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- BIOGRAPHY
He was educated at Eton and at St.John's College, Cambridge. At the age of thirteen and after his father's death, he became 5th Duke of Buccleuch and 7th Duke of Queensberry. In 1822, aged only sixteen, he entertained King George IV for two weeks at Dalkeith House, Edinburgh.
On the 13th of August 1829 at St.George's, Hanover Square, he married Lady Charlotte Anne Thynne who in 1860 became a Roman Catholic.
He was Lord Lieutenant of Midlothian from 1828 and of Roxburgh from 1841 till his death. As Captain-General of the Royal Body Guard of Archers from 1838 also until death, he carried the gold stick at the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838.
From 1835 until 1842 he built the pier and breakwater at Granton, on the Forth, 4 miles from Edinburgh, paying all the cost of 500,000 pounds. From the 1st until 6th September 1842 he entertained Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at Dalkeith House. In Peel's ministery he was Lord Privy Seal from February 1842 until January 1846. In this function Greville called him 'Worse than useless' but acknowledged the Duke as being good-humoured.
He was President of the Society of Antiquaries from 1862 until 1873, and Chancellor of the University of Glasgow from 1878 till his death. After his demise he was described as follows: 'His great position and vast estates made him something of a 'grand seigneur', though his habits were simple, and his appearance rather that of an Elder of the Kirk. He always wore a dark grey cutaway coat, shepherd's plaid trousers, and a cap with a large peak, and out of doors carried a plaid over his shoulder. His manner was brusque, and he was fond of a rough sort of chaff, but no one had a kinder heart.'
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