David Whitney Erskine Russell, 5th Baron Ampthill (born 27 May 1947) is the son of Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill

Geoffrey Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill

Geoffrey Denis Erskine Russell, 4th Baron Ampthill, CBE, PC was a British hereditary peer and businessman, whose paternity and succession to the peerage were famously disputed in the "Ampthill Baby Case"....

, and was educated at Stowe School

Stowe School

Stowe School is an independent school in Stowe, Buckinghamshire. It was founded on 11 May 1923 by J. F. Roxburgh, initially with 99 male pupils. It is a member of the Rugby Group and Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. The school is also a member of the G20 Schools Group...

. He currently serves as a councillor on Rye

Rye, East Sussex

Rye is a small town in East Sussex, England, which stands approximately two miles from the open sea and is at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede...

 Town Council having been elected in July 2003, and as a Conservative

Conservative Party (UK)

The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 councillor on Rother

Rother

Rother is a local government district in East Sussex, England. The district is named after the River Rother which flows within its boundaries.-History:...

 District Council. He previously served on East Grinstead

East Grinstead

East Grinstead is a town and civil parish in the northeastern corner of Mid Sussex, West Sussex in England near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders. It lies south of London, north northeast of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester...

 Town Council and held the post of Mid-Sussex District Council Cabinet Member for Community Development.

Before entering politics Russell enjoyed a career in publishing.

With his first wife April McKenzie Arbon he has two daughters. He is currently married to Christia Ipsen, the widow of Prince Rostislav Rostislavovich of Russia.

He succeeded his father as Baron Ampthill

Baron Ampthill

Baron Ampthill, of Ampthill in the County of Bedford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 11 March 1881 for the diplomat Lord Odo Russell. He was the third son of Major-General Lord George Russell, second son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford...

 in April 2011; the title had been created for his great-great-grandfather, Lord Odo Russell

Odo Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill

Odo William Leopold Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill GCB GCMG PC , known as Lord Odo Russell between 1872 and 1881, was a British diplomat and ambassador and the first British ambassador to the German Empire. He was born in Florence in 1829 into the Russell family, one of England's leading Whig/liberal...

, who represented Britain unofficially at the Vatican and officially at Berlin; Lord Odo's uncle was Lord John Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, KG, GCMG, PC , known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was an English Whig and Liberal politician who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century....

, who was twice Prime Minister.