Duke of Atholl

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Coat of arms of the Duke of Atholl

Duke of Atholl is a hereditary British title in the Peerage of Scotland , named after the Scottish region of Atholl .

The Duke is Clan Chief of Clan Murray and is regimental owner of the Atholl Highlanders , his ceremonial bodyguard.

Award, subordinate and other titles

The title was created on June 30, 1703 for John Murray, 2nd Marquess of Atholl . Together with the Dukedom he was given the subordinate titles Marquess of Tullibardine , in the County of Perth , Earl of Strathtay and Strathardle , in the County of Perth, Viscount of Balwhidder, Glenalmond and Glenlyon , in the County of Perth and Lord Murray, Balvenie and Gask , in the County of Perth. The titles were conferred with the special addition that in the absence of male descendants they could also be inherited by his father's male descendants.

A few weeks earlier, when his father died on May 7, 1703, he had inherited the latter's title, namely the title created on February 17, 1676, Marquess of Atholl, Earl of Tullibardine, Viscount of Balquhidder and Lord Murray, Balvany and Gask , the title created in 1629 Earl of Atholl , the titles Earl of Tullibardine and Lord Murray, Gask and Balquhidder created in 1628 and the title Lord Murray of Tullibardine created in 1604 . All titles mentioned belong to the Peerage of Scotland.

Blair Castle
The Atholl Highlanders in front of Blair Castle (1998)

The historic family seat of the Dukes was Blair Castle in Blair Atholl , Scotland until 1996 . In the second Jacobite Rebellion , Blair Castle was besieged and attacked by Jacobite Lord George Murray, brother of the 2nd Duke of Atholl. This siege, undertaken by a family member of the Murrays himself, is believed to be the final siege of a British castle.

The 2nd and 4th to 9th Duke inherited the title Baron Strange , which was created in 1628 in the Peerage of England .

The 4th Duke was on August 18, 1786 in the Peerage of Great Britain, the titles Earl Strange and Baron Murray , of Stanley in the County of Gloucester , bestowed. The 6th Duke inherited in 1837 from his father James Murray, 1st Baron Glenlyon the title of Baron Glenlyon , which was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom . The 7th Duke inherited the title Baron Percy, created in 1722 due to procedural errors, in 1865 .

When the 9th Duke died in 1957, the Earldom of Strange and the baronies of Murray and Glenlyon became extinct, the Baronies of Strange fell to Abeyance and the Barony of Percy to the 10th Duke of Northumberland . Iain Murray inherited the Dukedom Atholl and the other titles as 10th Duke. After his death in 1996, his distant cousin John Murray, 11th Duke of Atholl (1929-2012) inherited his title and the then associated seat in the House of Lords . There he sat as a non-party. He lost his seat through the House of Lords Act 1999 . He was not listed in the Register of Hereditary Peers , which are available for by-election. Blair Castle , however, had bequeathed the 10th Duke to a foundation, as John Murray showed no intention to move from his native South Africa to Scotland by taking over the Duke. Since his death in 2012, his son Bruce Murray (* 1960) is the 12th Duke of Atholl; he also lives in South Africa.

The Duke's eldest son carries the courtesy title of Marquess of Tullibardine as his heir apparent .

List of title owners

Marquesses of Atholl (1676)

Dukes of Atholl (1703)

Heir apparent is the eldest son of the current title holder Michael Bruce John Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine (* 1985).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hugh Montgomery-Massingsberd: Castles and noble seats in Scotland. Könemann, Cologne 1997, p. 19.
  2. ^ Register of Hereditary Peers Publication on the UK Parliament's website, accessed December 26, 2012