[2] The elder son of John Murray, 11th Duke of Atholl, and Margaret Yvonne (née Leach), now styled the Dowager Duchess of Atholl,[3][4] graduated from Jeppe High School for Boys, Johannesburg, in 1979.
He was educated at Saasveld Forestry College before serving his two years' National Service with the South African Infantry Corps.
[4] Previously, he managed a tea plantation, but then ran a signage business producing signs for commercial buildings.
[2][9] The Duke first married on 4 February 1984, in Johannesburg, to Lynne Elizabeth Andrew (born Johannesburg, 7 June 1963), daughter of Nicholas George Andrew of Bedfordview, South Africa (born Brighton, East Sussex, June 1939), and wife Evelyn Donne de Villiers,[3] and they divorced in 2003.
Together they had two sons and one daughter:[3][4][10][11][12][13] He married secondly Charmaine Myrna du Toit in 2009, without issue.