Earl Bruce

Marquessate of Ailesbury
Quarterly: 1st and 4th, or a saltire and chief gules on a canton argent a lion rampant azure (for Bruce); 2nd and 3rd, argent a chevron gules between three chapeaux to the sinister azure (for Brudenell).
Creation date	17 July 1821
Monarch	King George IV
Peerage	Peerage of the United Kingdom
First holder	Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury
Present holder	Michael Brudenell-Bruce, 8th Marquess of Ailesbury
Heir apparent	David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan
Remainder to	the 1st Marquess's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten.
Subsidiary titles	Earl of Cardigan Earl of Ailesbury Earl Bruce Viscount Savernake Baron Brudenell Baron Bruce Baronet of Deene Hereditary Warden of Savernake Forest
Former seat(s)	Tottenham House
Armorial motto	"Think and Thank"

On 18 March 1664, Robert Bruce, 2nd Earl of Elgin in the Peerage of Scotland was created Baron Bruce, of Skelton in the County of York, Viscount Bruce, of Ampthill in the County of Bedford, and Earl of Ailesbury, in the County of Buckingham, all in the Peerage of England. His son, Charles, the 3rd Earl of Ailesbury (and 4th Earl of Elgin), was created Baron Bruce, of Tottenham in the County of Wilts, on 17 April 1746, in the Peerage of Great Britain, with a special remainder to his nephew, the Honourable Thomas Brudenell, fourth and youngest son of George Brudenell, 3rd Earl of Cardigan, by Lady Elizabeth Bruce, sister of the 3rd Earl of Ailesbury. On Lord Ailesbury's death in 1747, his English titles became extinct, except for the 1746 Barony of Bruce, which was inherited by his nephew, Robert, according to the special remainder. His Scottish titles passed to his kinsman, Charles Bruce, 5th Earl of Elgin.

Thomas Brudenell, 2nd Baron Bruce, assumed the additional surname of Bruce by Royal licence in 1767. On 10 June 1776 he was created Earl of Ailesbury, in the County of Buckingham, in the Peerage of Great Britain, a revival of the title which had become extinct on his uncle's death 29 years earlier. His son, Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury was created Viscount Savernake, of Savernake Forest in the County of Wilts, Earl Bruce, of Whorlton in the County of York, and Marquess of Ailesbury, in the County of Buckingham, on 17 July 1821, all in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. In 1838 his eldest son, George Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Marquess of Ailesbury, was summoned to the House of Lords through a writ of acceleration in his father's junior title of Baron Bruce. In 1868 the 2nd Marquess also inherited the Earldom of Cardigan from his kinsman the 7th Earl of Cardigan, and so the Marquesses of Ailesbury now also hold the titles Earl of Cardigan (1661) and Baron Brudenell, of Stonton in the County of Leicester (1628), in the Peerage of England, as well as being Baronets of England, styled "of Deene in the County of Northampton".