Gerald FitzGerald, 8th Duke of Leinster (27 May 1914 – 3 December 2004) was an Irish peer.
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He was the eldest son of Edward FitzGerald, 7th Duke of Leinster by his first wife May Etheridge. He inherited the peerage titles on the death of his father in 1976.
Educated at Eton, the Duke spent most of his childhood being cared for by Lady Maurice FitzGerald, an aunt of his father, at Johnstone Castle, County Wexford, where he enjoyed riding and hunting. He was given the courtesy title of Marquess of Kildare in 1922 when his father inherited the Leinster titles. He became a cadet at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and took a commission in the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards, with whom he served as a major in the Second World War. He was invalided out of the Army after being wounded in Normandy.
After the war the Duke tried to farm the estate at Kilkea Castle, County Kildare, Ireland, but it proved unprofitable, and in the early 1960s he moved to Oxfordshire and worked in the aviation industry. It was at his Oxfordshire home that, in 1976, the police were called to prevent his father making off with over £100,000 by way of a painting by Joshua Reynolds and a tapestry. His father died the same year; however he was prevented from receiving his title due to an American-based impostor claiming to be the son of his father's elder brother, Desmond (d. 1916).[1]
Similarly, in 1999, the Duke failed in his attempts to prevent a half-brother being formally recognised in both Debrett's Peerage and Burke's Peerage. This man, Adrian FitzGerald, was the illegitimate son of the 7th Duke by Yvonne Probyn, great-niece of Sir Dighton Probyn, VC, Keeper of the Privy Purse to Edward VII.
The Duke married first, on 17 October 1936, Joane McMorrough-Kavanagh (1915–1994); they had three daughters, one of whom died in infancy:
The marriage was dissolved by divorce in 1946
On 12 June 1946 he married, secondly, Anne Eustace Smith (b. 6 May 1922), with whom he had two sons:
After Gerald FitzGerald became 8th Duke of Leinster in 1976, a Californian artist and teacher, Leonard FitzGerald, claimed to be the rightful Duke of Leinster. He said to be the son of Lord Desmond FitzGerald, the second of three sons of Gerald FitzGerald, 5th Duke of Leinster, and who was thought to have been killed in the First World War while serving in the Irish Guards. Leonard FitzGerald claimed that Lord Desmond however secretly emigrated to North America and lived there until his death in 1967. Would this be the case, then he should have inherited the dukedom. On advice of his doctor, because of ill health, Leonard FitzGerald withdrew his claim and died in 1994. The claim is continued by his son Paul FitzGerald who filed a suit about this with the Department of Constitutional Affairs in 2006.[2]
| Peerage of Ireland | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Edward FitzGerald |
Duke of Leinster 1976–2004 |
Succeeded by Maurice FitzGerald |