Ralph Beauclerk

Updated on Nov 26, 2023

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Died 2007

Rafael Charles (Ralph) Beauclerk (1917–2007), 7th Marquis de Valero de Urría, was in remainder to the dukedom of Saint Albans.

Both parents of Rafael Beauclerk were of aristocratic ancestry. His father was engineer William Topham Sidney Beauclerk (1864–1950), whose great-grandfather was Topham Beauclerk, who was in turn a grandson of the 1st Duke of St Albans. His mother was Lola, Countess de Peñalver (died 19 November 1972), only surviving child of Enrique, Marquis de Arcos.

Educated at Downside School and then in France, Captain Beauclerk served with distinction as a military intelligence officer during World War II.

After military service, he became a merchant banker overseas including in Hong Kong and Shanghai. In 1972, he succeeded his grandmother in one of his Spanish family's marquessates of Valero de Urría; a relation of his is Esther Koplowitz, now 8th Marquise de Casa Peñalver.

Personal life

On 24 August 1957 at Saigon, Vietnam, he married Noirine Mary Bowen (died 20 January 1997), daughter of James Bowen, of Bowen's Cross, County Cork; they had two children:

Dolores Mary Beauclerk (born 11 Jul 1958), married Dr Richard Makower and has three children.

William Rafael Beauclerk (born 14 Aug 1961), formerly a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy serving on HMY Britannia, now 8th Marquis de Valero de Urría. His wife, since 1986, is Margaret Eleanor Mountjoy; the present Marquis and Marquise have a daughter and two sons:

Charlotte Mary Beauclerk (born 24 July 1987), heir apparent to the marquessate.

Alexander Charles Beauclerk (born 11 February 1990).

Cameron William Beauclerk (born 25 March 1993).