The Marquess of Granby and Claira Miesegaes: some background

For several years one of Britain's most eligible bachelors. the Marquess of Granby, has been seen out and about in the company of the lovely Claira Miesegaes.

Having just spent a day at Belvoir Castle I came home to investigate further the lineage and background of the lady who might become the next Duchess of Rutland.

Granby and Claira.

Charles John Montague Manners, styled Marquess of Granby was born 3 July, 1999, the fourth child and first-born son of the 11th Duke of Rutland (born 8 May, 1959), of Belvoir Castle, near Grantham, and the Duchess of Rutland (the former Rachel Emma Louise Watkins, born 2 September, 1963).

Charles is heir to his father, and to Belvoir Castle, near Grantham, and and impressive array of peerages: the Barony of Roos of Belvoir, co. Leicester [U.K., 1896]; the Marquess of Granby, co. Nottingham [E., 1703]; the 19th Earl of Rutland [E., 1525]; the 11th Duke of Rutland [E., 1703];  & the Baron Manners of Haddon [E., 1679]. 

Charles has a younger brother, Lord Hugo Manners (born 24 July, 2003), and three older sisters, the high profile Manners girls, Lady Violet (born 1993), Lady Alice (born 1995), and Lady Eliza (born 1997). Lady Violet, the eldest sister, married in 2025, Viscount Garnock, son and heir of the Earl of Lindsay.

Claira Emma Miesegaes (born in London in 1996),  is a partnership manager at the Jockey Club has an impeccable family history. The snob in me was hoping to find a coronet in her family tree. Sadly, none have been found as yet, but I can state that the beautiful Miss Miesegaes is descended from several landed gentry families and more importantly, is a great-niece of the great Betty Kenward, MBE (1906-2001), the magazine columnist famed as the editor of 'Jennifer's Diary', originally in Tatler and subsequently in Queen magazine.

Betty Kenward's obituary in The Daily Telegraph described her as "insufferably snobbish and crotchety", recounting her ferocious treatment of her assistants (many of whom resigned in tears), her propensity for long-running feuds (including, particularly, with Margaret, Duchess of Argyll), and her persistent snubbing of Tatler's social editor, Peter Townend. What would she think of her great-niece now associating with Margaret, Duchess of Argyll's great-grandson?

Claira Miesegaes (pronounced 'Meezygas') is the daughter of Simon James Victor Miesegaes (born 1964), former High Sheriff of Warwickshire, and his wife the former Lucinda Claire Bourdillon (born 1968). 

Claira has a brother James (born 2001), and a sister, Harriet (born in 1998).

Through her mother's family Claira is descended from the landed gentry families of Kemp-Welch, Hunter, Stormonth Darling, and Macdonald of Vallay. 

Claira is also descended from Henry Holland (1745-1806), the great architect to the nobility.

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