David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl Of Cardigan
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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 and Earl of Cardigan between 1974 and 2024, is a British peer.


Biography


Early life

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. His parents divorced when he was six years old. He attended Hawtreys prep-school,
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 ...
,
Rannoch School Rannoch School was a private boarding school, located on the south shore of Loch Rannoch in Perth and Kinross, Scotland on the Dall Estate, from Kinloch Rannoch. Dall House served as the main school building and a boarding house. It was est ...
, and the
Royal Agricultural College The Royal Agricultural University (RAU), formerly the Royal Agricultural College, is a public university in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Established in 1845, it was the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world. ...
, Cirencester. As his father declined to take the courtesy title
Earl of Cardigan Earl of Cardigan is a title in the Peerage of England that was created by Charles II in 1661 for Thomas Brudenell, 1st Baron Brudenell, and the title has been held since 1868 by the Marquesses of Ailesbury. Since that time, it has been used ...
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.


Career

Brudenell-Bruce has been Secretary of
Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...
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 ...
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 Savernake Forest stands on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately . Most of the forest lies within the civil parish of Savernake. It is privately owned by the Marquess o ...
, a privately owned forest in Wiltshire. The Savernake Estate has not been sold in almost 1,000 years, and the family are descended from the Seymour family, with
Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (; 24 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was ...
being the 3rd wife of
King Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement w ...
, and the only wife to bear the King a son,
King Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and King of Ireland, Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. The only surviving son of Henry VIII by his thi ...
. In 2005, his family trust granted a commercial lease to a US-based hotel corporation to turn his ancestral home,
Tottenham House 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 Tottenha ...
, into a luxury golf resort.Simon de Bruxelles, 'Penniless earl claims jobseeker's allowance after ex-wife's entire £1.5m estate goes to the children', ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'', 7 March 2013, No. 70826, p. 3
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. In July 2011, it was reported that the estate was in severe financial difficulties. 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, and again in March 2012 over their plans to sell some of the family paintings. 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. In separate 2014 proceedings, the Court of Appeal upheld the trustees' decision to sell Tottenham House to an unnamed buyer for £11.25m. 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. In 2017 he was able to remove both trustees from office, and restore his family income.


Battle of the Beanfield

The Marquess of Ailesbury witnessed the
Battle of the Beanfield The Battle of the Beanfield took place over several hours on 1 June 1985, when Wiltshire Police prevented The Peace Convoy, a convoy of several hundred New Age travellers, from setting up the 1985 Stonehenge Free Festival in Wiltshire, England ...
, a notorious incident in 1985 in which
Wiltshire Police Wiltshire Police, formerly known as Wiltshire Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Wiltshire (including the Borough of Swindon) in South West England. The force serves 722,000 people over an area ...
were accused of brutalising a convoy of travellers on land near
Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...
, 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 The Crown Court is the criminal trial court, court of first instance in England and Wales responsible for hearing all indictable offences, some Hybrid offence, either way offences and appeals of the decisions of magistrates' courts. It is ...
. 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 Class traitor is a term used mostly in socialist discourse to refer to a member of the proletarian class who works directly or indirectly against their class interest, or against their economic benefit and in favor of the bourgeoisie. It applies pa ...
. 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.


Personal life

By his first marriage to Rosamond Winkley (died 2012), he had his first two children, Thomas James Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan (born 11 February 1982), and Lady Catherine Anna Brudenell-Bruce (born 25 November 1984). After his divorce, he married in 2011 Catherine Joanne Powell, of
Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ), known locally as Flag, is the county seat of Coconino County, Arizona, in the southwestern United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 76,831. Flagstaff is the principal city of the Coconino Cou ...
, now Marchioness of Ailesbury. In October 2013 his wife gave birth to a daughter. Lady Sophie Brudenell-Bruce (born 15 July 2013) On 12 May 2024, he succeeded his father as 9th Marquess upon his death.


References

*'CARDIGAN, Earl of', ''Who's Who 2008'', A & C Black, 2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ailesbury, David Brudenell-Bruce, Marquess Of 1952 births Living people
David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
Earls of Cardigan 9 Alumni of the Royal Agricultural University People educated at Hawtreys People educated at Rannoch School People educated at Eton College