Background
Legge was the only son of Humphry Legge, 8th Earl of Dartmouth and his wife, Roma Ernestine (née Horlick).
Legge was the only son of Humphry Legge, 8th Earl of Dartmouth and his wife, Roma Ernestine (née Horlick).
He was educated at Eton College.
On leaving Eton in 1942, he joined the Coldstream Guards as a Captain and served with them until the end of the Second World War, having been mentioned in despatches. He was subsequently a director of the farming company Rea Bros (based at Ashcombe House) from 1958 to 1989, chairman of the Royal Choral Society from 1970 to 1992 and chairman of the Anglo-Brazilian Society from 1975 to 1994. He succeeded his father in the earldom in 1962.
They had four children:
William Legge, 10th Earl of Dartmouth (b 23 December 1949)
Honorary
Rupert Legge (b 1 January 1951), married Mary Victoria Susan Ottley (M Victoria South Ottley), daughter of Lionel Edward Bruce Ottley, and had issue:
Edward Peregrine Legge (b 1986)
Claudia Rose Legge (b 1989)
Lady Charlotte (b 16 July 1963), married Don Alessandro Paternò Castello, 13th Duke of Carcaci (b 1961), and had issue:
Donna Miranda Marie Patricia Paternò Castello (b 7 June 1993)
Donna Chiara Diana Paternò Castello (b 17 April 1995)
Don Tancredi Lorenzo Paternò Castello (b 9 April 1997)
Honorary Henry Legge (b 28 December 1968), married Cressida Hogg (youngest daughter of Sir Christopher Anthony Hogg) on 21 December 1995, and had issue:
Violet Legge (b 9 October 2000)
Olivia Daisy Legge (b 11 July 2002, London)
Hebe Rosalind Legge (b 24 July 2005)
Lord and Lady Dartmouth divorced in 1976.
Lady Dartmouth later married the 8th Earl Spencer and became the stepmother of Lady Diana Spencer (later the Princess of Wales), while Lord Dartmouth later married Gwendoline May Seguin four years later.