[2] On 7 December 1944, while holding the rank of acting captain, he was awarded the Military Cross 'in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in Italy'.

[6] Cavendish, now styled as Marquess of Hartington, ran unsuccessfully as a National Liberal candidate for Chesterfield in the 1945 general election and as a Conservative for the same seat in 1950.

Eventually though, in 1991, he signed an agreement with the Peak National Park Authority opening 1,300 acres (5 km2) of his estate to walkers.

He was one of the founders, and the chief patron of, the Next Century Foundation, in which capacity he hosted the private Chatsworth talks between representatives of the governments of the Arab world and Israel.

Four of the couple's seven children died soon after birth, and the Duke's extramarital affairs became public after he appeared as a witness at a burglary trial and was forced to admit, under oath, that he was on holiday with one of a series of younger women when the crime occurred at his London home.

[15] Devonshire's older brother William, Marquess of Hartington, who would have inherited the dukedom, was killed in combat near the end of the Second World War.

With William's death, Andrew became heir and received the courtesy title of Marquess of Hartington, by which he was known from September 1944 until November 1950.

[16] The 10th Duke died of a heart attack while visiting Eastbourne in November 1950 and Andrew, who was in Australia at the time, inherited the title.

[7] The Duke died while being attended by suspected serial killer Dr John Bodkin Adams, who was his doctor when visiting Eastbourne.

No proper police investigation was ever conducted into the death, but Devonshire later said "it should perhaps be noted that this doctor was not appointed to look after the health of my two younger sisters, who were then in their teens";[7] Adams had a reputation for grooming older patients to extract bequests.

[17][18] To meet this, the Duke had to sell off many art objects and antiques, including several Rembrandts, Van Dycks and Raffaello Santis, as well as thousands of acres of land.