Charles Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans

Charles, 13th Duke of St. Albans
(London, 1981 by Allan Warren).

Charles Frederick Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk, 13th Duke of St Albans, OBE (16 August 1915 – 8 October 1988) was a British soldier and peer.

OBE insignia

Background

St Albans was the son of Aubrey Topham Beauclerk by his marriage to Gwendolen Loftus Hughes. A great-grandson of William Beauclerk, 8th Duke of St Albans, by the mid 1920s it seemed possible that he would inherit the dukedom, as the wife of his second cousin Osborne Beauclerk, 12th Duke of St Albans, was past child-bearing age.

Charles St Albans was educated at Hordle House School, Eton and Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Career

Commissioned in the British Army, he reached the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of the Intelligence Corps before the age of 30, and later was deployed to the British Embassy in Vienna. He moved to London after the birth of his fourth son, and joined the Central Office of Information. He became head in turn of the Film, Radio and Book divisions. He inherited the dukedom from his cousin in 1964, after which he left the Central Office of Information. He attempted to rebuild the family fortunes through a series of misguided ventures, which led to massive personal losses for himself, and accusation of mishandling of share dealing in relation to the company Grendon Securities.

As Hereditary Grand Falconer of England, the Duke had an ancient entitlement to an annual side of venison from deer culled in the Royal Parks, which he gave to charity.

In the 1970s St Albans moved to Vence in France, before becoming a resident of Monaco.

Family

He married Nathalie Chatham Walker on 21 March 1938 and they divorced in 1947; she died in 1985; they had one child:

• Murray Beauclerk, 14th Duke of St Albans (born 19 January 1939)

He married Suzanne Marie Adèle Fesq on 19 March 1947; they had four children:

• Lord Peter Charles de Vere Beauclerk (born 13 January 1948), married firstly 17 May 1972 and divorced 1978 Beverly Bailey, and married secondly 1999 Lechima Tsering Dolma Gyalpo, and had:
  • Robin de Vere Beauclerk (24 February 1971 – 10 June 1973)
  • Angela Grace de Vere Beauclerk (born 24 December 1974), unmarried and without issue
  • Tenzin Jinpa de Vere Beauclerk (born 2005)
  • Tenzin Yontan de Vere Beauclerk (born ca. January 2008)
• Lord James Charles Fesq de Vere Beauclerk (born 6 February 1949), unmarried and without issue
• Lord John William Aubrey de Vere Beauclerk (born 10 February 1950), married firstly in 1986 and divorced in 2000 Caroline Anne Heath, daughter of Mrs B. Wilkinson, of the Isle of Wight, and married secondly 2000 Joanna Kolaczinska, and had:
  • Gianni Emrys [Heath?] Beauclerk (born 1979)
  • Mayasuni Ann [Heath?] Beauclerk (born 28 April 1978 in Lima, Peru), married 2006 Archduke Philipp of Austria (born 1962), grandson of Archduke Maximilian Eugen of Austria
  • Kiatsi Sofia Beauclerk (born 12 Oct 1984), married in Norbury on 26 October 2013 David Whittock
  • Annamary Beauclerk (born by second wife 6 May 1998)
• Lady Caroline Anne de Vere Beauclerk (born 19 July 1951), married 11 Jul 1970 and divorced in 1986 Neil St.John ffrench Blake (? - 24 August 2016)
• stillborn daughter (born 15 November 1963)

Sources

• Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th Edition, edited by Charles Mosley, Wilmington, Delaware, 2003, vol III, pp. 3459-3466, ISBN 0-9711966-2-1

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by The Duke of St Albans
• The House of Nell Gwyn: Fortunes of the Beauclerk Family, Donald Adamson (William Kimber, Ldn 1974)