Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans

Murray de Vere Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans (born 19 January 1939), styled Earl of Burford from 1964 to 1988, is an English duke. He was a member of the House of Lords from 1988 to 1999.

His Grace The Duke of St Albans FCA
The Duke by Allan Warren
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office 8 October 1988 – 11 November 1999
Preceded by	The 13th Duke of St Albans
Succeeded by	Seat abolished [a]
Personal details
Born	(1939-01-19) 19 January 1939 (age 86)
Spouses	Rosemary Scoones ​ ​ (m. 1963; div. 1974)​ Cynthia Howard ​ ​ (m. 1974; div. 2001)​ Gillian Northam ​ ​ (m. 2002)​
Children	Lady Emma Beauclerk Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford
Parent(s)	Charles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans Nathalie Chatham Walker

Family

The only child (by his first wife) and eldest son of Charles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans, the 14th Duke descends from King Charles II and Nell Gwyn by their illegitimate son, Charles Beauclerk, 1st Duke of St Albans. He is also the senior representative of the De Vere family.

Career

Beauclerk attended Tonbridge School in Kent, before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1962.^[1]

Since 1989 he has served as Governor-General of the Royal Stuart Society,^[2] a monarchist organisation with Jacobite ties, and is also a Freeman of the City of London and Liveryman of the Drapers' Company.^[1]

Marriages and issue

Murray Beauclerk married three times. On 31 January 1963 he married Rosemary Frances Scoones, a daughter of Francis Harold Scoones of West Ham and his wife, Rose Frances Eleanor Callis. They were divorced in 1974, having had two children:

• Lady Emma Caroline de Vere Beauclerk (born 22 July 1963), married 1991 David Craig Shaw Smellie
• Charles Beauclerk, Earl of Burford (born 22 February 1965)

In 1975, Rosemary Beauclerk remarried to Paul Pellew, 10th Viscount Exmouth.^[3][4]

On 29 August 1974, shortly after his first divorce, Beauclerk married Cynthia Theresa Mary (1929–2002), daughter of Lieutenant Colonel William James Holdsworth Howard and former wife of the late Sir Anthony Robin Hooper, 2nd Baronet.^[5] They were divorced in 2001, without issue.^[6][4]

In 1988, Beauclerk's father died, and he became the 14th Duke of St Albans.

The Duke married his third and current wife, Gillian Anita Northam, on 14 December 2002 in London.^[4]

Arms

Coat of arms of Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans

Coronet A Duke's coronet Crest On a Chapeau Gules turned up Ermine a Lion statant guardant Or crowned with a ducal coronet per pale Argent and of the First and gorged with a Collar of the Last thereon three Roses also Argent barbed and seeded Proper Escutcheon Grand quarterly, 1st and 4th grand quarters: the Royal Arms of Charles II, viz quarterly: 1st and 4th, France and England quarterly; 2nd, Scotland; 3rd, Ireland; the whole debruised by a Baton sinister Gules charged with three Roses Argent barbed and seeded Proper (Beauclerk); 2nd and 3rd grand quarters: quarterly Gules and Or in the first quarter a Mullet Argent (De Vere) Supporters Dexter: an Antelope Argent armed and unguled Or; Sinister: a Greyhound Argent, each gorged with a Collar as in the Crest Motto Auspicium Melioris Aevi (A pledge of better times)

Notes

1. Pursuant to the House of Lords Act 1999.