James Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose

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James Angus Graham, 7th Duke of Montrose (1907 - 1992) was born in the United Kingdom and lived most of his life in Southern Africa. He was educated at Eton and studied at Christ Church,Oxford. He was first married to Isobel Sellar by whom he had Fiona (married to Peter Hannon) and Seumas. The latter is now the 8th Duke of Montrose. Both were born in Rhodesia. James Angus married secondly Susan Mary Joclyn Semple of Kenya and had issue:

Lady Cairistiona (Kirstie) Graham, born 1955. Married 1982, Philip Patrick Saggers Australia
Lord Donald Alasdair Graham, born 1956. Married 1981, Bridie Cameron of The Black Isle
Lord Calum Graham. Married Cate Fraser-Mackenzie
Lady Lilias. Married Johnnie Bell of Wellington, New Zealand

The 7th Duke took an active interest in politics. He was a Member of Parliament at the break up of the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. He is one of the signatories of the Rhodesian Declaration of Independence, signed in Salisbury, on November 11, 1965. He signed it 'Montrose'. The Duke had cabinet portfolios as Minister of Agriculture and latterly Minister of Defence in Ian Smith's Rhodesian Front government.

Several years later, in a dispute with Smith over the negotiations between the South African Government and Rhodesia regarding Black Majority Rule for Rhodesia, Lord Montrose resigned from the cabinet, and from government. The family moved to South Africa in 1979 and then to Scotland where the Duke spent his final days. Always a keen Gaelic speaker with a great fondness for the Highlands and islands of Scotland, he lies buried in the family cemetery near Loch Lomond.