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| Earldom of Radnor | |
|---|---|
  Arms:Quarterly, 1st and 4th, per fesse or and ar. an eagle displ. with two heads sa., on the breast an escutcheon gu. charged with a bend vair (being the ancient arms of Bouverie, confirmed and allowed to be thus borne by royal sign-manual in 1798); 2nd and 3rd, ar. a bend gu. gutte d’eau betw. two ravens sa., a chief chequy or, and of the last, for Pleydell | |
| Creation date | 1765 |
| Creation | Second |
| Created by | George III |
| Peerage | Peerage of Great Britain |
| First holder | William Bouverie, 2nd Viscount Folkestone |
| Present holder | William Pleydell-Bouverie, 9th Earl of Radnor |
| Heir apparent | Jacob Pleydell-Bouverie, Viscount Folkestone |
| Subsidiary titles | Viscounts Folkestone Baronets of St Catherine Cree Church /Baron Longford /Baron Pleydell-Bouverie |
| Seats | Longford Castle Alward House |
| Former seat | Coleshill House |
Earl of Radnor, of theCounty of Radnor, is a title which has been created twice. It was first created in thePeerage of England in 1679 forJohn Robartes, 2nd Baron Robartes, a notable political figure of the reign ofCharles II. The earldom was created for a second time in thePeerage of Great Britain in 1765 forWilliam Bouverie, 2nd Viscount Folkestone.
The Bouverie family descends fromWilliam des Bouverie, a prominentLondon merchant. He was created abaronet ofSt Catherine Cree Church, London, in theBaronetage of Great Britain in 1714. His eldest son,the second Baronet, representedShaftesbury in theHouse of Commons. He was succeeded by his younger brother, the third Baronet. He sat asMember of Parliament forSalisbury until he was raised to thePeerage of Great Britain asBaron Longford andViscount Folkestone in 1747.
His son, the second Viscount, also represented Salisbury in Parliament. In 1765 he was madeBaron Pleydell-Bouverie, of Coleshill in the County of Berkshire, andEarl of Radnor. The earldom was created with remainder, failing heirs male of his body, to the heirs male of his father. Both peerages were in the Peerage of Great Britain. He was succeeded by his son, thesecond Earl. He was Member of Parliament for Salisbury and served asLord Lieutenant of Berkshire. The second Earl assumed the additional surname of Pleydell after succeeding to the estates of his maternal grandfather, Sir Mark Stuart Pleydell, 1st Baronet (seePleydell Baronets). His son, thethird Earl, representedDownton and Salisbury in the House of Commons. On his death the titles passed to his son, thefourth Earl. He served asLord Lieutenant of Wiltshire.
He was succeeded by his son, thefifth Earl. He sat asConservative Member of Parliament forSouth Wiltshire andEnfield and held political office asTreasurer of the Household from 1885 to 1886 underLord Salisbury. His son, thesixth Earl, representedWilton (also known as South Wiltshire) in Parliament as a Conservative and served as Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire. He was succeeded by his son, theseventh Earl. He notably held the honorary posts ofKeeper of the Privy Seal andLord Warden of the Stannaries and was made aKnight of the Garter in 1962. As of 2009, the titles are held by his grandson, also William Pleydell-Bouverie, the 9th Earl of Radnor, who succeeded his father in 2008.
Successive Earls of Radnor were governors of theFrench Hospital from the eighteenth century to 2015.[1]
The family seats areLongford Castle, nearSalisbury,Wiltshire, and Alward House, nearAlderbury, Wiltshire. Before 1952, another seat wasColeshill House inColeshill, Berkshire (presently Oxfordshire).
William Pleydell-Bouverie, 9th Earl of Radnor (born 5 January 1955) is the eldest son of the 8th Earl and his wife Anne Garden Farquharson Seth-Smith. Styled as Viscount Folkestone from 1968, he was educated atHarrow School and theRoyal Agricultural College, Cirencester. In 2003, he was living at Alward House,Alderbury,Wiltshire.[3]
In 2008 Folkestone succeeded his father as Earl of Radnor (G.B., 1765), Viscount Folkestone (G.B., 1747), and Baron Longford (G.B., 1747), and Baron Pleydell-Bouverie (G.B., 1765). He also inherited a baronetcy, Bouverie of St. Catherine Cree Church, London (G.B., 1714).[4] In 1996 he married Melissa Stanford, only daughter of James Keith Edward Stanford.[5] They have five children.[3]
In an episode of the Dutch television showVerborgen Verleden (similar to the BritishWho Do You Think You Are?) broadcast in November 2014, the Dutch architectJan des Bouvrie found that his family was descended from Jehan de le Bouvrie (born about 1480), ofSainghin-en-Mélantois, where in 1543 his widow, Jeanne de la Motte, inherited a farm with four cows and two horses. A grandson of Jehan, the merchant Lawrence de Bouverie, born in Sainghin, migrated toEngland, where his descendantWilliam des Bouverie was created abaronet and became the ancestor of the Earls of Radnor. Jan des Bouvrie hoped to meet the present-day Lord Radnor, but he would not agree to meet him for the television show.[6]
