Robert Bruce, 1st Earl of Ailesbury and 2nd Earl of Elgin, PC, FRS (ca. March 1626 – 20 October 1685) was the son of Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin.
During his father's lifetime, Lord Kinloss, as he was styled, was Member of Parliament for Bedfordshire in the Parliament of 1660 and the following Parliament of 1661, until he succeeded to his father's titles in 1663.[1] The following year (18 March 1664) he was created Earl of Ailesbury, Viscount Bruce of Ampthill and Baron Bruce of Skelton for his services in procuring the English Restoration. He was Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire from 1660 with the Earl of Cleveland and solely from 1667 to his death. He was also Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire and Hampshire from 1681 to his death.
In October 1678, he was invested as a Privy Counsellor (PC) and a Gentleman of the Bedchamber. In 1685, he was invested as a Fellow of the Royal Society and Lord Chamberlain on 30 July 1685.
He married Lady Diana Grey, daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford, on 16 February 1645. They had seventeen children, nine of which seem to have survived to adulthood:
Lord Ailesbury died in 1685, aged 58 at Houghton House, just north of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, and was buried on 26 October of that year, at Maulden. His widow built Ampthill House nearby in 1686, originally as a dower house.
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