A third child for Elmerice and Alexander Fairfax

 

Frederick Louis Orlando Fairfax is the third child of Archduchess Elemerice of Austria and Alexander Fairfax.

Archduchess Elmerice Karoline Sidonie Elisasbeth von Habsburg-Lothringen is the 5th child and only daughter of Archduke Christoph of Austria and Ebba von Mohrenschildt.  Alexander Thomas Digby Fairfax is the eldest son of the Hon. Hugh Fairfax and his wife, Victoria Neave.  Hugh is the younger brother of Nicholas, the 14th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. 

Frederick and his older brother and sister have a unique ancestry that includes descent from Empress Maria Theresia of Austria (1717-1780).  Archduchess Elmerice's line of descent is through Maria Theresia's son, Emperor Leopold II (1742-1797), whose third child, Archduke Ferdinand (1769-1824) became Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1790.  She also has ancestral lines through Bourbon-Parma and Bourbon-Two-Sicilies.

Through their father, Alexander Hugh Digby Fairfax, they have American ancestry largely due to the heiress Catherine Culpeper whose marriage the 5th Lord Fairfax led to the establishment of a Fairfax dynasty in what is now northern Virginia.  Some descendants chose to stay and become a part of the American story, others were Loyalists and made the decision to return to England.   Numerous branches of the Fairfax family are American, but eventually, the 

Through his father, Frederick (and his siblings) has American ancestry.  In 1627, King Charles I created the title Lord Fairfax of Cameron (Peerage of Scotland) for Sir Thomas Fairfax (1560-1640),  a member of Parliament who served Queen Elizabeth I as a diplomat. He met with King James VI of Scotland on several occasions.   

The 2nd and 3rd Lords Fairfax (Ferdinando (1584-1848) and Thomas (1612-1671) fought for Parliament.  When the 3rd Lord died in 1671, the title passed to his first cousin, Henry Fairfax (1631-1688).

Henry's son, Thomas (1657-1710) married Catherine Culpeper, the daughter of Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper, the Governor of Virginia.  Culpeper County in Virginia is named for Lord Culpeper.

Thomas, the 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1692-1781) inherited his mother's considerable property in Virginia. When he died, his title and the American estates were inherited by his younger brother, Robert (1707-1793).   

Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

Fairfax County is named for the 6th Lord.

The size of the Culpeper properties was 5,282,000 acres, a really large chunk of what is now Northern Virginia, including where I live.  Robert succeeded in 1781, near the end of the American Revolution.  His inheritance has been confiscated by the Virginia Act of 1779.   Lord Fairfax did receive £13,758 in 1792 due to an Act of Parliament to aid American Loyalists.  

Lord Fairfax died in 1793 at Leeds Castle in Kent.  The title was in abeyance, until 1798 when Robert's first cousin once removed, Bryan Fairfax (1736-1846) traveled to London. He was the first American-born Lord Fairfax of Cameron.  He was the grandson of Reverend the Hon. Henry Fairfax, second son of the 4th Lord Fairfax.

The peerage was confirmed by the House of Lords in 1800.  The 8th Lord grew up at Belvoir, an estate between Dogue Creek and Accotink Creek along the Potomac.  This estate had been acquired by Colonel William Fairfax (1691-1757), a first cousin of the 6th Lord.  Colonel Fairfax was hired by his cousin to be the Land Agent for Lord Fairfax's substantial property on Virginia's Northern Neck.  William was a tobacco planter and served in the House of Burgesses.   He married twice and had three children, George William, Anne, and Sarah by his first wife, and a daughter and three sons, including Bryan, by his second wife.     

Anne Fairfax married Lawrence Washington, and they settled in a new home, Mount Vernon, on Little Hunting Creek.   William hired Lawrence's younger half-brother, George, to survey his property in Shenandoah.  He was also a surrogate father to George Washington, who formed close friendships with two of William's sons, George William (1724-1787) and Bryan.  

When William died in 1757, he left Belvoir and a plantation in Springfield to George William and Bryan inherited another plantation, Towlston Grange. 

 He married the very attractive, Sally Cary, a member of one of Virginia's most prominent families.  There was certainly a close relationship between Sally Fairfax and the future President, but historians cannot assume that the relationship was consummated.  But their correspondence proved there was an affection between Sally and George Washington who married Martha Dandridge Custis not long afterward.  

Although George William was a Loyalist, he and his wife remained close friends with the Washingtons even after they moved to England in 1773.

 George William was a Loyalist who returned to England before the start of the war.   Washington agreed to look after George William's properties and agreed to find a renter for Belvoir.  George William and his wife never returned to Virginia.  He died in 1787, and his estates were inherited by his half-brother.

Bryan, 8th Lord Fairfax

Bryan, too, had conflicted loyalties, and would not sign loyalty oaths for the Americans or the British.  His correspondence with Washington, whom he visited Valley Forge,  shows the depth of friendship between the two men and Washington's understanding and acceptance of his friend's views of the changing political landscape.  Washington wrote: "The difference in our political Sentiments never made any change in my friendship for you, and the favorable Sentiments I ever entertained of your hon'r, leaves me without a doubt that you would say any thing, or do any thing injurious to the cause we are engaged in after having pledged your word to the contrary."

Bryan became an Anglican priest. He married Sally Cary's younger sister, Elizabeth.  They had seven children, including Thomas, 9th Lord Fairfax (1762-1846), and Ferdinando, whose godparents were George and Martha Washington.  After the death of Elizabeth, he married Jennie Dennison and they had one daughter.

The 8th Lord Fairfax never used his title.  He ceded several properties to his children.  Belvoir Manor was destroyed by fire in 1783.  The estate was owned by Ferdinando Fairfax, but he did not live on the property and it fell into disrepair.  In August 1812  British forces burned down Washington, D.C. as the naval forces headed down the Potomac which led to Alexandria's surrender and entering a heated battle with Americans that led to the further destruction of the Belvoir estate.  Ferdinando died in 1820, and the Belvoir property was sold. The property was acquired by the US Army in 1917 and is now known as Fort Belvoir.

Between 1760 and his death in 1802,  the 8th Lord Fairfax lived in several homes in what is now Fairfax County:  Greenhill, now Telegraph Road,  Towlston Grange in Falls Church, and, finally Mount Eagle, south of Hunting Creek and Alexandria.  Only Towlston Grange remains extant.  Mount Eagle was torn down in 1968 for development, which includes the Montebello condominiums and the Huntington Metro.

Another plantation, Springfield, is now a residential area and several shopping malls. 

Thomas. 9th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1762-1846) succeeded his father in 1802.  He and his family lived at Vaucluse in Alexandria and Ash Grove.  The former estate was destroyed during the Civil War, and in its place,  Fort Worth was built to assist in defense of Washington, D.C.   The family buried their silver before leaving Vaucluse, and, yes, the silver was retrieved after the war.  Ash Grove is one of the few 18th-century houses left in Fairfax County.  It is now owned by Fairfax County.

The peerage was inherited by Thomas's grandson, Charles Snowdon Fairfax (1829-1869), who decided to head to California for the gold rush and eventually settled there.  The town of Fairfax, California is named for the 10th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who became a Democratic politician.  He and his wife did not have any children so the peerage was inherited by his younger brother, John (1830-1900).   He remained in Virginia.  He died at his country home, Northampton, in Prince George's County.

Bryan nor his son or grandsons used their title as they considered themselves American,  The Times (October 3)  reported John's death in 1900, referring to him as the 11th Lord Fairfax.  The Times' obituary was based on information from the New York Herald.  He had studied medicine, but never practiced, although he "styled himself simply Dr. Fairfax).   His son Albert was living in New York when his father died.   

 Albert Kirby Fairfax (1879-1939) was invited to the Coronation of Edward VII in 1902.  He decided to remain in England and establish his right to the peerage as the  12th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.   The process to establish his right to the title Lord Fairfax of Cameron began on  February 6, 1908.  King Edward referred to the House of Lords the petition "of Albert Kirby Fairfax, claiming to be Lord Fairfax of Cameron, in the peerage of Scotland, that his Majesty will cause his right to the title and dignity of Lord Fairfax of Cameron, to be declared and established."   Parliament officially recognized Albert as the 12th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.

This was a formality "necessary for the legal use of the title," according to the Washington Post, adding  that Lord Fairfax's claims have "never been questioned in England."

 He was naturalized in1906 and settled in the United Kingdom working in finance and serving in the House of Lords.  He often attended Anglo-American events, celebrating Washington's Birthday, Independence Day and Thanksgiving.   In July 1939, the Times reported that he was ill at his London home, and his condition was "satisfactory."  His health, however, deteriorated, and the day after the first report, he was described as very weak.  He died on October 4, 1939, at his home in Thorpe-le-Soken.  Lord Fairfax was 69 years old.   

Albert was succeeded by his son, Thomas Bryan McKelvie Fairfax (1923-1964), who inherited Northampton, the family property in Prince George's County, Maryland.   The 13th Lord Fairfax sold the estate in 1959.

The present Lord Fairfax is Thomas' eldest son, Nicholas (1956).   He has visited Fairfax County on three occasions.  

His first visit was in 1986 when he joked: "I'm pleased to come and visit my subjects."  He also said that Virginia's confiscation of the Fairfax lands in 1790 was "water under the bridge."  Chief Circuit Judge Barnard F. Jennings said: "Growing up in Virginia, we've always heard about Lord Fairfax. The family is almost as much a part of our history as George Washington."

In 1989, he helped to unveil a sign marking the site of Belvoir Manor, the home of Col. William Fairfax.  He and his wife, Annabel, returned in 1992 to celebrate Virginia's 250th anniversary.   The couple said they enjoyed visiting Fairfax County, but while having tea at Woodlawn Manor,  Lord Fairfax acknowledged that he had no plans to reclaim the 5.3 million acres that once belonged to his family.

"Not much of a chance," noting that the Pentagon is too close for a Fairfax invasion, he told the Washington Post.

Alexander Fairfax is the co-founder and CMO at HUQ Industries.   

Elmerice is a contemporary art consultant who divides her time between London and Vienna.

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