Charles Maurice Petty-Fitzmaurice, 9th Marquess of Lansdowne, (born 21 February 1941), styled Earl of Shelburne between 1944 and 1999, is a

British peer A Peerage is a form of crown distinction, with Peerages in the United Kingdom comprising both hereditary and lifetime titled appointments of various ranks, which form both a constituent part of the legislative process and the British hono ...

, landowner and army officer. He was Vice-Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire from 2012 to 2016, having served on a rural district council in the 1960s, chaired North Wiltshire District Council in the 1970s, and served for fifteen years on

Wiltshire County Council Wiltshire Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Wiltshire County Council, is the local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Wiltshire in South West England, and has its headquarters at County Hall in Trowbridge. Since 2009 it has bee ...

. He is also

Earl of Kerry Baron Kerry is an ancient title in the Peerage of Ireland, named after County Kerry. It was created circa 1223 for Thomas FitzMaurice, Lord OConnello, son of Maurice FitzGerald, Lord of Llanstephan. In 1325, Maurice FitzMaurice, 4th Baron Ke ...

in the

peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

(1722);

Earl of Shelburne Earl of Shelburne is a title that has been created twice while the title of Baron Shelburne has been created three times. The Shelburne title was created for the first time in the Peerage of Ireland in 1688 when Elizabeth, Lady Petty, was made ...

and Earl of Wycombe in the peerage of Great Britain (1753 and 1784); Viscount Clanmaurice, Viscount Fitzmaurice (1751), and Viscount Calne and Calston; the 30th Baron of Kerry and Lixnaw in the peerage of Ireland (1181); Baron Dunkeron, and Baron Wycombe.

Early life

Lansdowne is the elder son of

George Petty-Fitzmaurice, 8th Marquess of Lansdowne George John Charles Mercer Nairne Petty-Fitzmaurice, 8th Marquess of Lansdowne, DL (27 November 1912 – 25 August 1999), was a British peer and Conservative politician. Background Petty-Fitzmaurice was the only son of Lord Charles Mercer Nairn ...

, a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician and landowner, by his marriage to Barbara, daughter of Harold Stuart Chase, of Santa Barbara,

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. His father inherited the peerage titles (and the

Bowood House Bowood is a Grade I listed Georgian era, Georgian English country houses, country house in Wiltshire, England, that has been owned for more than 250 years by the Fitzmaurice family. The house, with interiors by Robert Adam, stands in extensive g ...

estates in

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

) from a cousin, the 7th Marquess of Lansdowne, who was killed in action in 1944, when the present Marquess became known as the

, a

courtesy title A courtesy title is a title that does not have legal significance but is rather used by custom or courtesy, particularly, in the context of nobility, the titles used by children of members of the nobility (cf. substantive title). In some context ...

. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and was

Page of Honour A Page of Honour is a ceremonial position in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It requires attendance on state occasions, but does not now involve the daily duties which were once attached to the office of page. The only ...

to Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

in 1956–1957.

Career

Lord Shelburne (as he then was) served in the

Kenya Regiment The Kenya Regiment was a unit of the British Army recruited primarily among white settlers in Kenya and to a lesser extent Uganda. Formed in 1937, it was disbanded at the oubreak of World War II in 1939. It was reformed in 1950 and participate ...

from 1960 to 1961.'Lansdowne, 9th Marquess of' in '' Who's Who 2014'' (London: A. & C. Black, 2014) In 1962 he was gazetted a Second Lieutenant in the

Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry The Royal Wiltshire Yeomanry (RWY) was a Yeomanry regiment of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom established in 1794. It was disbanded as an independent Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army unit in 1967, a time when t ...

and in 1971 transferred with the rank of Lieutenant to the

Royal Yeomanry The Royal Yeomanry (RY) is the senior reserve cavalry regiment of the British Army. Equipped with Supacat Jackal variants, their role is to conduct mounted and dismounted formation reconnaissance. The Regimental Headquarters is located in Leice ...

, attached to the

Royal Armoured Corps The Royal Armoured Corps is the armoured arm of the British Army, that together with the Household Cavalry provides its armour capability, with vehicles such as the Challenger 2 and the Warrior tracked armoured vehicle. It includes most of the Ar ...

. He was a member of Calne and Chippenham Rural District Council from 1964 to 1973, President of the Wiltshire Playing Fields Association from 1965 to 1974, a member of

from 1970 to 1985, and a

councillor A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or re ...

of North Wiltshire District Council from 1973 to 1976. He chaired Calne and Chippenham Rural District Council from 1970 to 1973 and then North Wiltshire District Council from 1973 to 1976. He also served as a member of the South West Economic Planning Council from 1972 to 1977 and chaired its Population Settlement Pattern Working Committee during the same period. He was a member of the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission (

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

) from 1983 to 1989; Deputy President of the

Historic Houses Association Historic Houses (formerly, and still for legal purposes, known as the Historic Houses Association or HHA) is a not-for-profit organisation that represents well over a thousand independently owned historic English country house, country houses, ...

from 1986 to 1988, and President from 1988 to 1993; President of South West Tourism from 1989 to 2006; President of the Wiltshire Association of Boys Clubs and Youth Clubs from 1976 to 2003; and President of the North Wiltshire Conservative Association from 1986 to 1989. At the 1979 general election, he contested Coventry North East for the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

, coming second behind Labour's George Park. In 1990, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire and served as the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire from 2012 to 2016. He was President of the Wiltshire Historic Buildings Trust from 1994 and also of the Wiltshire Swindon & Oxfordshire Canal Partnership, which oversaw the restoration of the

Wilts & Berks Canal The Wilts & Berks Canal is a canal in the historic counties of Wiltshire and Berkshire, England, linking the Kennet and Avon Canal at Semington near Melksham, to the River Thames at Abingdon. The North Wilts Canal merged with it to become a ...

, from 2002 to 2019. On 25 August 1999, his father died and he became

Marquess of Lansdowne Marquess of Lansdowne is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain created in 1784, and held by the head of the Petty-Fitzmaurice family. The first Marquess served as Prime Minister of Great Britain. Origins This branch of the Fitzmaurice family ...

and a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. From 1996 to 2001, Lansdowne was a member of the Prince's Council of the

Duchy of Cornwall A duchy, also called a dukedom, is a country, territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess, a ruler hierarchically second to the king or queen in Western European tradition. There once existed an important difference between "sovereign ...

.''London Gazette'', Issue 56430 of 31 December 2001 (Supplement No. 1)
page S3
online

Personal life

In 1956, Lansdowne's sister Lady Caroline Petty-Fitzmaurice died in a shooting accident, aged seventeen. On 18 February 1965, his mother also died from shotgun injuries in the gunroom at her Scottish home, Meikleour House, which was also found to have been an accident."Marchioness of Lansdowne, 46, Succumbs to Gunshot Wounds, ''The New York Times'', 18 February 1965 On 9 October 1965, as Lord Shelburne, he married Lady Frances Helen Mary Eliot (6 March 1943 – 6 January 2004), daughter of Nicholas Eliot, 9th Earl of St Germans; they were divorced in 1987, having had four children: *Lady Arabella Helen Mary Petty-Fitzmaurice, now Lady Arabella Haldane Unwin (born 1966), married Rupert William Haldane Unwin, and has three children.Charles Mosely, ed., '' Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'' 107th edition, volume 2, 2003, p. 2237 *Lady Rachel Barbara Violet Petty-Fitzmaurice (born 1968), married James Spickernell and has four children. *Simon Petty-FitzMaurice, Earl of Kerry (born 24 November 1970), married Nadine Mentior in January 2016, and has one child - George Henry Charles Petty-FitzMaurice, Viscount Calne and Calston who was born on 3 February 2020. *Lord William Nicholas Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice (born 1973), married in 2004 Rebecca Sansum (born 1982), of

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town in north-west Wiltshire, England. It lies north-east of Bath, Somerset, Bath, west of London and is near the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. The town was established on a crossing of the River Avon, ...

, Wiltshire; and have three daughters. Subsequently, Lansdowne married secondly Fiona Mary Merritt (born 1954), daughter of Donald Merritt and Lady Davies, an interior decorator known by her earlier married name of Fiona Shelburne. She was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire in 2019, and as High Sheriff for 2022–2023. She is one of the official Queen's companions to

Queen Camilla Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. Camilla was raised in East ...

. The

heir apparent An heir apparent is a person who is first in the order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person. A person who is first in the current order of succession but could be displaced by the birth of a more e ...

to the peerages is Simon, Earl of Kerry (born 1970).

Honours

*Lieutenant of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

, 2001

References

External links