His father was the grandson of Lord Henry Somerset, second son of the 8th Duke of Beaufort and the temperance activist Lady Isabella Somers-Cocks.

By the time he succeeded as Duke he was therefore considered the senior representative of the House of Plantagenet, through a legitimised line.

[2] He held the office of Hereditary Keeper of Raglan Castle, was President of the British Horse Society between 1988 and 1990, and was chairman of Marlborough Fine Art.

The Dukes of Beaufort had owned the river bed for some 400 years, so when the local council had wanted to build a bridge linking a shopping centre to the Liberty Stadium, home of Swansea City football club and the Ospreys rugby team, it had to pay the Duke for the right to cross his river bed.

For centuries Swansea folk have paid rents to the Duke of Beaufort and we don't owe this powerful and wealthy family anything."

A spokesman for the duke's estate at Badminton House responded: "We do not want to comment about a private transaction.

The marriage took place at St Peter's Church, Eaton Square, in the presence of the King and Queen and members of the royal family.