Ian Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford


John Ian Robert Russell, 13th Duke of Bedford, styled Lord Howland until 1940 and Marquess of Tavistock between 1940 and 1953, was a British peer and writer. With J. Chipperfield he founded Woburn Safari Park and was the first Duke to open to the public the family seat, Woburn Abbey, which houses a large gallery of European paintings.

Background and education

Russell was the son of Hastings Russell, 12th Duke of Bedford, and his wife, Louisa. He had a very strained relationship with his father and grandfather, who during his early years refused to give him the allowance he felt would be appropriate for a future Duke; his father eventually tied up most of the Bedford fortune in trust so that he could not borrow against it.
The 13th Duke was known in his youth as Ian, with the courtesy title Lord Howland. His father succeeded to the dukedom in 1940, and Lord Howland acquired the courtesy title Marquess of Tavistock.

Career

Russell started his career as a rent collector in 1938, in Stepney. He then joined the Coldstream Guards in 1939 and fought in the Second World War between 1939 and 1940, but left the army after being invalided. He then turned to journalism and became a reporter for the Daily Express in 1940. He published:
Russell was one of the few UK owners of a brand new 1958 Edsel Citation 4 door sedan motorcar, which he purchased soon after its US launch in September 1957 and was registered 1 MMC. Its current whereabouts are unknown. He was the first Duke of Bedford to open Woburn Abbey to the public, a move that alienated him from many other peers. In 1962, he appeared as himself in the British comedy film The Iron Maiden, scenes in which were filmed at Woburn.
He was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1985.

Family

Russell married three times. He married Clare Gwendolen Hollway on 6 April 1939. She died of an overdose. They had two children:
On 13 February 1947, he married Lydia, daughter of John Yarde-Buller, 3rd Baron Churston and Denise ; this duchess was the widow of Ian Archibald de Hoghton Lyle, heir to a baronetcy, by which marriage she brought to Woburn two step-children. They divorced in 1960 but had a child:
He married French divorcée and trailblazing female producer Nicole Milinaire on 4 September 1960; they had no issue.
Bedford and his last duchess became tax exiles in 1974, eventually settling in Monaco. He died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 2002.