George Victor Robert John Innes-Ker, 9th Duke of Roxburghe (7 September 1913 â 26 September 1974), was the son of Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe, and Mary Innes-Ker, Duchess of Roxburghe (née Goelet). He succeeded his father in 1932.
George Innes-Ker was born on 7 September 1913 to Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe (1876âÂÂ1932), and Mary Goelet (1878âÂÂ1937). He was born almost ten years after his parents were married, on 10 November 1903,
He grew up at Floors Castle which was located on 60,500 acres, which his mother decorated with her own collection of art including a series of 17th century Gobelins Manufactory tapestries.
His paternal grandparents were James Innes-Ker, 7th Duke of Roxburghe (1839âÂÂ1892), and Lady Anne Spencer-Churchill (1854âÂÂ1923), the fourth daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, who served in Conservative governments as Lord President of the Council and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and his wife, Lady Frances Vane, daughter of the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. His first cousin once removed was Winston Churchill. His uncle, Lord Robert Innes-Ker (1885âÂÂ1958), married the actress José Collins.
His maternal grandfather was Ogden Goelet (1851âÂÂ1897), an American real-estate millionaire. At the time of his parents' marriage, his mother was the wealthiest American heiress, with a dowry of twenty million dollars, exceeded only by that of Consuelo Vanderbilt. He also was a grandnephew of Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt III, née Grace Wilson.
The Duke attended Eton College in Windsor, Berkshire, England.
On 24 October 1935, he was married to Lady Mary Crewe-Milnes (1915âÂÂ2014), daughter of the 1st Marquess of Crewe by his marriage to Lady Margaret Etrenne Hannah Primrose, daughter of Hannah, Countess of Rosebery, and the 5th Earl of Rosebery. The marriage ended in divorce in 1953, after the Duke controversially attempted to evict Lady Mary from the ancestral home at Floors Castle. When her widowed mother died in 1967, the Duchess inherited West Horsley Place where she died in 2014 at the age of 99.
On 5 January 1954, he married for the second time at Caxton Hall to Margaret Elizabeth McConnel (1918âÂÂ1993), daughter of Capt. Frederick Bradshaw McConnel and great-granddaughter of British industrialist William McConnel. Together, they had:
The 9th Duke of Roxburghe died on 26 September 1974.