Bruce Murray, 12th Duke of Atholl facts for kids

Bruce George Ronald Murray, 12th Duke of Atholl OStJ (born 5/6 April 1960), is a South African-born businessman and peer who is the chief of Clan Murray. As Duke of Atholl, he has the right to raise Europe's only legal private army, the Atholl Highlanders, a unique privilege granted to his family by Queen Victoria after visiting Blair Atholl in 1844.

Early life and career

The elder son of John Murray, 11th Duke of Atholl, and Margaret Yvonne (née Leach), now styled the Dowager Duchess of Atholl, graduated from Jeppe High School for Boys, Johannesburg, in 1979. He was educated at Saasveld Forestry College before serving his two years' National Service with the South African Infantry Corps. He is currently a volunteer member of the Transvaal Scottish Regiment, holding the rank of lieutenant. Previously, he managed a tea plantation, but then ran a signage business producing signs for commercial buildings. He was commissioned into the Atholl Highlanders in 2000, being appointed as lieutenant colonel. Upon the death of his father on 15 May 2012, he succeeded to all his father's titles, becoming the 12th Duke of Atholl.

Marriages and children

The Duke first married on 4 February 1984, in Johannesburg, to Lynne Elizabeth Andrew (born Johannesburg, 7 June 1963), daughter of Nicholas George Andrew of Bedfordview, South Africa (born Brighton, East Sussex, June 1939), and wife Evelyn Donne de Villiers, and they divorced in 2003. Together they had two sons and one daughter:

He married secondly Charmaine Myrna du Toit in 2009, without issue.