James Bruce (farmer)

James Bruce was born in August 1927 in Fife, the fourth child and second son of Edward Bruce, 10th Earl of Elgin.^[1] He was educated at Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and served in the Scots Guards.^[1] He studied agriculture at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, where he won the Goldstand Medal.^[1]

In 1950, Bruce married (Margaret) Jean Coats at Glen Tanar, Aboyne, the daughter of Thomas Coats, 2nd Baron Glentanar.^[1] They divorced in 1974.^[1] In 1975, he married Morven-Anne Macdonald, who died in 1994, and in 2000 married Mary Elizabeth Hamilton.^[1] He had seven children.^[1]

Bruce lived at Balmanno Castle from the 1950s.^[1]