Name James 5th | ||
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Born 4 July 1934 (age 90) ( 1934-07-04 ) Spouse Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn (m. 1966) People also search for Alexandra Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn Parents James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn, Kathleen Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn Grandparents Henry Crichton, Mary Cavendish Grosvenor | ||
James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn, KG (born 4 July 1934) is a British nobleman, peer, and politician. He became Duke of Abercorn in the Peerage of Ireland on the death of his father in June 1979. He was the son of James Edward Hamilton, 4th Duke of Abercorn, and Lady Mary Crichton (daughter of Lt.-Col. Henry William Crichton, Viscount Crichton (1872–1914), eldest son of John Crichton, 4th Earl Erne). He is a former politician and Lord Steward of the Household.
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Career
Educated at Eton College and the Royal Agricultural College, in 1952 he was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards. In 1964 he became Ulster Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone (when he held the courtesy title Marquess of Hamilton), succeeding his brother-in-law, Lord Robert Grosvenor (later Duke of Westminster). He held his seat in the 1966 election but lost it to Frank McManus in 1970 by 1,423 votes. In 1970 he served as High Sheriff of Tyrone, and from 1986 to 2009 as Lord Lieutenant of County Tyrone. In 1999, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter. He was colonel of the Irish Guards from 2000 to 2008. Additionally, he was appointed Lord Steward of the Household in 2001, serving until 2009.
He owns more than 15,000 acres (61 km2). His seat is Baronscourt, near Newtownstewart, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The Dukedom of Abercorn is in the Peerage of Ireland and did not carry an entitlement to a seat in the House of Lords, but until 1999 the Duke was entitled to sit there under his subsidiary title Marquess of Abercorn, in the Peerage of Great Britain. He was appointed Chancellor of the Order of the Garter on 17 October 2012.
Family
In 1966 he married Alexandra Anastasia "Sacha" Phillips (b. 27 February 1946), eldest daughter of Lt.-Col. Harold Pedro Joseph Phillips (1909–1980) and Georgina Wernher (1919–2011), elder daughter and co-heiress of Sir Harold Wernher, 3rd Baronet, of Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire. She is the elder sister of Natalia, widow of the 6th Duke of Westminster.
The Duke and Duchess of Abercorn have two sons and a daughter:
He is also a relative of Diana, Princess of Wales as he is the first cousin of Diana's father, the 8th Earl Spencer. The current duke's father, the 4th Duke of Abercorn was the brother of Diana's grandmother, Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke of Cambridge, Prince Harry, Prince George of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge are his distant cousins.