Augustus Fitzroy, Duke of Grafton (Borgo)

Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1735 - 1811) was a British Whig statesman and Prime Minister under King George III. He is the second-youngest person ever to become Prime Minister, after William Pitt the Younger, and the youngest member of the House of Lords.

He entered Parliament in 1756 as MP for Boroughbridge, but was elevated to the House of Lords a year later after inheriting the title of Duke of Grafton from his grandfather. In 1766 he was appointed First Lord of the Treasury by William Pitt the Elder, and then became the effective leader of the government in 1768 after Pitt resigned due to illness.

Among the first issues he was faced with as Prime Minister was the crisis produced by the French invasion of Corsica. Although initially reluctant to intervene after the trauma of the recently-ended Seven Years War, public opinion and the unexpected success of the Corsicans at the Battle of Borgo eventually encouraged him to take a harder line against France. By January 1769, faced by the threat of war from Britain, France had withdrawn from Corsica and recognised the independence of the island.