The 14th Duke of St Albans died in London, 22 April, 2026. He was 87.
Murray de Vere Beauclerk, a direct descendant of King Charles II and Nell Gwynn, was the 14th Duke of St Albans (Peerage of England, 1684), 14th Earl of Burford (Peerage of England, 1676), and the 11th Baron Vere of Hanworth (Peerage of GB, cr 1750), and Baron Heddington.
He was the hereditary Grand Falconer of England. His predecessors were given the honour of taking a live bird of prey into the Coronation of the Sovereign. The last to do so was the 8th Duke at the Coronation of King George IV in 1821. In 1953, the eccentric 12th Duke asked the Coronation Committee to be granted permission to carry a falcon into Westminster Abbey, and, if not a live specimen, then a stuffed one. He was politely refused.
He was born 9 January, 1939, son of the 13th Duke of St Albans (1915-1988), and his first wife the former Nathalie Chatham Walker, and was styled Earl of Burford from the time of his father's succession to the peerages in 1964, until 8 October, 1988, when he succeeded as 14th Duke.
He married three times, firstly, 31 January, 1963 (1974), Rosemary Frances Scoones (born 1941), who afterwards married the 10th Viscount Exmouth; married 2ndly, 29 Aug, 1974, Cynthia Theresa Mary, Lady Hooper (died 12 May, 2002), former wife of Sir Anthony Robin Maurice Hooper, 2nd Bt (1918-1987), and daughter of Lt-Col William James Holdsworth Howard, DSO, and married 3rdly, 14 December, 2002, Gillian Anita Northam, daughter of Lt-Col Cyril George Reginald Northam.
The Duke of St Albans leaves two children from his first marriage, Charles Francis Tophan de Vere Beauclerk, styled Earl of Burford (born 22 February, 1965), who now succeeds as 15th Duke, and a daughter, Lady Emma Caroline de Vere Beauclerk (born 22 July, 1963).
A Memorial Service takes place at St Luke's Church, Chelsea, 25 June, 2026.
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