Adam Bruce

{{Short description|Scottish solicitor, businessman and officer of arms}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific_prefix = The Honourable

| name = Adam Bruce

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|CStJ|WS|country=GBR|size=100%}}

| image = Adam Bruce Finlaggan (cropped).jpg

| caption = Bruce, former Finlaggan Pursuivant of Arms

| office = Marchmont Herald

| term_start = 2012

| monarch = Elizabeth II
Charles III

| predecessor = David Maitland-Titterton

| office1 = Unicorn Pursuivant

| term_start1 = 2008

| term_end1 = 2012

| predecessor1 = Alastair Campbell of Airds

| successor1 = John Malden

| birth_name = Adam Robert Bruce

| birth_place = Edinburgh, Scotland

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1968|1|18|df=y}}

| nationality = Scottish

| parents = {{unbulleted list|Andrew Bruce, 11th Earl of Elgin (father)|Victoria Usher (mother)}}

| education = Glenalmond College

| alma_mater = Balliol College, Oxford
University of Edinburgh

| spouse = {{marriage|Maria Sofia Giovanna Rosa Granito Pignatelli di Belmonte|2003}}

| children = 2

| occupation = Solicitor and businessman.

}}

Adam Robert Bruce {{post-nominals|list=CStJ WS}} (born 18 January 1968) is a Scottish solicitor, and businessman who serves as an officer of Arms at the Court of the Lord Lyon.

Education

Bruce was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/may/30/greenbusiness.windpower |title=Energy boss with the wind in his sails |first=Terry |last=Macalister |work=The Guardian |date=30 May 2008 |accessdate=19 June 2016}} He is the younger son of Andrew Bruce, 11th Earl of Elgin, and Victoria Usher.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/elgin1633.htm |title=Cracroft's Peerage |access-date=21 June 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121012051518/http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/Elgin1633.htm#ELGIN_1633_11 |archive-date=12 October 2012 |url-status=live |df=dmy-all }} He was educated at Glenalmond College. Bruce went up to Balliol College to read history, and while at the University of Oxford he was elected as the President of the Oxford Union in 1989. He also took a law degree at the University of Edinburgh.

Career

Formerly a solicitor with McGrigors in Edinburgh, where he was Director of Public Policy, Bruce now works in the global renewable energy sector, having been UK chief executive of Airtricity and the first Chairman of RenewableUK, formerly the British Wind Energy Association.

Until 2023, he was global head of corporate affairs at Mainstream Renewable Power,[http://www.mainstreamrp.com Mainstream website] and from 2009 to 2015 was a director of the Friends of the Supergrid.[http://friendsofthesupergrid.eu Friends of the Supergrid] In October 2012, he was appointed chairman of the UK Government's Offshore Wind Programme Board.[http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn12_126/pn12_126.aspx DECC Offshore Wind Programme Board announcement October 2012] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023102104/http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn12_126/pn12_126.aspx |date=23 October 2012 }} He is currently a vice-Chair of the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC).[http://www.gwec.net GWEC website]

In 2008, Bruce was appointed an officer of arms at the Lyon Court as Unicorn Pursuivant. In April 2012, he was promoted to the position of Marchmont Herald. He was previously Finlaggan Pursuivant (private officer of arms to the Clan Donald), in which role he was installed in 2005 by Godfrey Lord MacDonald. This marked a reinstatement of the traditional MacDonald heraldic role after a break of 510 years.{{cite web|url=http://www.scotsheraldry.com/Scotsheraldry/Finlaggan.htm |title=Finlaggan Installation |accessdate=2007-01-16 |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070101172600/http://www.scotsheraldry.com/Scotsheraldry/Finlaggan.htm |archivedate=2007-01-01 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.clandonaldchiefs.org.uk/news/newspage3.htm |title=Newspage 3 |accessdate=2007-01-16 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929152701/http://www.clandonaldchiefs.org.uk/news/newspage3.htm |archivedate=2007-09-29 }} Installation of Clan Donald Officer of Arms by Gordon Casely

Bruce is also a Trustee of the St Andrews Fund for Scots Heraldry and a former Member of the Council of the Society of Writers to HM Signet.{{Cite web|title=Office holders|url=https://www.wssociety.co.uk/about/office-holders|access-date=2021-07-13|website=wssociety|language=en-GB}}

He sits on a number of advisory bodies, including the Development Board of Oxford University's Maths, Physics and Life Sciences Division. He became a Trustee of National Museums Scotland in April 2017 and his term of appointment runs until September 2023.{{Cite web|title=Adam Bruce|url=https://www.nms.ac.uk/about-us/our-organisation/trustees/adam-bruce/|access-date=2021-07-13|website=National Museums Scotland|language=en}}

In 2016, Bruce narrated a three-part series for UCV TV of Chile on the life of his ancestor Admiral Lord Cochrane.[https://vimeo.com/159093369 Cochrane, capitan de mar y Guerra]

Family

On 17 May 2003, he married Maria Sofia Giovanna Rosa Granito Pignatelli di Belmonte, a younger daughter of the 13th Prince of Belmonte. They live in Edinburgh and have two children.

Arms

{{Infobox coat of arms wide

| name = Adam Bruce

| image = Arms of Adam Bruce.svg

| imagesize =

| notes = Mr Bruce's Arms are a cadet version of the chiefly Arms of the Name of Bruce, with a gold border for a second son using the Stoddart system. The undifferenced arms belong to the Chief of the Name, the Earl of Elgin, Mr Bruce's father.{{Cite web |url=http://www.courtofthelordlyon.scot/marchmont.htm |title=Marchmont |website=www.courtofthelordlyon.scot |language=en |access-date=2018-11-20}}

| year_adopted = Matriculated by him in 1987

| crest = Above the shield is placed an Helm befitting his degree with a Mantling Gules doubled Or, and on a Wreath of the Liveries is set for Crest a lion statant quardant tail extended Azure armed and langued Gules.

| escutcheon = Or, a saltire and chief Gules, on a canton Argent a lion rampant Azure armed and langued of the Second, all within a bordure of the First.

| supporters =

| motto = ADSUMUS

| orders =

| bannerimage =

| banner =

| badgeimage =

| badge =

| symbolism =

| previous_versions =

}}