to 2006; President of the Wiltshire Association of Boys Clubs and Youth Clubs from 1976 to 2003; and President of the North Wiltshire Conservative Association from 1986 to 1989. At the 1979 general election, he contested Coventry North East for the Conservatives, coming second behind Labour's George Park. In 1990, he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire and served as the Vice Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire from 2012 to 2016. He was President of the Wiltshire Historic Buildings Trust from 1994 and also of the Wiltshire Swindon & Oxfordshire Canal Partnership, which oversaw the restoration of the Wilts & Berks Canal, from 2002 to 2019. On 25 August 1999, his father died and he became Marquess of Lansdowne and a member of the House of Lords. From 1996 to 2001, Lansdowne was a member of the Prince's Council of the Duchy of Cornwall. Personal life In 1956, Lansdowne's sister Lady Caroline Petty-Fitzmaurice died in a shooting accident, aged seventeen. On 18 February 1965, his mother also died from shotgun injuries in the gunroom at her Scottish home, Meikleour House, which was also found to have been an accident. On 9 October 1965, as Lord Shelburne, he married Lady Frances Helen Mary Eliot (6 March 1943 – 6 January 2004), daughter of Nicholas Eliot, 9th Earl of St Germans; they were divorced in 1987, having had four children: Lady Arabella Helen Mary Petty-Fitzmaurice, now Lady Arabella Haldane Unwin (born 1966), married Rupert William Haldane Unwin, and has three children: Abraham Arthur George Haldane Unwin (born 1996) Gala Ellen Theadora Haldane Unwin (born 1998) Evie May Hermione Haldane Unwin (born 2001) Lady Rachel Barbara Violet Petty-Fitzmaurice (born 1968), married James Spickernell and has four children: Benjamin Thomas Richard Spickernell (born 1994) Frederick Charles William Spickernell (born 1996) Olivia Spickernell (born 1999) Jemima Spickernell (born 2001) Simon Petty-FitzMaurice, Earl of Kerry (born 24 November 1970), married Nadine Mentior in January 2016, and has issue: George Henry Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice, Viscount Calne and Calstone (born 2020) Lord William Nicholas Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice (born 1973), married in 2004 Rebecca Sansum (born 1982), of Chippenham, Wiltshire. They have three daughters: Zara Frances Elaine Petty-Fitzmaurice, (born 2006) Isla Mary Rose Petty-Fitzmaurice (born 2008) Alexandra Jane Caroline Petty-Fitzmaurice (Lexie) (born 2013) Subsequently, Lansdowne married secondly Fiona Mary Merritt (born 1954), daughter of Donald Merritt and Lady Davies, an interior decorator known by her earlier married name of Fiona Shelburne.