Duke of Rutland
Rutland is the elder son of the 10th Duke of Rutland by his second wife, the former Frances Sweeney. He was educated at Stanbridge Earls School, near Romsey in Hampshire, which has since closed. He succeeded his father in the titles on 4 January 1999.
The family also includes the duke's mother, The Dowager Duchess, his younger brother, Lord Edward Manners, a half-sister, Lady Charlotte Manners, and a sister, Lady Teresa Manners.
Rutland's ancestral home is Belvoir Castle in the northern part of Leicestershire. In the summer of 2005, the Duke purchased the Manners Arms Country Hotel and Restaurant in Knipton near Grantham. The Manners Arms was built for the 6th Duke of Rutland as a hunting lodge during the 1880s. The Duchess was heavily involved with the renovation work they carried out on the property. The Duke's holdings also include Haddon Hall, which is occupied by his brother Edward and Edward's family. The Sunday Times Rich List 2013 estimated his personal fortune at £125m, but he had to sell a painting to keep Belvoir Castle maintained.
The Duke is a high-profile supporter of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and has hosted fundraising events at Belvoir Castle. In 1999, he stood for UKIP when the House of Lords had to elect 92 hereditary peers. He stood in a House of Lords by-election in 2005 and again in 2015.
Earl of Rutland
The first creation of the title Earl of Rutland was created on 25 February 1390 for Edward of Norwich (1373–1415), son of Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, and grandson of King Edward III. Upon the Duke's death in 1402 Edward became Duke of York. The title Earl of Rutland fell into disuse upon his death at the Battle of Agincourt, and was assumed by other members of the House of York including the first earl's nephew Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, the father of King Edward IV.
Thomas Manners (c. 1488–1543), son of the 11th Baron de Ros of Hamlake, Truibut and Belvoir, was created Earl of Rutland in the Peerage of England in 1525. He was the great-grandson of Richard Plantagenet. The barony of 'de Ros of Hamlake, Truibut and Belvoir' (sometimes spelled Ros, Roos or de Roos) was created by Simon de Montfort with a writ of summons to the House of Lords for Robert de Ros (1223–1285) in 1264. The title may pass through the female line when there is no male heir, and accordingly, when the 3rd Earl, Edward Manners (c. 1548–1587), left no sons, the barony of Ros passed to the family of his daughter Elizabeth (died 1591) who became the wife of the 2nd Earl of Exeter. The 3rd Earl was succeeded as 4th Earl by his brother John (died 1588). The barony of Ros was restored to the Manners family when Francis Manners, the 6th Earl (1578–1632), inherited it in 1618 from his cousin William Cecil (1590–1618). However, Francis died without male issue and the assumption of the courtesy title of Lord Ros for the eldest son of subsequent earls appears to have had no legal basis. On the death of the seventh Earl in 1641 the Earldom passed to his distant cousin John Manners of Haddon Hall, grandson of the second son of the first Earl.
The Manners family own medieval Haddon Hall, Derbyshire and Belvoir Castle, Leicestershire that were successively extended and rebuilt until the 19th century. Some rooms in both buildings are open to the public. They are Grade I in architecture, set in listed parks, woodland and gardens and span a central water feature, which acted as models for other landscaped estates.In 2009, to mark 500 years of the occupancy of Belvoir Castle by the family two aircraft from RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, bore the Duke of Rutland's Coat of Arms. On 11 June 2009, the Duke visited the station to see the aircraft—a King Air from 45 (Reserve) Sqn and a Dominie from 55 (Reserve) Sdn.
Duchess of Rutland
Born Emma Watkins, the daughter of a farmer from Knighton, Powys (then within Radnorshire), after schooling at Ellerslie School, Malvern, she started training as an opera singer at the Guildhall School of Music, but dropped out. She then began training as a land agent in Southampton, but quickly moved into working in estate agents marketing properties in London. She later worked as an interior designer until her marriage, after meeting her future husband at a dinner party.
She married David Manners, 11th Duke of Rutland, in 1992. The couple have five children:
- Lady Violet Diana Louise Manners (b. 18 August 1993)
- Lady Alice Louisa Lilly Manners (b. 27 April 1995)
- Lady Eliza Charlotte Manners (b. 17 July 1997)
- Charles John Montague, Marquess of Granby (b. 3 July 1999)
- Lord Hugo William James Manners (b. 24 July 2003)
The family initially lived in the adjacent Knipton Lodge, a six-bedroomed Georgian house. Following the death of the 10th Duke in 2001, they moved into newly renovated private apartments, which had formerly been the nanny's residence. The couple have a staff of one butler and a nanny.