On 11 April 1807, at the age of 37, he was summoned to the House of Lords in one of the minor peerages of his father (Baron Gordon of Huntley, co. Gloucester).

He was appointed a Privy Counsellor in 1830, was Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland from 1828 to 1830 (a post that his father had held until 1827), and from 1834 to 1836 was Governor of Edinburgh Castle.

Really to her husband her large fortune was the least part of her value; she possessed upright principles, good sense, and she turned out a first-rate woman of business.

He was referred to as "Lord Huntly now in the decline of his rackety life, overwhelmed with debts, sated with pleasure, tired of fashion, the last heir male of the Gordon line".

"[4] Insupportable debts led to what remained of the Lordship of Badenoch, which had been a domain of the Gordons for nearly 400 years, being advertised for sale in 1829.

John Anderson, manager and trustee of the Gordon estates, packaged the Badenoch lands into lots likely to be attractive to local interests.

In 1830, the farms of Gordonhall, Ruthven, Knappach and Drumgellovie and the Forest of Gaick were bought by George Macpherson Grant of Ballindalloch.

The farms of Uvie, Auchmore and Biallidmore and the Loch Ericht shootings were bought by Ewen Macpherson of Cluny.

Wealth Major Ewen Macpherson had acquired in India allowed him to purchase Breakachy (his former home), Shanvall, Nessintully, Crunenmore, Crubenbeg and Presmuchrach.

In 1840, a monument to the Duke, funded by public subscription, was erected in the grounds of Kinrara House, his late mother's home near Alvie.