The Marquess of Ailesbury | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1926-03-31)31 March 1926 Marlborough, Wiltshire, England |
| Died | 12 May 2024(2024-05-12) (aged 98) London |
| Education | Eton College |
| Occupations |
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| Spouses | |
| Partner | Teresa Marshall de Paoli |
| Children | 5, includingDavid |
| Parents |
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| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Service years | 1945–1959 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Unit | Royal Horse Guards |
Michael Sydney Cedric Brudenell-Bruce, 8th Marquess of Ailesbury (31 March 1926 – 12 May 2024), styledViscount Savernake until 1974, was a British peer.
Although since the death ofJames Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan that Earldom has been the senior subsidiary title of the Marquesses of Ailesbury, the future 8th Marquess did not take it on the death of his grandfather the 6th Marquess in 1961 and remained known as Viscount Savernake, as he had been since birth.[1][2]
The Marquess was born on 31 March 1926,[3] the son ofCedric Brudenell-Bruce, 7th Marquess of Ailesbury. He attendedEton College before serving in theRoyal Horse Guards. He received an emergency commission as asecond lieutenant on 12 August 1945, three weeks before the end of the Second World War.[4] He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 September 1946,[5] and entered the reserves with the same rank on 1 September 1949, with the honorary rank of captain.[6] He relinquished his reserve commission on 1 July 1959, retaining the honorary rank of captain.[7]
In 1954, he became a member of theLondon Stock Exchange. He joined the stockbrokers Bragg, Stockdale, Hall & Co, founded in 1824, in theCity of London, which merged with Fiske & Co in 1975; he became a partner of Fiske.[8] He became a director of Fiske & Co when it became a limited company, and remained so when it went public asFiske plc.[9]
On 15 July 1974, he succeeded his father as 8th Marquess and then took up his hereditary seat in theHouse of Lords as acrossbencher. He was among the 667 hereditary peers who lost the right to sit in the Lords in the1999 reforms.[3]
The family seat wasTottenham House, inSavernake Forest, Wiltshire, but they ceased to live there in 1946 when it becameHawtreys school.[10] Professing no interest in rural affairs, he handed over the wardenship of Savernake Forest to his son and heir,David, in 1987.[3] The Marquess ownedAvebury Manor, also in Wiltshire, from 1976[11] to 1981.
On 12 May 2024, the 8th Marquess of Ailesbury died after falling from a window at his home in theShepherd's Bush area of London, at the age of 98. His partner told police that he had been attempting to let his cat out when he accidentally fell, but some family members publicly disputed this, pending aninquest.[12] In March 2025, the coroner concluded that he had taken his own life.[13]
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The Marquess was married three times. His first wife, Edwina Sylvia de Winton-Wills (1933–2023), was the daughter of Lt. Col. Sir Ernest Edward de Winton-Wills,4th Baronet Wills of Hazelwood, of theW.D. & H.O. Wills tobacco company, by his wife Sylvia Margaret Ogden. They were married on 17 March 1952 and were divorced in 1961. They had three children:
Edwina married secondly Major Christopher Bonn, with whom she had four further children.
On 10 July 1963, the Marquess married a second time, to Juliet Adrienne Lethbridge Kingsford, daughter of Edward Hilary Lethbridge Kingsford. The couple divorced in 1974 after having two children:
On 18 September 1974, shortly after his second divorce, he married for the third time. The bride, Caroline Elizabeth Wethered, was the daughter of Commander Owen Francis MacTier Wethered. They had no children, and the couple divorced in 1992. At the time of his death, he had lived with Teresa Marshall de Paoli for over 30 years.[12]
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Marquess of Ailesbury 1974–2024 | Succeeded by |
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| People | |
