Charles Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 11th Duke of Taunton

## His Grace

The Duke of Taunton

PC JP DL FRHistS

‘Frames’: The Duke by Martin Warne-Allanson

### Parents

Brig James Rupert Gilbert Henry Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet KT KCB CBE CVO DSO MC, 10th Duke of TauntonFrances Margaret Anne Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet (née Daubeny) DCVO DBE, Duchess of Taunton

### Known for

Landowning; scholarship; politics; cricket

### Honours and appoint-ments

PC; DL; Mention in Despatches; Territorial Decoration; &c; Fellow of All Souls, Oxon

### Service and affiliation

British Army, the Intelligence Corps (Major, ret’d); Iraq; Afghanistan

### Civilian awards and honours

Knight of the Order of the Garter; Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath; Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order; Knight of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire

### Clubs and associ-ations

MCC; Vincent’s (Blue, Oxon, cricket); The In & Out; The Rag; Savage; The Athenaeum; Boodle’s; Carlton; Farmers; Flyfishers’; Hurlingham; Oxford and Cambridge; Special Forces; White’s, &c

### Other titles

Marquess of Templecombe, Earl Fitzwarren, Earl of Dilton, Viscount and Baron Malet, Baron Daubeny, Baron Chard, Baron Beechbourne, Baron Marden and Widham

From Aristopaedia, the free, crowd-sourced encyclopaedia of the gentry, knightage, baronetage, and peerage, sponsored by *Cokayne’s* and *Black’s*

The Most Noble **Charles Arthur Donald Ivor Waldemar Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet** KG GCB GCVO KBE MiD TD PC JP DL FRHistS (born 13 July 1962), styled **Marquess of Templecombe** from 1975 to 2008 and known as **Charles Taunton,** is a British peer of the realm, historian, cricketer, and landowner.

As Commander of Clan Stewart of Camserney, His Grace bears the Gaelic bye-names of *Mac Raibeart / Mac Raibeart Dìuc / Mac Raibeart Prionnsa / Mac mhic Raibeart Stiubhaird / Mac Raibeart na Chamserney.*

## **Life**

The current Duke was born the elder son of Brigadier James Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet and Frances (Mrs James) Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, at which time the dukedom, which descends in accordance with the succession to the underlying earldom of Fitzwarren created in 1658 and confirmed in 1660, was in abeyance. The earldom of Fitzwarren was created by Charles II for the illegitimate son of James II when the latter was Duke of York,[1] and had fallen into abeyance when the 9th Duke of Taunton, unmarried and without issue, was killed in the Great War.[1] [2] The earldom and consequent dukedom and other titles were called out of abeyance in favour of the 10th duke in 1975,[2] when the present duke was at Eton; and the estates and monies held in trust during the abeyance became available to the 10th duke, whose circumstances had previously been somewhat straitened.[4] Charles Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, now the 11th Duke of Taunton, thereupon became Marquess of Templecombe by courtesy. His younger brother, Crispin Leonard George Valentine Gilbert Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet (1964 – 2015),[11] became Lord Crispin Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet by courtesy.

       The 10th Duke, prior to his succeeding to the title and retiring from the Army, was often abroad during his sons’ early years, in appointments – including liaison appointments – abroad, upon which postings his wife accompanied him.[9] When possible, their sons joined them for the longer school holidays; more commonly, their holidays were spent with much older members of the extended family. The current Duke credits the former instances with his liking, for example, Americans, and the latter instances with his having become an historian.[9] [12] His long friendship with the late Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, was based upon his ability to converse with her as if he were one of her contemporaries:[12] his imaginative immersion in the past allowed that, as it aided him as an historian.[12] [22]

Educated at Hawtreys and Eton College, His Grace took a First Class degree (in fact, a congratulatory First) at the University of Oxford, at Christ Church, and was elected a Fellow of All Souls.[31] As an undergraduate, following on from his captaincy of the Eton First XI, he captained Oxford Authentics and Oxford Blues (the OUCC First XI). He was awarded his Blue in cricket, is a member of Vincent’s, and is a member of the MCC.[37]

He served in the Conservative Research Department during the leadership and ministries of Margaret Thatcher, and was adamantly a ‘Dry’.[24] Sir Adam Ridley attributed to Lord Tebbit the aphorism that ‘Charles Templecombe’s the only Old Etonian in the Tory party who bats in the top order for the Old Estonian side’;[26] Lord Tebbit denies the attribution, and credits it to Michael, Lord Jopling.[18] [26] Lord Tebbit instead admits having said of the young Charles Templecombe that he was ‘the only man at CRD [Lord Tebbit] could be certain wasn’t a pansy’.[18] [26]

A noted polyglot, Charles Templecombe (as was) was commissioned into the Intelligence Corps and served in the Gulf War, and then again in Iraq and Afghanistan after 2001. His Grace is literate and fluent to native-speaker levels in Latin, Attic Greek, Koine, Mediaeval Greek, French, Arpitan, Provençal, Occitan, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Scots, Frisian, German, Faroese, Icelandic, Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Manx, Irish, Scots Gaelic, Russian, Polish, Basque (Euskara), Modern Standard Arabic, Classical Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Dari, Hindi, Hindustani, Urdu, Gujarati, Punjabi, Pashto, Pothwari, and Nepali (Gorkhali).[37] He is competent in a number of further tongues, from Mongolian, Tuvan, and Oirat, to Armenian to Walloon.[27] [49]

He succeeded to the dukedom on the death of his father in 2008.[2] Shortly before the 1997 General Election, John Major as Prime Minister began the process for calling Charles Templecombe, in his title of Marquess of Templecombe, to the House of Lords by a writ in acceleration,[14] but this was not completed prior to the election, and the new Prime Minister, Tony Blair, left the matter unfinished and proceeded to begin the process of reform which resulted in the House of Lords Act 1999, which rendered it moot.[14] [16] It was in this context that Tony Blair remarked that his government dared not allow into the Lords ‘the only intellectual in the hereditary peerage’.[30]

His Grace has since twice declined offers of a life peerage, and has called life peerages ‘instances, in the main and with perhaps twelve exceptions, of ministerial cronyism, the payroll vote, and evasions of the electors to the Commons, on a scale which should have staggered Lloyd George and Maundy Gregory’.[53] He has since added that he counts as one of those rare exceptions the life peerage granted Professor the Baroness Lacy (now Millicent, Duchess of Taunton), whom he married in February of 2017.[1] [11] [61][discussion: move to ‘Controversies’ category?]

The Duke’s principal seat is Wolfdown House, Woolfont Abbas, Wiltshire.[1] He also owns principal properties in Salisbury (Malet House), in Westminster (Taunton House), in Bath (Templecombe House, known as ‘No. 1, Bath’), and at Clentwood House, Upper Clatter, Worcs; Melverley Court, Melverley, Salop; Tidnock Hall, Marton, Cheshire; Camserney Castle, Lurgan, Perth & Kinross; and Luineag Lodge, Aultnancaber, Badenoch & Strathspey, Highland; in addition to a considerable number of lesser holdings, totalling some 113,174 acres in all.[1] [47]

He was sworn of the Privy Council in 2005, as Major Lord Templecombe,[1] and served on the Blackford Committee, an inquiry into intelligence failures occurring between 1991 and 2001; and was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant for Wiltshire in 2009.[1] [59] His Grace is an independent member of the Wiltshire Police & Crime Panel; Governor (Chairman), the Beechbourne Free School; Chairman, Board of Governors, the Agincourt Housing Association Trust; Patron & President, the Woolfonts & District Agricultural Show; President, the West Wiltshire Show; Master, the Duke of Taunton’s Hunt; churchwarden, SS Mary & Leonard, Woolfont Abbas; churchwarden, Woolfonts Combined Benefices; president, Woolfonts Combined CC; captain, Woolfonts Combined CC First XI; chairman, Woolfonts & District Fête Committee; chairman, the Woolfonts & Chickmarsh Railway; chairman, the Woolfonts & Chickmarsh Community Rail Partnership; chairman, The Woolfont Brewery Community Trust; and chairman, the Woolfonts, Beechbourne, and Chickmarsh Conservative Association. He is also the Hon. Colonel, 7 Military Intelligence Battalion; Deputy Hon. Col., 7th Bn, The Rifles; and Deputy Hon. Col., 39th (Skinners) Signal Regt (Volunteers).[1] [3]

His Grace is listed by the *Sunday Times* and *TheGuardian*[when?]as perhaps the second richest peer in the United Kingdom, with a net worth of ‘at least’ £825 million sterling.[4] [9] [36]

## **Military career**

He was commissioned into the Intelligence Corps (TA) in 1985 as a second lieutenant.[1] He was promoted lieutenant in 1987; promoted acting captain in 1992; promoted substantive captain in 1993; promoted acting major in 1998; and promoted substantive major in 2000. He was awarded the Territorial Decoration in 2002,[61] whilst on war service, having seen action in the First Gulf War in 1990 – 1991. He was recalled to active service in 2002 as a major, and insistently refused further promotion.

## The Duke of Taunton

### Service / Branch

British Army (Int Corps); Army Reserve, Commands and Staff

### Rank attained

Colonel

He was Mentioned in Despatches in 1991,[42] for actions taken in support of ground troops in February 1991 during Operation Granby, and in March 2006[68] for actions in Operation Herrick.

To the alarm of many who had thought themselves speaking carelessly to an effectively retired TA / Army Reserve Int Corps major, it was revealed, by Belated Entry gazetting in 2017, that His Grace had been recalled in 2011, and promoted to the substantive rank of Lieutenant Colonel 9 June 2016 with seniority from 4 January 2015, and promoted to the substantive rank of Colonel 10 January 2017 with seniority of the same date (Army Reserve / Commands and Staff).

## **Family**

The elder son of Brig James Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 10th Duke of Taunton, the 11th Duke descends from King James II and Frances Malet (later, Frances, Lady Holles) by their illegitimate son, James Edward Charles Henry Fitzjames, 1st Duke of Taunton.[1]

His paternal grandmother, Frances Elizabeth Anne Cicely, was the elder daughter of the Rt Revd Robert James Edward Charles David Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet DD, Bishop of Omagh, afterward Bishop of Solway & Cockermouth, the grandson of the 7th Duke of Taunton.[1]

One of his godfathers was the Poet Laureate, Sir John Betjeman, a biography of whom the Duke has written.[1] [121]

The current duke married, at the Church of SS Mary and Leonard, Woolfont Abbas, on 2 February 2017, Millicent Lacy, the Baroness Lacy, daughter of the Rev’d Hugh Walter Alan Lacy DD and Helen Joan Margaret (née Childe), daughter of Sir Miles Henry Alan Bullough Childe Bt MFH and Althaea Maud Anne, Lady Childe, daughter of Henry John Fitzroy Scudamore Esq. & Margery Anne Honoria (née Burke Roche).[1] [11] [61]

His Grace is, jointly with his cousin Christopher, Duke of Trowbridge and Warminster, the senior representative of the Malet family by descent from William Malet, one of the proven Companions of William the Conqueror.[3]

His younger brother, the late Lord Crispin Leonard George Valentine Gilbert Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, Master of Dilton, married, on 10 June 1986, at The Queen’s Chapel of the Savoy, the Hon. Constance Ivy Diana de Clifforde, daughter and only child of Rodger Alban Percival Thomas de Clifforde, 23rd Baron Mallerstang, 12th Baron Swarthfell, 9th / 11th Baron Mallerstang & Swarthfell, and Pamela Mary Penelope de Clifforde (née Portingale-Vypont), daughter of the 8th Earl of Wigan.[4] Lord Crispin died in 2015, Lady Crispin remarrying in February of 2017;[19] their children, Rupert Charles Edward Donald, Master of Dilton; James Denzil Valentine Gilbert; and Henrietta Maria Flora Anne, are the Duke’s heirs, Rupert, Master of Dilton (b. 1996), being now heir presumptive to the Dukedom, as well as to the barony of Mallerstang and Swarthfell through his mother.[26]

## **Career**

He holds the offices of
Hereditary Keeper & Constable of S Aldhelm’s Castle and
Hereditary Ranger of Yarncombe Forest, and is chairman of The Taunton
Estate.[1]

His Grace is a Deputy Lieutenant for Wiltshire; Chairman of the Bench of Magistrates; public member, Wilts Police & Crime Panel; sole proprietor, the Taunton Estate; trustee, the Taunton Estate Trust; patron & lay rector, S Margaret of Antioch Woolfont Magna, S Aldhelm Woolfont
Crucis, & SS Mary and Leonard Woolfont Abbas, and (with the
Bishop of Salisbury and the Master of Dilton *ex officio*) of
The Somerfords (Somerford Mally with Somerford Canons *alias*
Canonicorum, Somerford Tout Saints with Lamsford, Cliff Ambries with
Shifford Ombres and Combe Woddley *als* Waddlycombe) and
Harstbournes (Chalford Mallet with Hawksbourne, Harstbourne
Fitzwarren with Harstbourne Sallis and Harstbourne Fratrum *als*
Friars); a Fellow of All Souls; Governor (Chairman), the Beechbourne
Free School; Chairman, Board of Governors, the Agincourt Housing
Association Trust; Patron & President, the Woolfonts &
District Agricultural Show; Hon. Colonel, 7 Military Intelligence
Battalion; Deputy Hon. Col., 7th Bn, The Rifles; Deputy Hon. Col.,
39th (Skinners) Signal Regt (Volunteers); President, the West
Wiltshire Show; Master, the Duke of Taunton’s Hunt; public member,
2009 – 2012, Wilts Police Authority; churchwarden, SS Mary &
Leonard, Woolfont Abbas; churchwarden, Woolfonts Combined Benefices;
president, Woolfonts Combined CC; captain, Woolfonts Combined CC 1st
XI; chairman, Woolfonts & District Fête Committee; chairman, the
Woolfonts & Chickmarsh Railway; chairman, the Woolfonts &
Chickmarsh Community Rail Partnership; chairman, Woolfont Brewery
Community Trust; and chairman, the Woolfonts, Beechbourne, and
Chickmarsh Conservative Association.[1] [3] [74]

He was also
instrumental in securing the review and investigation being conducted
since 2016, by Wiltshire Police, into the failings of child
protection services and police services in Hampshire, Dorset, and
Thames Valley.[92]

## **Publications**

The Duke is a distinguished historian. He suffered a heart attack in 2015, which resulted in a memoir.[88]

## **Select Bibliography**

*Archbishop Laud and Honour* (Duff Cooper Prize)[49]

*Rose and Laurel: A History of the Intelligence Corps*

*Sir John, God Save You: a life of Betjeman*

*Beating the Bounds: the Wiltshire and Dorset Clubmen in 1645* (Wolfson Prize)[55]

*Steam in Sacrifice: Operation Herrick*

*Heart of Wessex: a cardiology patient’s personal memoir*

## **Controversies**

The famously Thatcherite Duke, who describes himself as ‘combative’,[66] is regularly quoted by the Press on political and cultural matters, as a spokesman for the High and Dry tendency within the Conservative Party. (HRH the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, famously and approvingly described him as ‘a man with a refreshing lack of diplomacy about him’.)[67] He has also taken public positions on the Right of the Church of England in ecclesiological and liturgical controversies. He is a High Churchman, and, as patron of numerous livings, has secured Alternative Episcopal Oversight for those parishes; he continues to deny that women can be validly ordained to Holy Orders in the Church of England.[67] In October of 2016, a minority on the PCC of the parish church of Saint Nicholas, Ravensport, Sefton, the right of presentation to which the Duke holds, criticised him, alleging he had packed the Parochial Church Council, for a period of years, with a majority who allow him to block all changes to and modernisations of worship; they further protested that the duke did not live in the parish or attend service there.[111]

His Grace backed Brexit strongly, and strenuously opposed the ‘Yes’ campaign in the Scottish independence referendum.[67] He has supported his protégé, friend, and neighbour, the celebrity chef Teddy Gates, as his local councillor, although Cllr Gates is a Liberal Democrat and stands as such, and was instrumental in ending the political careers of three Wiltshire councillors in nearby wards – a Conservative, a Labour councillor, and a Liberal Democrat – who had attempted to trick Cllr Gates into agreeing a plan for social housing in his ward rather than theirs, despite his ward’s being some ninety-eight per cent. scheduled or listed in one way or another.[67] [154] The duke then secured the return from the Ministry of Defence of some old barracks in the ward, under the Crichel Down rule, and had them razed and the land built over as a neo-Georgian estate for the housing of retired Gurkhas and their families.[154]

He has criticised the England and Wales Cricket Board severely on numerous occasions, and particularly, since late 2016, for its actions regarding Durham CCC, which the Duke has described as ‘a harsh sentence handed down by a tribunal more complicit in the failure than those being judged’.[67] [170]

The Duke also maintains a friendly but long-running dispute with Professor Dennis Farnaby, Student of Christ Church, Fellow of All Souls, and Tauntonian Professor of Ancient British History and Antiquities in the University of Oxford, concerning whether numerous sites proposed by Professor Farnaby as sacred or ritual landscapes are not instead part of the prehistoric military landscape.[67] [177] [178]

## **Marriage**

The Duke married Professor (Millicent) The Baroness Lacy on 2 February, 2017, in Woolfont Abbas parish church.[1] [11]

## **Ancestry**

#### **Ancestors of Charles Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 11th Duke of Taunton**

*Patrilineal descent*

The Duke’s patriline is the line from which he is descended father to son.

1. Alan or Alain, Dapifer Dolensis (Seneschal or Steward of the Ancient Diocese of Dol, in Brittany), fl. 11th century

2. Flaald fitz Alan, of Oswestry, fl. 1102

3. Alan fitz Flaad

4. Walter (Gautier) fitz Alan, 1st Hereditary Steward of Scotland (Dapifer Regis Scotiae), founder of Paisley Abbey, d. 1177

5. Alan the Steward (Alan Fitz Walter), Senescallus Regis Scotiae, 2nd (Hereditary) High Steward of Scotland, 1140–1204

6. Walter Óg (Walter the Steward, of Dundonald), Walterus filius Alani, Senescallus, Justiciar Scotiae, 3rd High Steward of Scotland, d. 1246

7. Alexander Stewart of Dundonald, 4th High Steward of Scotland, Crusader, d. 1283

8. Sir John Stewart of Bonkyll, d. 22 July 1298, k. at Battle of Falkirk

9. Sir Alan Stewart of Dreghorn, d. 19 July 1333, k. at Battle of Halidon Hill

10. Sir Alexander Stewart of Darnley, d. 1374

11. Sir Alexander Stewart of Darnley, d.1404

12. Sir John Stewart of Darnley, 1st Lord of Concressault and 1st Lord of Aubigny, Count of Évreux (c. 1380 – 1429)

13. Sir Alan Stewart of Darnley, d. 1439

14. John Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox, b. bef. 1430, d. between 8 July – 11 Sep 1495

15. Matthew Stewart, 2nd Earl of Lennox, b. bef. 5 May 1488, d. 9 September 1513, k. at Battle of Flodden Field

16. John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Lennox, b. c. 1490, d. 4 September 1526

17. Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, 21 September 1516 – 4 September 1571

18. Henry Stuart (or Stewart) of Darnley, Duke of Albany, 7 December 1545 – 10 February 1567

19. James VI, King of Scots (James I of England and Ireland)

20. Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland

21. Charles II of England, Scotland, and Ireland

22. James VII of Scotland and II of England and Ireland

23. James Edward Charles Henry Fitzjames, 1st Duke of Taunton

24. Charles Walter Alan Matthew Fitzjames, Marquess of Templecombe (predeceased his father)

25. Lord John Matthew Walter Alexander Fitzjames KP PC (Ire) DL, of Calverstown House, Co. Kildare, yr. br. of Henry Charles William George Fitzjames, ‘The Trimmer’, 2nd Duke of Taunton

26. Rear Admiral Sir Charles Edward James Henry Fitzjames-Clare KCB (the Irish line carefully and significantly changed their surname on each occasion to match that of the elder ducal line, whenever that line did the same)

27. Sir James Charles Edward Robert Fitzjames-Holles-Clare KP PC (Ire) DL

28. Sir Gerald Valentine Charles Edward Fitzjames-Holles-Clare KP PC (Ire) DL

29. Col. Sir James Edward Valentine Robert Fitzjames-Holles-Clare KB DSO (last of Calverstown, which passed by his daughter’s marriage to the Maynooths)

30. Sir Valentine Edward Charles James Fitzjames-Holles-Clare Bt PC PC (Ire) JP DL QC MP, Solicitor-General for Ireland from 3 July – 26 July 1892, ‘of Castle Clonmore’

31. The Very Revd Valentine Charles David Vivian Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet DD, Dean of Ardcath

32. Col. Sir Edward Vivian James Alexander de Clifforde Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet KB DSO, yr. br. of Venerable Gilbert Valentine Charles Henry Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet DD VC DSO, late briefly Archdeacon of Gibraltar (nominated 1914, never installed due to outbreak of war and immediate joining of HM Forces) and chaplain BEF in the Great War, d.s.p., elder br. of the Rt Revd David Alan Walter Robert Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet DD, Bishop of Omagh in eventual succession to his maternal cousin the Rt Revd Robert James Edward Charles David Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet DD, Bishop of Omagh, transl. Bishop of Solway & Cockermouth; m. Frances Elizabeth Anne Cicely, elder dau. of the said the Rt Revd Robert James Edward Charles David Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet DD

33. Brigadier James Rupert Gilbert Henry Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 10th Duke of Taunton, 26 February1933 – 28 August 2008

34. Charles Arthur Donald Ivor Waldemar Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet KG GCB GCVO KBE MiD TD, 10th Duke of Taunton, b. 13 July 1962

#### **Descent of the dukedom**

1. James Edward Charles Henry Fitzjames, 1st Duke of Taunton

1. 1. Charles Walter Alan Matthew Fitzjames, Marquess of Templecombe (predeceased his father) (see No. 24, above)

1. 1. 1. Lord John Matthew Walter Alexander Fitzjames KP PC (Ire) DL, of Calverstown House, Co. Kildare, *yr. br.* of Henry Charles William George Fitzjames, ‘The Trimmer’, 2nd

Duke of Taunton (see No. 25 *et sequitur,* above)

1. Henry Charles William George, ‘The Trimmer’, 2nd Duke of Taunton, grandson of James Edward Charles Henry Fitzjames, the 1st Duke

1. Gilbert James Henry Edward, 3rd Duke of Taunton

1. Charles Edward James Richard, 4th Duke of Taunton

1. William George Charles Edward, 5th Duke of Taunton

1. Edward Henry Charles James, 6th Duke of Taunton

1. Denzil Frederick Gerald Thomas, 7th Duke of Taunton

1. 1. Lord Henry Charles Rupert James David Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, second son

1. 1. 1. The Rt Revd Robert James Edward Charles David Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet DD, Bishop of Omagh, *transl.* Bishop of Solway & Cockermouth

1. 1. 1. 1. Frances Elizabeth Anne Cicely, married Col. Sir Edward Vivian James Alexander de Clifforde Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet KB DSO (No. 32, above)

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Brigadier James Rupert Gilbert Henry Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 10th Duke of Taunton

1. Gilbert Edmund Charles Robert Alan, 8th Duke of Taunton

1. James Charles Valentine Donald Gerald, 9th Duke of Taunton, *d.s.p.* 1916

1. Brigadier James Rupert Gilbert Henry Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 10th Duke of Taunton, as above

1. Charles Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 11th and present Duke of Taunton

The heir presumptive to the dukedom is His Grace’s nephew, his brother’s son, Rupert; the heir presumptive to the heir presumptive is Rupert’s younger brother James Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet. Should neither Rupert, Master of Dilton, nor his brother, produce legitimate sons, the succession should become somewhat complicated were circumstances unchanged from their present state in 2017. An abeyance in the underlying Fitzwarren Earldom might easily occur, resulting in an abeyance of the dukedom. (Henrietta Maria Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, by contrast, could under certain circumstances succeed to the dukedoms of Trowbridge and Warminster, which were created so as to allow for *suo jure* female holders: indeed, the first Duchess of Warminster was the *other* Frances Malet, mother of the first Duke of Trowbridge and cousin to that Frances (Malet), Lady Holles, who was the mother of the first Duke of Taunton.)

## **Peerages**

In the peerage of England:

Duke of Taunton, Marquess of Templecombe, Earl Fitzwarren, Viscount and Baron Malet, Baron Daubeny, Baron Chard, Baron Beechbourne, Baron Marden and Widham

In the peerage of Scotland:

Earl of Dilton

## **Titles and styles from birth**

13 July 1962 – 15 February 1975: Mr Charles Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet

15 February 1975 – 28 August 2008: Charles, Marquess of Templecombe [also Master of Dilton, in Scotland]

2Lt Lord Templecombe (1985 - 1987)

Lt Lord Templecombe (1987 – 1989)

Lt Lord Templecombe MiD (1991 – 1992)

Capt (acting) Lord Templecombe MiD (1992)

Capt Lord Templecombe MiD (1993 – 1998)

Capt Lord Templecombe MiD FRHistS (1998)

Maj (acting) Lord Templecombe MiD FRHistS (1998 – 2000)

Maj Lord Templecombe MiD FRHistS (2001 – 2001)

Maj Lord Templecombe MiD TD FRHistS (2002 – 2005)

Maj Lord Templecombe MiD TD PC FRHistS (2005 – 2006)

Maj Lord Templecombe MVO MiD TD PC FRHistS (2006 – 2007)

Maj Lord Templecombe CB MVO MiD TD PC FRHistS (2007 – 2008)

28 August 2008 – present: His Grace The Duke of Taunton KG GCB GCVO KBE MiD TD PC JP DL FRHistS (KG, 2008; KCB, 2009, GCB, 2012; LVO, 2010, CVO, 2012, KCVO, 2014, GCVO, 2016; KBE, 2016; JP, 2008; DL, 2009)

## **Arms**

**Arms of Charles Fitzjames-Holles-Clare-Malet, 11th Duke of Taunton**

**Notes**

**The coat of arms of the Duke of Taunton**

**Coronet**

The coronet of a Duke

**Crest**

Issuant from a ducal coronet Or, a lion’s gamb Gules, armed Azure

**Escutcheon**

Quarterly: 1st grand quarter, the Royal Arms of James II (*viz.* quarterly: 1st and 4th, France and England quarterly; 2nd, Scotland; 3rd, Ireland), the whole within a Bordure compony Azure charged with Roses Argent barbed and seeded proper and the last; 2nd grand quarter, quarterly, 1st and 4th, Ermine, a chief indented (*alt.,* pily; *alt.,* dancetty) Sable (Holles of Lacethwaite); 2nd and 3rd, Azure, a fess argent, three pelicans (two and one) vulning themselves proper (Pelham of Tidnock); 3rd grand quarter, party per pale Or and Gules, three chevronels Gules and Or countercharged of the field, on a chief Azure three mullets of five points Or, voided Gules (Clare of Welsheverney); 4th grand quarter, quarterly, 1st and 4th, Sable, a fess Argent, three buckles (two and one) Or, 2nd and 3rd, Azure, a fess Or, three buckles (two and one) Argent (Malet of Wolfdown).

*Note:* Since his marriage to the Baroness Lacy, who is by the death of her brother her father’s heraldic heiress, the duke’s arms bear a marital escutcheon of pretence of her paternal arms, which are, quarterly, 1st, Or, three lioncels rampant Purpure, a chief of the second (de Lacy); 2nd, quarterly Or and Gules, a bend Sable, over all a label of five points Argent (Lacy of Lincoln, Pontefract, Halton, and Bowland); 3rd, Azure, five fusils Or conjoined in fess (Percy ancient); 4th, Or, a fess Gules, a bend Sable, over all a label of seven points Argent (Lacy of Meath).

**Supporters**

*Dexter:* A boar Azure, langued and pizzled Gules, armed and tufted Or

*Sinister:* A stag proper, attired and armed Or, gorged with a collar Sable bordered Or bezanty of the last

**Motto**

*Deus vult* (Latin for ‘God wills it so’)

## **See also**

* OUCC (Oxford University Cricket Club)

* Vincent’s Club
* Intelligence Corps (United Kingdom)
* Duke of Taunton
* Earl of Dilton
* *Master of Dilton*
* Duke of Trowbridge and Warminster
* Millicent Lacy, The Baroness Lacy, Duchess of Taunton
* Marquess of Badenoch
* Earl of Maynooth
* Nawab of Hubli
* Baron Builth
* Prothero-Fane family
* Crown Colony of Malta
* Governors and Lieutenant Governors of Malta (1801 – 1964)
* Bishop of Omagh (Church of Ireland)
* Bishop of Solway and Cockermouth
* Dean of Ardcath (Church of Ireland)
* Archdeacon of Gibraltar (Church of England)
* Baron Mallerstang and Swarthfell
* Malet family
* Earls & Marquesses of Breckland and Swaffham
* Fenton family
* Earl of Wigan
* De Clare
* Holles
* Pelham
* House of Stuart
* Stuart of Camserney
* Illegitimate branches of the House of Stuart
* de Clifforde
* Daubeny family
* Penruddocke-Rivers family
* Scudamore-Vaux
* Chattan-Stewart-Gunn family
* Clan Ay
* The McCammond
* Wolfdown House
* Tidnock Hall, Cheshire
* Taunton House, W1
* Malet House, Salisbury
* Templecombe House (‘Number One, Bath’)
* Clentwood House, Worcs
* Melverley Court, Salop
* Camserney Castle, Perth & Kinross
* Luineag Lodge, Highland
* Calverstown House, Co. Kildare, Ireland
* Castle Clonmore, Co. Carlow, Ireland
* Avard / Eilean a’ bhàird / Scalday, island, Hebrides
* Wodewough Wood
* Wodewough Man
* All Souls College, Oxford
* Tauntonian Professor of Ancient British History and Antiquities (University of Oxford)
* Duchess of Taunton Scholarship Trust
* Childe Lacy Prize in Military History
* Woolfonts Combined Cricket Club
* The Great Vale Dig (archæological project)
* Agincourt Estates, Woolfont Abbas, Wilts
* The Woolfonts, Wilts
* SS Mary and Leonard (parish church), Woolfont Abbas
* S Margaret of Antioch (parish church), Woolfont Magna
* S Aldhelm (parish church), Woolfont Crucis
* The Woolfont Brewery
* Woolfonts & Chickmarsh Railway (steam railway)
* Balhomais Distillery, Perthshire
* Kilrush / Calverstown Distillery, Co. Kildare
* The Fonts (Northern Soul charity vocal group)