George, 3rd Earl of Cardigan 1685-1732
George, 4th Earl of Cardigan 1712-1790
When George succeeded his grandfather, the Second Earl in 1703 he was living in Rome but came home in 1706 – his Jacobite father, Francis Lord Brudenell, had been imprisoned for four years for high treason and died in 1698. He converted to the Church of England, took his seat in the House of Lords and married Lady Elizabeth Bruce, daughter of the Earl of Ailesbury.
The eldest of the four sons of the 3rd Earl, he was only nineteen when he inherited in 1732, although he was already married to Lady Mary Montagu, daughter of the Duke of Montagu, his neighbour at Boughton. She inherited her father’s estates and they lived in both houses as well as in London.
They left the house much as it was but modernised and redecorated the interior. He built the lantern over the ak Staircase, repaired the Great Hall and converted the summer house into a billiard room (now the Chapel). He died, aged 46, of a nosebleed.
After some years he achieved his ambition and was created Duke of Montagu in 1766. Their only son, the Marquess of Monthermer, died unmarried in 1770 and their daughter Elizabeth married the Duke of Buccleuch & Queensberry in 1767. He became Constable and Governor of Windsor Castle, a post which he retained all his life, and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1752.
James, 7th Earl of Cardigan 1797-1868
Edmund Brudenell 1928-2014
James had seven beautiful sisters and as the only son was inevitably over-indulged. His rapid advancement in the army, partly due to wealth and influence, made him many enemies and he was the controversial but certainly brave and handsome hero of Balaklava.
After his father died in 1962 Edmund Brudenell and his wife Marian, with her exquisite taste, restored, redecorated, and largely refurnished Deene to return the house back to its great beauty and splendour. Their son Robert inherited Deene in 2014 and with his wife and son and with the help of visitors it is hoped that the house can be preserved and continue as a home lived in by the family who have cherished it since 1514.
His first marriage, to a woman divorced on his account, was unhappy, but when he was 60 he fell in love with the ravishing Adeline Horsey de Horsey who was 27 years younger. When his wife died in 1858 they sailed to Gibraltar and were married there, well away from London society who were scandalised by their behaviour. When he died in 1868 Lord Cardigan lay in state for two days at Deene and nearly 2,000 people filed past the red velvet-covered coffin.
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