The Duke of Roxburghe
Scottish landowner who carefully expanded the commercial potential of his family seat Floors Castle
THE 10TH DUKE OF ROXBURGHE, who has died aged 64, was a Scottish Duke, responsible for looking after the ancestral seat, Floors Castle in Kelso, and making the Roxburghe estates commercially viable – a delicate balance between a family home and a business enterprise.
Floors Castle had been built for the 1st Duke in 1721 and remodelled by William Playfair between 1837 and 1847. It stands in an imposing position, overlooking the River Tweed and the distant Cheviot Hills, the Roxburghe estates comprising 60,000 acres.
Having succeeded his father in 1974 after the 9th Duke’s sudden and unexpected death, Guy Roxburghe was faced with safeguarding his inheritance against future death duties and steering the estate from an overreliance on agriculture.
The castle was in need of modernisation. Within three years the Duke had opened it to the public. He was keen to maximise its tourist potential and expand the operations of the estate, which consisted of 45 tenanted farms, extensive hill farming, two grouse moors, salmon fishing and 3,500 acres of woodland.
This made sound commercial sense, and so he did not suffer from any of the stigma that had clung to pioneer stately home openers, such as the 13th Duke of Bedford and the late Lord Montagu of Beaulieu. By the time of his death, the estate was managed to a high professional degree, and had diversified to comprise areas such as tourism, commercial sport, forestry, bloodstock and renewable energy.
He opened the Roxburghe Hotel (his second wife decorating a number of the rooms) and, as an avid golfer, established the Roxburghe Championship Golf Course in the grounds in 1997. This became home to the Scottish Seniors Open for five years and hosted the 2008 Boys Amateur Championship, Colin Montgomerie describing it as a perfect course for both professionals and amateurs. (The hotel and course were sold to a German developer in 2018.) Elsewhere on the estate, the Duke offered clay shooting, riding, cycling, guided walks and 4x4 driving.
He explored the possibilities of corporate entertainment, with his celebrated chef, Alasdair Stewart, cooking the meals and the wines coming from his own cellar. He owned his own wine company, and property in Australia. His mother having married a Hambro in widowhood, he was invited by James Hambro to become a non-executive director of Circle Property Management. He was also director of a golf management company.
The Duke was keen on racing and ran a small stud farm (which his father had founded in 1947), he
and the Duchess becoming the most successful Scottish breeders of their day. They achieved international prominence with Attraction, born in 2001 and such a successful filly that one trainer remarked that “it looked like God had taken a day off when he created her”. Attraction was the first horse to win both the 1,000 Guineas and the Irish 1,000 Guineas.
He was a Director of Kelso Races, a Steward of the Jockey Club, and chairman of the Disciplinary Panel of the British Horse Racing Authority.
The Duke did much to preserve the River Tweed and its fisheries, and was an accomplished fly fisherman, catching some 12 salmon on the same day in November 1994. He was also a noted community man, creating a fund which invested over £1 million in local community projects.
Following his first bout of cancer of the oesophagus in 2009, which he fought valiantly, he undertook a 190-mile walk with Henry Wyndham, Chairman of Sotheby’s, and they raised £1.3 million for cancer research.
Guy Roxburghe was a man who lived very much in the present, while respecting and aware of his heritage. He was the representative of two distinguished Scottish families – Ker and Innes. The Kers settled in the forest of Selkirk in the Lowlands in the 14th century, while an Innes was granted a barony by King Malcolm IV of Scotland in 1160. The families were united in 1812.
The Kers became prominent in the 15th and 16th centuries by a series of advantageous marriages to heiresses, thus consolidating their estates. Sir Robert Ker, later 1st Earl of Roxburghe, was held in high favour by King James VI of Scotland and accompanied him on his journey south to ascend the English throne as James I. He was Lord Privy Seal under Charles I. His title passed through the female line to the fourth son of the 2nd Earl of Perth, who succeeded as 2nd Earl of Roxburghe. It was the 5th Earl, Secretary of State for Scotland and a Lord Regent before the arrival of George I, who was created Duke of Roxburghe in 1707.
The unmarried 3rd Duke is remembered for the magnificent library he assembled. A group of bibliophiles formed the Roxburghe Club to purchase the 9,353 lots in 1812, and the club thrives to this day. At one point the dukedom fell into abeyance, but in 1812 it was granted to Sir James Innes, Bt (1736-1823).
Among later Dukes, the 8th Duke married May Goelet, one of the celebrated New York heiresses, who greatly enriched Floors Castle with her fine furniture, tapestries, porcelain and oriental ceramics. He was Guy Roxburghe’s grandfather.
Guy’s father, the 9th Duke, was first married to Lady Mary Crewe-milnes, daughter of the Marquess of Crewe (who lived at West Horsley Place and died in 2014, aged 99). They were childless, and when the marriage foundered, he cut off all the electricity and water at Floors until her friend, Sir Alec Douglas-home, reminded her that there was then no insurance, forcing the Duke to come to a swift settlement. They were divorced in 1953 and the following year the Duke married Guy’s mother, Elisabeth Mcconnel (formerly Mrs Church).
Guy David Innes-ker was born on November 18 1954, the 9th Duke’s elder son by his second wife. He was educated at Eton and studied land economy at Magdalene College, Cambridge. He went to Sandhurst, where he was awarded the Sword of Honour. He became a Lieutenant in the Blues and Royals, serving in Ulster.
He succeeded his father when he was only 19, while serving in Cyprus, also becoming a Baronet, and 30th feudal Baron of Innes. He was a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and a Freeman of the City of London.
In 1977 he married Lady Jane Grosvenor, younger daughter of
5th Duke of Westminster and sister of Leonora, Countess of Lichfield. This marriage was in the Roxburghe tradition, the Kers having consistently married a succession of heiresses. The union joined several families prominent in British society.
The Roxburghes had two sons and a daughter, but divorced in 1990. Jane later married Edward (Ned) Dawnay, of Hillington Hall, Norfolk. They were friendly with Prince Andrew, who was godfather to their second son, Lord Edward Innes-ker, born in 1984. It was in a guest bedroom at Floors Castle in 1986 that the Prince proposed to Sarah Ferguson. Appropriately, Lady Rosanagh Innes-ker, the Duke’s daughter, was a bridesmaid at the York wedding in 1986.
In 1992 the Duke remarried, his second wife being Virginia Wynnwilliams, daughter of David Wynnwilliams. Together they had a further son and daughter.
His cancer returned in 2019. The dukedom now passes to Charles, Marquess of Bowmont, born on February 18 1981.
The 10th Duke of Roxburghe, born November 18 1954, died August 29 2019