James Graham, 8th Duke of Montrose, OStJ (born 6 April 1935), styled as the Earl of Kincardine until 1954 and the Marquess of Graham between 1954 and 1992, is a Scottish peer and Conservative politician in the House of Lords.
James Graham was born on 6 April 1935 in Southern Rhodesia, where his father—the then Marquess of Graham—was establishing a farm. He attended boarding school in Scotland, first in Aberdeenshire and after that at the Loretto School, near Edinburgh.[1]
He was appointed Officer, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (OStJ) in 1978.[2] He served as Brigadier of the Royal Company of Archers in 1986.[3]
On 31 January 1970, the Marquess of Graham married Catherine Elizabeth MacDonell Young (d. 29 October 2014[4]), daughter of Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders officer Capt. Norman Andrew Thompson Young, of Ottawa, Canada.
They have three children:
Montrose considers himself a Conservative and took his seat in the House of Lords on his father's death in 1992. He is one of four dukes to have re-entered the House (of the 24 non-royal dukes eligible) following the House of Lords Act 1999, having been one of the 90 peers chosen or elected by the others sitting. The other dukes in the upper house among these are the Duke of Somerset, who won a by-election in December 2014, the Duke of Wellington, who won a by-election in September 2015, and the Duke of Norfolk who, as hereditary Earl Marshal and one of the Great Officers of State, does not have to stand for election.
Montrose was a shadow minister for the Scotland Office before the 2010 general election. He has also spent some time in China promoting renewable energy and environmental measures, and he is a fluent speaker of Mandarin.[citation needed]
