Henry Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort

The Duke of Beaufort
Spouse(s)	Lady Victoria Constance Mary Cambridge
Noble family	House of Beaufort
Father	Henry Somerset, 9th Duke of Beaufort
Mother	Louise Emily Harford
Born	4 April 1900(1900-04-04)
Died	5 February 1984(1984-02-05) (aged 83)

Henry Hugh Arthur FitzRoy Somerset, 10th Duke of Beaufort KG GCVO KStJ PC (4 April 1900 – 5 February 1984), styled Marquess of Worcester until 1924, was a British peer.

Background and education

Somerset was the son of Henry Somerset, 9th Duke of Beaufort. He was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from which he was commissioned into the Royal Horse Guards.

Military service

Beaufort left the Army after a few years with the rank of Lieutenant. He was Honorary Colonel of the 21st (Royal Gloucestershire Hussars) Armoured Car Company, Territorial Army between 1969 and 1971 and Honorary Colonel of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry between 1971 and 1984, and the Warwickshire Yeomanry between 1971 and 1972.

Public appointments

After the International Horse Show of 1933 was abandoned, a new committee headed by the young Beaufort succeeded in re-establishing the event at Olympia in 1934.

Beaufort was Master of the Horse (1936–1978), to three British Sovereigns, King Edward VIII, King George VI, and Elizabeth II. He was widely known as Master, not because of his office under the Crown, but because of his long service as Master of the Beaufort Hounds. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) in 1930, a Privy Counsellor in 1936, a Knight of the Garter in 1937 and was awarded the decoration of the Royal Victorian Chain in 1953.

He was Steward of Tewkesbury between 1948 and 1984, Hereditary Keeper of Raglan Castle, Lord Lieutenant of Bristol from 1931 to 1974 and Lord High Steward of Bristol, Tewkesbury and Gloucestershire. He also held the office of Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire between 1931 and 1984 and was Chancellor of the University of Bristol from 1965 to 1970.

Personal life

Beaufort married the Lady Victoria Constance Mary Cambridge (1897–1987), daughter of Adolphus Cambridge, 1st Marquess of Cambridge and niece of Queen Mary, on 14 June 1923. They had no issue. Beaufort died in 1984, aged 83 at his seat, Badminton House. On his death, the baronies of Botetourt and Herbert fell into abeyance between the several descendants of his elder sister, Lady Blanche Linnie Douglas (d. 1968) — between the two daughters of his elder niece Lady Rosemary Rubens (who predeceased him in 1963) who inherited a fourth share each in two baronies, and his surviving niece Lady Cathleen Hudson (who d. 1994) who inherited the junior half share in the baronies. His other titles passed to his distant cousin, David. The abeyance on the Herbert barony was eventually terminated in 2002 in favour of his great-nephew David John Seyfried.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Paul Theroff. An Online Gotha - Beaufort. Retrieved 30 April 2009.
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Duke of Beaufort

Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Granard	Master of the Horse 1936–1978	Succeeded by The Earl of Westmorland
Academic offices
Preceded by Winston Churchill	Chancellor of the University of Bristol 1965–1970	Succeeded by Dorothy Hodgkin
Court offices
Preceded by The Earl Beauchamp	Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire 1931–1984	Succeeded by Martin Gibbs
Peerage of England
Preceded by Henry Somerset	Duke of Beaufort 1924–1984	Succeeded by David Somerset
	Baron Botetourt 1924–1984	In abeyance
	Baron Herbert 1924–1984	In abeyance Title next held by David Seyfried-Herbert, 2002