His Grace The Duke of Beaufort |
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The Duke photographed by Allan Warren
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Member of the House of Lords | |
In office 5 February 1984 – 11 November 1999 |
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Preceded by | Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort |
Succeeded by | House of Lords Act 1999 |
Personal details | |
Born | 23 February 1928 |
Spouse(s) |
Lady Caroline Jane Thynne (m. 1950; d. 1995) Miranda Elisabeth née Morley (m. 2000) |
Children |
Henry John FitzRoy Somerset, Marquess of Worcester Lady Anne Mary Somerset Lord Edward Alexander Somerset Lord John Robert Somerset |
Parents | Henry Robert Somers Fitzroy de Vere Somerset Bettine Violet née Malcolm |
The Duke of Beaufort | |
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Born | 23 February 1928 |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/branch | British Army |
Years of service | 1946– |
Service number | 370772 |
David Robert Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort (born 23 February 1928), known as Mr David Somerset until 1984, is a British peer.
He is the son of Henry Robert Somers Fitzroy de Vere Somerset and Bettine Violet Malcolm and was educated at Eton College. His father was the grandson of Lord Henry Somerset, second son of the 8th Duke of Beaufort, and the temperance activist Lady Isabella Somers-Cocks. He and his family descend in the male line from Edward III of England; the first Somerset was a legitimized son of Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, whose grandfather was a legitimized son of John of Gaunt. He therefore must be the senior representative of the House of Plantagenet, through a legitimized line.
He is a sixth cousin, once removed, of Queen Elizabeth II, through their common ancestor William Cavendish, 3rd Duke of Devonshire.
He was commissioned into the Coldstream Guards on 6 September 1946 as a second lieutenant. He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 January 1949.
He held the office of Hereditary Keeper of Raglan Castle, was President of the British Horse Society between 1988 and 1990, and was chairman of Marlborough Fine Art. He ranked 581st in the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, with an estimated wealth of £135m in land.