William Douglas, 3rd Earl of March

Wikipedia Biographical Summary

William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry KT (16 December 1724 – 23 December 1810) was a Scottish nobleman.

Born in Peebles, Queensberry was the only son of William Douglas, 2nd Earl of March, and his wife, Lady Anne Hamilton.

He was appointed a Knight of the Thistle in 1761 and was a Scottish representative peer from 1761. He was Vice Admiral of Scotland from 1767 to 1776. He was Lord Lieutenant of Dumfries from 1794 until 1810.

He succeeded his father to the Earldom of March in 1731 and his mother to the Earldom of Ruglen in 1748. He succeeded his cousin Charles as Duke of Queensberry in 1778, and was created Baron Douglas of Amesbury in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1786.

A friend of the Prince of Wales, he was appointed Gentleman of the Bedchamber to George III in 1760. Queensberry never married, though he had a daughter, Maria "Mie-Mie" Fagnani, by a mistress, the Marchesa Fagnani. She became wife in 1798, of the 3rd Marquess of Hertford; Queensberry left much of his fortune to Maria Hertford.

On his death, the Dukedom of Queensberry and Drumlanrig Castle passed to his second cousin once removed, the third Duke of Buccleuch. The Marquessate of Queensberry passed to his fourth cousin once removed (and also third once removed) Sir Charles Douglas, 5th Bt, whose descendant is the current titleholder. His second cousin twice removed Francis Douglas, 8th Earl of Wemyss became Earl of Wemyss and March. The Earldom of Ruglen became extinct.

As Lord March he is portrayed in the William Makepeace Thackeray novel The Virginians as a dissolute gambler.

SOURCE: Wikipedia contributors, 'William Douglas, 4th Duke of Queensberry', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 14 June 2013, 16:24 UTC, <http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_Douglas,_4th_Duke...> [accessed 5 September 2013]