Wednesday, May 15, 2024

The 8th Marquess of Ailesbury 1926-2024

 The Marquess of Ailesbury, 8th holder of the Peerage (created 1821), died 12 May, 2024, following a fall at his London home. He was 98.

The peer fell out of his window at his home while letting his cat out. He died on impact on a concrete patio. By unhappy coincidence, 86 years ago, his mother was killed falling from a window at the Savoy Hotel. 

The Marquess, whose home was in Savernake Forest, Marlborough, Wiltshire, was Marquess of Ailesbury (1821), Earl of Cardigan (1661), Earl of Ailesbury (1776), Earl Bruce (1821), Viscount Savernake (1821), Baron Brudenell (1627/8), Baron Bruce (1746), a Baronet in England (1611), & 30th Hereditary Warden of Savernake Forest.

Michael Sydney Cedric Brudenell-Bruce was born 31 March, 1926, elder son of the 7th Marquess of Ailesbury (1904-1974), and his 1st wife the former Joan Houlton Salter, daughter of Stephen Salter, of Pondwell House, Ryde, Isle of Wight. 

Michael's mother, the then Countess of Cardigan, who had recently returned from South Africa, was killed in July, 1937, when she fell from a seventh floor window at the Savoy Hotel, London, where she was staying alone. The countess, wearing an evening dress, fell near three children who were playing in the street. A coroner returned a verdict that Lady Cardigan had committed suicide whilst of unsound mind.

Michael Brudenell-Bruce succeeded his father in the family honours, 15 July, 1974.

Lord Ailesbury was three times wed. He married firstly, 17 March, 1952 (div 1961), Edwina Sylvia de Winton Wills (1933-2023), the second daughter of Lt Col Sir (Ernest) Edward de Winton Wills, 4th Baronet (1903-1983), of Hazelwood, by his first wife Sylvia Margaret Ogden (died 1946); and married 2ndly, 10 July, 1963 (div 1974), Juliet Adrienne Lethbridge Kingsford, daughter of Edward Hilary Lethbridge Kingsford; and married 3rdly, 18 September, 1974 (div 1992), Caroline Elizabeth Romilly (former wife of Simon Romilly, 1st son of Eric Carnegie Romilly, of Bradfield Court, Bodenham, co. Hereford), only daughter of Cmdr Owen Francis MacTier Wethered, RN, of Remnantz, Marlow, co. Buckingham. 

The Marquess leaves a son from his first marriage, David, Earl of Cardigan, and two daughters, Lady Sylvia (b 19 Jun 1954), and Lady Carina (b 13 Jan 1956); and he leaves two daughters from his 2nd marriage, Lady Louise (b 13 Jul 1964), and Lady Kathryn (b 24 Aug 1965).

The son, David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, styled Earl of Cardigan (born 12 Nov, 1952), now succeeds as 9th Marquess of Ailesbury.

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