Astonishing legacy of the £41m duke
Revealed, wealth of aristocrat who once romanced a princess
HE was an aristocratic Scot who abandoned a playboy lifestyle to lead the quiet life as a farmer.
James Carnegie, who had a rumoured romance with Princess Margaret, gave up his love of fast cars and celebrity friends to breed cattle at his Kincardineshire estate.
Yesterday, it emerged the aristocrat, who was the Third Duke of Fife, had left an incredible £41million fortune in his will.
As a young man, the eligible bachelor was never far from the headlines amid rumours of a romance with the princess and a relationship with British skiing champion Divina Galica.
However he later described himself as the ‘most low-profile duke in the land’ adding: ‘I’ll bet you that 95 per cent of those living in Fife have no idea a Duke of Fife exists.’
The second cousin of the Queen and great-grandson of King Edward VII, he died at the age of 85 in June last year. His recently published will reveals he had an estate valued at £41,676,688.
His f ortune i ncluded various farms and pieces of land in Kincardineshire and Aberdeenshire worth more than £27million.
He also had furniture and personal belongings valued at £11million, a £2.5million shares portfolio and farming equipment and livestock worth £1million. In his will, the duke instructed that his estate should be held in trust for the benefit of his two children.
He was brought up at Elsick House, near Stonehaven, Kincardineshire. A friend of the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret from childhood, he often attended birthday parties at Balmoral.
The aristocrat always wanted to be a farmer, however, and after leaving Gordonstoun he studied at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.
After graduating, he ran a film production company and a wine and cigar firm in London’s Pall Mall.
The keen sportsman was president of the Amateur Boxing Association from 1959 to 1963 and was involved with the West Ham Boys’ Club. He liked fast cars and competed in the Monte Carlo Rally in 1955. He was also a vice-president of the British Olympic Association and vice-patron of the Braemar Royal Highland Society.
He married Caroline Dewar, heir to the Dewar whisky empire in 1956, and the couple had two children before divorcing in 1966.
The duke returned to his first love of farming at the 1,000-acre Elsick Estate. He bred prize Angus bulls and became a familiar figure at the Braemar Games, where he rubbed shoulders with royal guests.