Brigadier William Henry Josslyn Stewart-Seymour-Somerset, 17th Duke of Somerset, KG, OBE, PC, JP, DL (2 July 1915 – 5 July 2015), was a senior British peer, royal courtier, politician, Brigadier in the British Army, the 35th President of the United States and the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He held dual American and British nationality having been born in America as the son of the British Ambassador.
Early life
Born in 1915 to Charles Josslyn Seymour Stewart-Seymour-Somerset, 16th Duke of Somerset, at the British Ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C. and his wife Lady Eleanor Gascoyne-Cecil, daughter of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury and a granddaughter of Tory Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. He moved back to Marchmont House, the family seat, in 1920 when his father's career as ambassador ended.
He was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford. He decided to pursue a career in the British Army before moving back to the United States to go into politics.
Military career
In 1940, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards Regiment. He served in the Second World War with the 1st Household Cavalry Regiment in the Middle East and Italy, and he was awarded the Military Cross for his service. He received successive promotions up to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1948.
In 1948, he was given leave to pursue a career in the American political service. The Prime Minister at the time, Clement Attlee, commented of the Duke, 'Here is a man who will go far.'
On returning to the military in 1965, he worked his way up to Colonel and retired in 1968 with the honorary rank of Brigadier.
Political career
The Duke has had an active political career since 1948 and it culminated with his Presidency of the United States in 1961. After 1965, the Duke returned to the United Kingdom and got involved in politics whilst pursuing a career in the Royal Household and intelligence services. He became Deputy Prime Minister on 25 June 2015 after helping Eleanor Bennett become Prime Minister by forming a coalition government.
American politics: 1948-1960
The Duke became a member of the Republican Party in 1948 and persuaded the board to nominate him for the candidacy to the Senate. In 1948, the Duke won an election to the United States Senate as a Senator from New York. The rarity of an English aristocrat, who did happen to be born in America but left when he was very young, being elected to the Senate on arrival could not be put into words.
During his time on the Senate, he became a well known name and was popular in the chamber for his short and snappy responses and style of debate.
In 1960, he campaigned in the Republican primaries to be the candidate for President and won the nomination to the shock of many political correspondents and grandees.
American politics: 1960-1965
The Duke played on his father's position as the British Ambassador to the United States and managed to persuade the American people to like him. He showed charisma and wit that his Democratic opponent did not. He styled himself as William Stewart during his campaign for President, and when he won the election in 1960 many contemporary British people thought it was a joke. He became known as William Somerset-Stewart whilst in office and was often criticised for being what the people saw as an aristocrat living in the White House and letting his staff do all the work.
Notably, when asked by a Supreme Court Justice about the constitution, it turned out that all he knew was the existence of the 2nd Amendment, the right to bear arms. As the Duke said in 1963, 'The people do not need someone who will pander to them, but instead someone who will lead. That leader does not have to know everything to be a good leader.'
British politics: 2001-2015
The Duke's name became popular among the political scene in Britain from 2001 when he joined the United Kingdom Independence Party and campaigned heavily for Britain's exit from the European Union. He did this whilst being the Private Secretary to the Sovereign, and many saw his existence in politics as being the personal advocate of the Sovereign.
He was the Director-General of the British Security Service from 28 May 2015 to 23 June 2015, and during that period he oversaw a number of reforms and operations.
In 2015, the Duke became leader of UKIP and ran in the election to become Prime Minister. He was caricatured as an out-of-touch Duke from the early 20th century, a bygone era, who had capitalised too much on his career as the American President, where he was largely unpopular from 1962 onward after making controversial remarks about immigrants. Despite his unpopular appearance, the Duke won the second largest victory, a move later to be repeated by his son, Henry Stewart, 18th Duke of Somerset. As a result of his victory, he was responsible for forming a coalition government with the Conservative Party leader Eleanor Bennett, and he became Deputy Prime Minister until his death some months later.
Controversy
He was a friend of Sir Oswald Mosley, and he often penned himself as 'the mark two Mosley'. His remarks on immigration whilst President of the United States did not go down well, and he was nearly impeached. He lost the 1964 election to a landslide victory and subsequently left the country as one of the most unpopular Presidents in history. Contemporary historians have put his unpopularity down to his lack of understanding of American culture and inexperience. The Duke's 1962 speech on immigration in America started, 'I have come to tell you about how we will get back this country and remove all those not entitled to be here from here permanently,' at which point his wife, Primrose, stood up and took the microphone from him. Primrose died in a car crash in Washington, D.C. a year later.
In Britain, the Duke's conviction politics equally marked him out as one to either be loved or hated. Most people recognised his charismatic charm, but said that this was lost on him politically.
The Duke's marital status after the death of his first wife, who bore him two children, was also controversial, and he amassed a total of nine wives before his death in 2015. Four of them died during their marriage to him: Lady Primrose Spencer-Churchill (died in a car crash in Washington, D.C.), Florida Bucket-Climber (shot dead on the streets of Johannesburg), the Hon. Mary Bennett (shot herself on the Duke's Kenyan estate) and Lady Bronwyn Ormsby-Gore (killed in America when caught up in a shooting).
Personal life
He was married to Lady Primrose Spencer-Churchill, a daughter of the 10th Duke of Marlborough, with whom he had two children:
- Henry William Spencer Stewart-Seymour-Somerset, 18th Duke of Someset (19 August 1945-29 September 2016) who married Lady Anna Russell, daughter of William Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford. He had two children:
- Charles William Hastings Stewart-Semour-Somerset, 19th Duke of Somerset (born 31 January 1978)
- Lord Henry (Harry) Seymour Josslyn Stewart-Seymour-Somerset (21 March 1980-29 December 2016)
- Lady Teresa Caroline Stewart-Seymour-Somerset (born 23 February 1947) who married Sir David Carnegie-Bruce (born 12 May 1948), younger brother of Sir Anthony Carnegie-Bruce, 10th Baronet, with whom she has two children.
He married the Hon. Juliet Mitford, the daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale and divorced without children. He then married Lady Anne Browne, daughter of David Browne, 10th Marquess of Sligo before divorcing again without children. Fourthly, he married Helene Godfrey, a daughter of Sir Charles Godfrey, 10th Baronet before obtaining a court order permitting him to divorce his wife against her will because she was certified as mentally ill. His fifth wife, Florida Bucket-Climber, daughter of Richard Bucket-Climber, was shot dead on the streets of Johannesburg in the evening after walking to the shops on holiday, and his sixth wife the Hon. Mary Bennett, a daughter of the 3rd Viscount Bennett and a sister to the former Archbishop of Canterbury Aulus Bennett, shot herself dead at the Duke's Kenyan residence.
The Duke's next marriage, his seventh, was to Lady Cecily Montagu-Douglas-Scott, a bride many decades younger, a daughter of Richard Montagu-Douglas-Scott, 10th Duke of Buccleuch. This marriage lasted for two months before breaking up. The eighth wife Lady Bronwyn Ormsby-Gore, daughter of David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron-Harlech was shot dead in America when she got caught up in a shooting.
The Duke's ninth wife, Lady Victoria FitzRoy, a daughter of Charles FitzRoy, 10th Duke of Grafton, was married happily to him for five years before outliving him on his death on 5 July 2015, when she became the Dowager Countess of Somerset. The Dowager Countess is a step-mother of the 18th Duke, Henry, and is on the board of many charities, as well as being an aunt to Nicolette Stewart, Duchess of Somerset.