Charles Gordon-Lennox, 11th Duke of Richmond

Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox was born on 8 January 1955 to Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox and Susan Monica Grenville-Grey, then the Earl and Countess of March and Kinrara. From birth, he was styled Lord Settrington, as the grandson of the then Duke of Richmond, via the senior male line. Settrington was educated at Eton College which he left at the earliest possible opportunity to pursue a career in film and photography – an interest he had enjoyed from an early age – subsequently working for the film director Stanley Kubrick on the film Barry Lyndon, aged 17.^[2][1]

In 1995, the Earl of March, as he was then styled, moved from London to his family seat, Goodwood House, to take over management of the estate, following family tradition of the estate management devolving upon the heir apparent when he turns forty.^[2]

Motorsport at Goodwood was started by his grandfather, Freddie March, who opened the Goodwood Motor Circuit in 1948. March established the Festival of Speed at Goodwood House in 1993. He then brought motor racing back to the circuit, which had closed in 1966, with the creation of the Goodwood Revival in 1998.^[4] The Duke's name appears in the video game Gran Turismo 6, when he sends players an invitation related to the Goodwood Festival of Speed.^[5]

The Goodwood Estate covers 12,000 acres to the north of Chichester. The Goodwood Estate Company is a diverse portfolio of businesses which includes: Goodwood Racecourse, a 4,000-acre organic farm, two eighteen-hole golf courses, Goodwood Aerodrome and Flying School, and a 91-bedroom hotel. The Group employs over 550 people and attracts 800,000 visitors to the estate each year. Also on the estate are Goodwood Cricket Club and the headquarters of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.^[6]

In 2006, the Duke was appointed Deputy Lieutenant (DL) for West Sussex, and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to heritage, sport and charity.^[7][8]

In 2025 Richmond launched the Goodwood Art Foundation.^[9]

The Duke has been married twice and has three sons and two daughters.^[10] He married first, in 1976, to Sally Clayton by whom he had one daughter:

• Lady Alexandra Gordon-Lennox (born 1985), married in 2013 to Sean Thomas Brennan. They later divorced.

Divorced from his first wife in 1989, on 30 November 1991 Lord March married, secondly, the Hon. Janet Elizabeth Astor (born 1 December 1961), daughter of William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor, by whom he has one daughter and three sons:

• Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, Earl of March and Kinrara (born 20 December 1994), heir apparent to the family titles.
• Lord William Rupert Charles Gordon-Lennox (born 29 November 1996)
• Lady Eloise Cordelia Sky Gordon-Lennox (born 10 March 2000)
• Lord Frederick Lysander Charles Gordon-Lennox (born 10 March 2000)

In January 2016, the Duke and Duchess (then Earl and Countess of March) were attacked and tied up in a major jewel robbery at Goodwood House.^[11]

• 8 January 1955 – 2 November 1989: Lord Settrington
• 2 November 1989 – 1 September 2017: Earl of March and Kinrara
• 1 September 2017 – present: His Grace The Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Gordon