James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn

Educated at Eton College and the Royal Agricultural College, in 1953 he was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards as Second Lieutenant Lord James Paisley,[2] and then promoted to Lieutenant in 1955.[3] He quitted Active Service and was absorbed into Regular Army Reserves a year later.[4] In 1964 he became Ulster Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone (when he held the courtesy title Marquess of Hamilton), succeeding his cousin, Lord Robert Grosvenor (later Duke of Westminster). He held his seat in the 1966 election but lost it to Frank McManus in 1970 by 1,423 votes.[5] In 1970 he served as High Sheriff of Tyrone.[6] In 1974 he joined Ulster Defence Regiment,[7] but left the regiment and remained in the British Army in the Volunteer List in 1980.[8] From 1986 to 2009 he was the Lord Lieutenant of County Tyrone. In 1999, he was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter.[9] He was Colonel of the Irish Guards from 2000 to 2008.[10] Additionally, he was appointed Lord Steward of the Household in 2001, serving until 2009.

He owns more than 15,000 acres (61 km²). His seat is Baronscourt, near Newtownstewart, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The Dukedom of Abercorn is in the Peerage of Ireland and did not carry an entitlement to a seat in the House of Lords, but until 1999 the Duke was entitled to sit there under his subsidiary title Marquess of Abercorn, in the Peerage of Great Britain. He was appointed Chancellor of the Order of the Garter on 17 October 2012.[11]

In 1966 he married Alexandra Anastasia "Sacha" Phillips (1946-2018), eldest daughter of Lt.-Col. Harold Pedro Joseph Phillips (1909–1980) and Georgina, Lady Kennard (1919–2011), elder daughter and co-heiress of Sir Harold Wernher, 3rd Baronet, of Luton Hoo, Bedfordshire. Alexandra Anastasia Phillips was the elder sister of Natalia, widow of the 6th Duke of Westminster.

The Duke and Duchess of Abercorn had two sons and a daughter:[12]

• James Harold Charles Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton (born 19 August 1969),[12] who was married on 7 May 2004 at the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, to Tanya Marie Nation (born Neuilly-sur-Seine, 30 April 1971), eldest daughter of Douglas Percy Codrington Nation (Rawalpindi, 12 February 1942 – New York City, 2 September 2001), senior managing director of Bear Stearns International Ltd. (1942–2001) and his wife (New York, 10 April 1970, divorced 1989) Barbara "Bobbie" Anne Brookes (1940).[13][14][15][16] They have two children, James Alfred Nicholas Hamilton, Viscount Strabane (born 30 October 2005)[12] and Lord Claud Douglas Harold Hamilton (born 12 December 2007).
• Lady Sophia Alexandra Hamilton (born 8 June 1973),[12] who was a model before 1996. She married British war journalist Anthony Loyd in 2002, but their marriage was dissolved, without children, in 2005.[12] Lady Sophia subsequently became engaged to Hashem Arouzi in 2013.[17] She is now co-designer for the fashion label Hamilton-Paris.[18]
• Lord Nicholas Edward Claud Hamilton (born 5 July 1979)[12] married 30 August 2009 Tatiana, daughter of Evgeni Kronberg; they have a daughter, Valentina, born 2010.[19]

He is also a relative of Diana, Princess of Wales as he is the first cousin of Diana's father, the 8th Earl Spencer. The current duke's father, the 4th Duke of Abercorn was the brother of Diana's grandmother, Cynthia Spencer, Countess Spencer. Their Royal Highnesses The Duke of Cambridge, The Duke of Sussex, Prince George of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, and Prince Louis of Cambridge are his distant cousins.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to James Hamilton, 5th Duke of Abercorn.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Duke of Abercorn