descendant of the Schuyler family, the

Van Cortlandt family The Van Cortlandt family was an influential political dynasty from the seventeenth-century Dutch origins of New York through its period as an English colony, then after it became a state, and into the nineteenth century. It rose to great promin ...

, and the Delancey family, all from

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestow ...

. The Duke was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and at

Magdalene College Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mar ...

, Cambridge. He was subsequently commissioned into the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

, and for three years from 1943 was Aide-de-camp to the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

, Field Marshal Viscount Wavell. The Duke of Grafton devoted much of his life to the conservation and protection of historic buildings. He was chairman and later president of the

Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) (also known as Anti-Scrape) is an amenity society founded by William Morris, Philip Webb, and others in 1877 to oppose the destructive 'restoration' of ancient buildings occurring in ...

, and also chaired at various times the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, the Architectural Heritage Fund, the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

's Cathedral Advisory Commission and

Sir John Soane's Museum Sir John Soane's Museum is a house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of neo-classical architect, John Soane. It holds many drawings and architectural models of Soane's projects, and ...

11th Duke of Grafton outside Euston Hall Allan Warren

The Duke was a member of the

Historic Buildings Council Three separate historic buildings councils were created by the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953, one for each of England, Scotland, and Wales. Each Historic Buildings Council advised the relevant government minister on the exercise ...

from its foundation in 1953, and until he succeeded his father as duke in 1970, he was the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

's administrator for Sussex and Kent, and later East Anglia. He was vice-chairman of the National Portrait Gallery. He was also the chairman of the English section of

ICOMOS The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS; french: links=no, Conseil international des monuments et des sites) is a professional association that works for the conservation and protection of cultural heritage places around the worl ...

, the International Commission for Monuments and Sites and member of its international board. The Duke of Grafton's home was

Euston Hall Euston Hall is a country house, with park by William Kent and Capability Brown, located in Euston, a small village in Suffolk located just south of Thetford, England. It is the family home of the Dukes of Grafton. The Hall Euston first appears ...

, near

Thetford Thetford is a market town and civil parish in the Breckland District of Norfolk, England. It is on the A11 road between Norwich and London, just east of Thetford Forest. The civil parish, covering an area of , in 2015 had a population of 24, ...

. He was made a

Knight of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George ...

in 1976. He died in 2011 at Euston Hall, Suffolk.

Marriage and children

On 12 October 1946, he married Ann Fortune Smith (

Mistress of the Robes The mistress of the robes was the senior lady in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. Formerly responsible for the queen consort's/regnant's clothes and jewellery (as the name implies), the post had the responsibility for arranging the rota ...

to Queen Elizabeth II from 1967 until her death). They had five children: * James Oliver Charles FitzRoy, Earl of Euston (13 December 1947 – 1 October 2009), married Lady Clare Amabel Margaret Kerr, daughter of the 12th Marquess of Lothian, and had issue, one son, Henry FitzRoy, 12th Duke of Grafton, and four daughters. * Lady Henrietta Fortune Doreen FitzRoy (born 14 September 1949), who married Edward St. George. * Lady Virginia Mary Elizabeth FitzRoy (born 10 April 1954), who married (and divorced) Lord Ralph Kerr, son of

Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian Peter Francis Walter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, (8 September 1922 – 11 October 2004) was a British peer, politician and landowner. He was the son of Captain Andrew William Kerr by his wife, Marie Kerr. Both of his parents were male- ...

; remarried, but has no issue. * Lord Charles Patrick Hugh FitzRoy (born 7 January 1957), who married Diana Miller-Stirling, and has two sons. * Lady (Olivia) Rose Mildred FitzRoy (born 1 August 1963), who married Guy Monson, an investment funds manager, and has two daughters, Olivia and Leonora.

References

Notes

Sources

Obituary of The Duke of Grafton, The Daily Telegraph, 11 April, 2011

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grafton, Hugh Fitzroy, 11th Duke of 1919 births 2011 deaths Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Hugh

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English conservationists Knights of the Garter People from Cape Town

Hugh FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton Hugh Denis Charles FitzRoy, 11th Duke of Grafton (3 April 1919 – 7 April 2011) was the son of Charles FitzRoy, 10th Duke of Grafton, and his first wife Lady Doreen Maria Josepha Sydney Buxton, second daughter of Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxto ...

Schuyler family English people of Dutch descent People educated at Eton College Grenadier Guards officers Deputy Lieutenants of Suffolk British Army personnel of World War II