David Robert Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort (23 February 1928 – 16 August 2017)

[LoopyCrown3]

His Grace the Duke of Beaufort passed away aged 89. He leaves behind his wife Miranda Elisabeth Somerset née Morley and his four children:

Henry John FitzRoy Somerset, The Marquess of Worcester (born 22 May 1952)
Lady Anne Mary Carr (born 21 January 1955)
Lord Edward Alexander Somerset (born 1 May 1958)
Lord John Robert Somerset (born 5 November 1964)

The Marquess of Worcester succeeds as the 12th Duke of Beaufort he has two sons and a daughter and the new heir is Robert Somerset, Earl of Glamorgan he was born on 20 January 1989.

BBC Link

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-40955380#

[Jelena JS]

Is it possible to identify Somerset 3 from this figure? http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms6631/figures/1

From 'Identification of the remains of King Richard III':

We were able to identify, locate and contact five such relatives, descended from the 5th Duke of Beaufort (1744–1803), who agreed to take part in the study, providing an, albeit distant (between 24 and 26 generations), set of patrilinear relatives.

Four of the modern relatives were found to belong to Y-haplogroup R1b-U152 with STR haplotypes being consistent with them comprising a single patrilinear group. One individual (Somerset 3) was found to belong to haplogroup I-M170 and therefore could not be a patrilinear relative of the other four within the time span considered, indicating that a false-paternity event had occurred within the last four generations.

I think main line didn't participate in this DNA identification.

[Nick Kane]

The Bristol Post online coverage of the duke's death is dire. The headline calls him "Henry", his eldest son's name, rather than "David", not that the underlying names should be in the headline at all, and the report is illustrated with a very old picture of his predecessor as duke on duty as lord-lieutenant.

Among other slips, "Marquess" is spelt in two ways and the Thynn surname spelling sported by the Marquess of Bath, but not others in his family, is ignored.

[Henry W]

I think the answer is that we can restrict it to a small number of possibilities. I will refer below to Branch 1 (containing Somersets 1 & 2) and Branch 2 (containing Somersets 3,4,5) - the structure of these will allow us to determine if particular lines could correspond to this. The following work assumes that thepeerage.com is a complete listing of all male line descendants of the 5th Duke

The 5th Duke of Beaufort had a total of 7 sons who had sons themselves.

- The 6th Duke. The structure of his surviving male lines does not allow it to match either Branch 1 or 2. As noted, it is unlikely they would take part in case it did cause a disturbance to the Duke's or near kin's claim to the peerage.

- Lord Charles (1767 - 1831) - has 3 sons, but the male line of the second son (Villiers [1803-1855]) died out in 1953. This line cannot be Branch 2, but may be Branch 1.

- Lord Robert (1776 - 1842) - male line dies out in 1890

- Lord Arthur (1780 - 1816) - provided his grandson Fitzroy (b 1851) had no sons, then the male line is extinct.

- Lord William (1784 - 1851) - the structure of this family allows it be either Branch 1 or 2.

- Lord John (1787 - 1846) - male line dies out in 1915

- 1st Baron Raglan (1788-1855) - he has only 1 son, so this cannot be Branch 2. I believe the structure is also incompatible with Branch 1.

From the above, I believe Branch 1 represents descendants of Lord Charles and Branch 2 represents descendants of Lord William.

More work to follow

[colinp]

Daily Telegraph Premium obituary here - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/08/17/duke-beaufort-obituary/

Print copy appeared 18th August 2017

[BREMENMURRAY]

There is a nonsensical article in the Daily Telegraph,19 August 2017 referring to the new Duke inheriting his title after his fathers funeral! It also states he his having an affair with a Telegraph journalist but seems to suggest his present wife should not be Duchess even though they are not divorced yet!

On Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 11:53:20 PM UTC+1, LoopyCrown3 wrote:

[marquess]

The new duke has already inherited the title,  but I think tradition dictates that he doesn't make use of it until after the funeral. 

[BREMENMURRAY]

Would expect the Daily Telegraph to understand this distinction 

On Wednesday, August 16, 2017 at 11:53:20 PM UTC+1, LoopyCrown3 wrote:

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph and Times of 21 August 2017: BEAUFORT  David Somerset, 11th Duke of Beaufort died peacefully at home on 16th August 2017. Beloved husband, father and grandfather. Service of Thanksgiving at 12 noon Friday 25th August at St Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton.

[Jelena JS]

From Court Circular, 25th August, 2017

Clarence House
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall were present at the Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of the Duke of Beaufort which was held at St Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton, Gloucestershire, today.

Buckingham Palace
The Princess Royal was represented by Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles at the Service of Thanksgiving for the Life of the Duke of Beaufort which was held at St Michael and All Angels Church, Badminton, Gloucestershire, today

[gorgo...@gmail.com]

Indeed,  Branch 1 represents descendants of Lord Charles and Branch 2 represents descendants of Lord William.

Family tree with more names https://le.ac.uk/richard-iii/identification/genetics/male-line-family-tree