Harry Primrose, 8th Earl of Rosebery
{{Short description|British aristocrat}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = The Right Honourable
| name = The Earl of Rosebery and Midlothian
| honorific_suffix = DL
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| birth_date = 1967
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| education = Trinity College, Cambridge
| employer =
| occupation = Auctioneer
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| spouse = {{marriage|Caroline Daglish|1994|2014|reason=divorce}}
{{marriage|Harriet Clapham|2022}}
| children = 5 (including Lady Delphi Primrose)
| parents = Neil Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery
Deidre Reid
| relatives =
}}
Harry Ronald Neil Primrose, 8th Earl of Rosebery, 4th Earl of Midlothian {{post-nominals|country=GBR|DL}} (born 1967), styled Lord Dalmeny between 1974 and 2024, known as Harry Dalmeny, is a British aristocrat and the Chairman of Sotheby's in the United Kingdom. A member of the British aristocracy, he is the holder of ten noble titles, including the earldoms of Rosebery and Midlothian, to the Primrose family estate Dalmeny House, and to the chiefship of Clan Primrose.{{Cite web|title=Harry Dalmeny news and features|url=https://www.tatler.com/person/harry-dalmeny|access-date=2021-08-12|website=Tatler|language=en-GB|archive-date=12 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210812085826/https://www.tatler.com/person/harry-dalmeny|url-status=dead}} Dalmeny is a Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Midlothian and is a member of the Royal Company of Archers.
Early life and background
File:Dalmeny House (geograph 4979104).jpg in Scotland, the family seat of the earls of Rosebery]]
Harry Primrose was born in 1967, and is the son and heir of Neil Primrose, 7th Earl of Rosebery. He is a great-grandson of Prime Minister Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, and Hannah de Rothschild, the richest woman in Britain.{{Cite news|last=Sanderson|first=David|title=£30m Turner sold to 'pay for divorce of Sotheby's chief'|newspaper=The Times|language=en|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/europe-travel/italy/30m-turner-sold-to-pay-for-divorce-of-sothebys-chief-2980fnk2sq6|access-date=2021-08-12|issn=0140-0460}} The earls of Rosebery own Dalmeny House and also owned Mentmore Towers until 1977.
He was educated at the Dragon School, Oxford, and Eton College.[http://www.standrews.qc.ca/sas/docs/JOURNALJan2009final2.pdf Journal of St Andrews Society of Montreal] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120907083200/http://www.standrews.qc.ca/sas/docs/JOURNALJan2009final2.pdf |date=7 September 2012 }} He then studied art history at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Career
Dalmeny joined Sotheby's in 1990 to work in the Country House sale department. In 2000, he became a director of Sotheby's and from 2003 to 2007 was chairman of Sotheby's Olympia. He also took on responsibility for the single-owner sales department in 2006 and became deputy chairman, Sotheby's UK in 2007. He became chairman of Sotheby's in 2017.{{Cite web|title=Artforum.com|url=https://www.artforum.com/news/sotheby-s-names-harry-dalmeny-as-uk-chairman-66394|access-date=2021-08-12|website=www.artforum.com|date=3 February 2017 |language=en-US}}
As Sotheby's director of country house sales in the UK, Lord Dalmeny has been behind the rostrum and on top of the gavel for some of the most high-profile auctions in Europe, including the Duke of Devonshire's sale at Chatsworth House and the 2004 record sale at Hopetoun House of Jack Vettriano's painting The Singing Butler for £744,800.{{Cite news|last=Lyons|first=William|date=2011-03-25|title=Harry Dalmeny Trades the Gavel for a Toboggan|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704608504576208382313733962|access-date=2021-08-12|issn=0099-9660}}
In 2013, Dalmeny rode in the Queen's carriage at Royal Ascot.{{Cite news |last1=Ward |first1=Victoria |last2=Bell |first2=Joanna |date=2022-11-01 |title=High society row as divorcee hits out at 'vipers' who made married couples priority at party |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/01/high-society-row-divorcee-hits-vipers-who-made-married-couples/ |access-date=2024-06-29 |work=The Telegraph |language=en-GB |issn=0307-1235}}{{Cite web |last=Celebs, royalty |date=June 20, 2013 |title=Wild hats and royalty at Ascot |url=https://www.sfgate.com/sports/slideshow/wild-hats-and-royalty-at-ascot-64918.php |access-date=June 29, 2024 |website=www.sfgate.com}}
In 2014, the Primrose family sold the painting Rome, From Mount Aventine by J. M. W. Turner for £30.3m to fund restoration work on Dalmeny House. The painting, regarded as one of Turner's finest, had been bought by the future Prime Minister Archibald Primrose in 1878. {{Cite web |last=Owen |first=Jonathan |date=December 3, 2014 |title=Turner masterpiece sells for a record £30.3m |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/father-of-sotheby-s-chairman-lord-dalmeny-selling-prized-turner-masterpiece-9901511.html |access-date=June 29, 2024 |website=independent.co.uk}}{{Cite web |last=London |first=Luxury |date=2020-03-10 |title=Lord Dalmeny, Chairman of Sotheby's, opens his estate to the public for the first time |url=https://luxurylondon.co.uk/property/lord-dalmeny-rosebery-estate/ |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=Luxury London |language=en-GB}}
In 2019, Dalmeny presided over the auction of Claude Monet's 1890 painting Meules for US$110.7 million at Sotheby's New York, a record for an impressionist work.[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/14/arts/monet-auction-110-million.html A Monet Sells for $110.7 Million, an Auction High for an Impressionist Work], The New York Times.
In 2001, Dalmeny sold his inherited Gilbert Stuart's 1796 George Washington (Landsdowne portrait) to the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution where it had been on indefinite loan since 1968. To prevent his auctioning it at Sotheby's, a U.S. donor paid the US$20 million that Dalmeny had requested from the Gallery.{{Cite web |last=Bureau |first=Washington |date=2001-03-14 |title=TIMELY DONATION SAVES PORTRAIT OF WASHINGTON FROM THE AUCTION BLOCK |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/03/14/timely-donation-saves-portrait-of-washington-from-the-auction-block/ |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=Chicago Tribune |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2014-08-29 |title=George Washington (Lansdowne Portrait) [Gilbert Stuart] {{!}} Sartle - Rogue Art History |url=https://www.sartle.com/artwork/george-washington-lansdowne-portrait-gilbert-stuart |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=www.sartle.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2001/03/12/daily19.html |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=www.bizjournals.com}}{{Cite web |title=George Washington (Lansdowne Portrait) |url=https://npg.si.edu/object/npg_NPG.2001.13 |access-date=2024-06-29 |website=npg.si.edu |language=en}}
Personal life
In 1994, Lord Dalmeny married Caroline Daglish, a former Conservative Party researcher working for Robert Jones MP and Lord Strathclyde. She is a Patroness of the Royal Caledonian Ball.{{cite web|title=Patronesses|url=http://www.royalcaledonianball.com/ball_details/patronesses|publisher=Royal Caledonian Ball|access-date=11 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014035226/http://www.royalcaledonianball.com/ball_details/patronesses|archive-date=14 October 2013|url-status=dead}} They live between London and Scotland, where he has a house and farm in the Moffat Hills. They have five children.
The Dalmenys were reported to be divorcing in 2014. In 2018, he was in a relationship with Norwegian shipping heiress Pontine Paus.{{cite web|url=https://www.tatler.com/article/cambridge-analytica-brexit-and-trump|title=Who has the real power?|work=Tatler|date=29 March 2018}}
In June 2021, Lord Dalmeny announced his engagement to art advisor Harriet Clapham.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tatler.com/article/lord-dalmeny-engaged-harriet-clapham-delphi-primrose-father|title=Lord Dalmeny – father of Tatler's August cover star, Delphi Primrose – is engaged to art adviser Harriet Clapham|date=30 June 2021 }} They married in 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.tatler.com/gallery/the-society-weddings-to-look-out-for-in-2022|title=The society weddings to look out for in 2022 |work=Tatler|date=27 April 2022}}
References
{{Reflist}}
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{{s-reg|sct}}
{{s-bef|before=Neil Primrose}}
{{s-ttl|title=Earl of Rosebery|years=2024–present}}
{{s-inc|heir=Albert Primrose, Lord Dalmeny}}
{{s-reg|uk}}
{{s-bef|before=Neil Primrose}}
{{s-ttl|title=Earl of Midlothian|years=2024–present}}
{{s-inc|heir=Albert Primrose, Lord Dalmeny}}
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{{Current British earls}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalmeny, Harry}}
Category:Nobility from Edinburgh
Category:People educated at The Dragon School
Category:People educated at Eton College
Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Category:British people of German-Jewish descent
Category:Members of the Royal Company of Archers
Category:Deputy lieutenants of Midlothian
Category:Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom