| Marquessate of Ailesbury | |
| Creation date | 17 July 1821 |
|---|---|
| Created by | King George IV |
| Peerage | Peerage of the United Kingdom |
| First holder | Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury |
| Present holder | Michael Brudenell-Bruce, 8th Marquess |
| Heir apparent | David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan |
| Remainder to | the 1st Marquess's heirs male of the body lawfully begotten. |
| Subsidiary titles | Earl of Cardigan Earl of Ailesbury Earl Bruce Viscount Savernake Baron Brudenell Baron Bruce Baronet Brudenell of Deene Hereditary Warden of Savernake Forest |
Marquess of Ailesbury is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 17 July 1821 for Charles Brudenell-Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury.
On 18 March 1664, the 2nd Earl of Elgin in the Peerage of Scotland was created Earl of Ailesbury, Viscount Bruce, of Ampthill in the County of Bedford, and Baron Bruce, of Skelton in the County of York, all in the Peerage of England. The 3rd Earl of Ailesbury (and 4th Earl of Elgin) was created Baron Bruce, of Tottenham in the County of Wilts, on 17 April 1746, in the Peerage of Great Britain, but on his death in 1747, his English titles became extinct, except for the 1746 Barony of Bruce, which was inherited by his nephew Thomas Brudenell, fourth and youngest son of the 3rd Earl of Cardigan, by special remainder. His Scottish titles passed to the 9th Earl of Kincardine.
The 2nd Baron Bruce, who changed his surname to "Brudenell-Bruce", was then created Earl of Ailesbury, on 10 June 1776, in the Peerage of Great Britain. The 2nd Earl of Ailesbury was created Marquess of Ailesbury on 17 July 1821, along with the subsidiary titles Earl Bruce, of Whorlton in the County of York, and Viscount Savernake, of Savernake Forest in the County of Wilts, all in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. In 1868, the 2nd Marquess of Ailesbury inherited the Earldom of Cardigan, and so the Marquesses of Ailesbury now also hold the titles Earl of Cardigan (1661) and Baron Brudenell, of Stanton Wyvill in the County of Leicester (1628), in the Peerage of England, as well as being Baronets of England, styled "of Deene in the County of Northampton".
The county town of Buckinghamshire to which the title refers is now spelt "Aylesbury".
The heir apparent to the Marquessate bears the courtesy title Earl of Cardigan, and his heir apparent bears the title Viscount Savernake.
Ever since Thomas Bruce, 2nd Earl of Ailesbury succeeded his father in 1685, every Earl and Marquess of Ailesbury has also been a Hereditary Warden of Savernake Forest.[1] [2] This explains the usage of the title Viscount Savernake within the family. Although not an earl until 1685, Thomas Bruce had already inherited the Wardenship through his marriage to Lady Elizabeth Seymour[3] in 1676, as the Wardenship had previously been in the Seymour family.[4] The current Lord Ailesbury was the 30th such Warden, until he retired in 1987, at which time his son David Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan became the 31st Warden.[5]
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The heraldic blazon for the coat of arms of the marquessate is: Quarterly: 1st and 4th, or a saltire and chief gules on a canton argent a lion rampant azure (for Bruce); 2nd and 3rd, argent a chevron gules between three chapeaux to the sinister azure (for Brudenell). This can be translated as: a shield divided into quarters, the top left and bottom right golden with a red rectangle above and a red saltire over the top, in the top left of the quarter a white rectangle with a blue lion rampant (for the Bruce family); the top right and bottom left quarters white with a red chevron and three blue caps of state facing right (for the Brudenell family).
The heir apparent is the present holder's son David Michael James Brudenell-Bruce, Earl of Cardigan (b. 1952).
The heir apparent's heir apparent is his son Thomas James Brudenell-Bruce, Viscount Savernake (b. 1982).