Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Duke of Leinster

Family arms of FitzGerald

Maurice FitzGerald, 9th Duke of Leinster (born 7 April 1948), styled Earl of Offaly before 1976 and Marquess of Kildare between 1976 and 2004, is an Irish nobleman and landscape designer.[1]

The Duke is the highest-ranking member of the peerage of Ireland.[2]

Family and education

The elder son of the Gerald, 8th Duke of Leinster, and his second wife, Anne, daughter of Lt-Col Philip Smith, MC, TD, he was educated at Millfield School at Street, Somerset, in the south west of England. Upon his father's death in 2004 he succeeded to the dukedom as the 9th Duke.

Marriage and children

Maurice FitzGerald, then styled Earl of Offaly, married Fiona Mary Francesca Hollick on 19 February 1972. The Duke and Duchess have three children:

Heir

As the present Duke's only son died childless in 1997, thus his brother, Captain Lord John FitzGerald (1952–2015), became heir presumptive to the family titles; educated at Millfield and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, he served as a Captain in the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards and later was a horse trainer by profession.[4]

Lord John married Barbara Zindel, daughter of Andreas and Daniela Zindel, of Lausanne and St. Moritz, Switzerland at St. Nicholas Church, Chadlington, Oxford, on 11 December 1982; they divorced in 2013 and Lord John died on 3 August 2015.[5] Lord and Lady John FitzGerald had two children:

Edward FitzGerald is the current heir presumptive to the dukedom and other family titles.

Title dispute

A controversial claim by the supposed descendants of the 5th Duke (largely debunked by Michael Estorick in 1981) was made in 2006 and rejected in 2007 by the Lord Chancellor, who accepted the claim made by the 9th Duke of Leinster.[7]

Ancestry

References

External links

Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by
Gerald FitzGerald		 Duke of Leinster
2004–present 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom
Preceded by
His Grace The Duke of Northumberland		 Gentlemen
His Grace The Duke of Leinster 		Succeeded by
His Grace The Duke of Wellington
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