George Child Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey

George Francis Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (15 February 1910 – 9 August 1998), was an English peer and politician from the Villiers family. He was the son of George Child-Villiers, 8th Earl of Jersey and gave one of the family seats, Osterley Park, to the British nation in the late 1940s.

His first wife was Patricia Richards (20 January 1914-27 January 2017). They married on 12 January 1932, and were divorced in 1937. They had one child:

Lord Jersey then married American actress Virginia Cherrill on 30 July 1937, the ex-wife of Cary Grant; they were divorced in 1946, without having had issue.

His third and last wife was Bianca Luciana Adriana Mottironi (d. 2005), whom he married on 16 October 1947. They had three children: George Henry, Isabella and Charles. The elder son's elder son succeeded the 9th Earl in 1998.

The 9th Earl was responsible for the remodelling of the family seat, Middleton Park in Oxfordshire, and employed Edwin Lutyens as architect. When he tried to give Middleton to the National Trust, they refused on the grounds that the house had been remodelled by Lutyens – whose houses they now seek particularly. The 9th Earl gave Osterley Park in Hounslow to the nation in the late 1940s; he said of that house, "it took a trained staff of 12 to bring me a boiled egg in the morning, and the egg was always cold by the time it got to me!"

He moved to Radier Manor in Jersey shortly after, where he lived with Bianca until his death. Bianca died in March 2005.

Under one legitimist theory, Villiers was the rightful King of England, as the ultimate heir to Anne Stanley, Countess of Castlehaven. Due to disputes over legal standing (some of these theorists contend that since the person on the throne since 1603 has not been the rightful monarch, no laws have changed since then, including divorce laws), both his grandson (the 10th Earl) and his eldest daughter (Lady Caroline) are considered his legal heir, by different parties.

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