David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan

David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan (born 12 November 1952) is the heir apparent to the Marquessate of Ailesbury, and its subsidiary titles. These include Earl of Cardigan, which he currently uses as his courtesy title.

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. He has two sisters, a half-brother, and four half-sisters. His parents divorced when he was six years old. He attended Hawtreys prep-school, Eton College, Rannoch School, and the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester.

He has been Secretary of Marlborough Conservatives 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, the only privately owned forest in England. The Savernake Estate was once the private demesne of the Seymours, with Jane Seymour being the 3rd wife of King Henry VIII. In 2005, his family trust granted a commercial lease to a US-based hotel corporation to turn his ancestral home, Tottenham House, into a 5-star luxury golf resort. The American company failed to pay its rent in the recession, and ceased trading. The Earl was then in dispute with the Trustees of 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 he 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 [John] Moore (innocently) received 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 had suffered to the extent that he was reported as claiming Jobseeker's Allowance whilst training to be a HGV lorry driver. In 2017 he was able to remove both of his Trustees from office.

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