On April 7, 2011, a day after his 33rd birthday, Henry Oliver Charles FitzRoy became Britain’s youngest duke, upon the death of his grandfather Hugh, His Grace the 11th Duke of Grafton. The distinction lasted just 22 days. “I was gazumped by [Prince] William!” he says with mock indignation over the heir to the throne’s wedding-day creation as Duke of Cambridge. Still, Grafton remains England’s youngest nonroyal duke. Known as Harry, he presides over Euston Hall, a stupendous Palladian house in Suffolk, stocked with paintings by Van Dyck, Reynolds, and Stubbs, and set on 10,500 acres.

Now Harry has become host of one of England’s most buzzed-about summer music festivals. Red Rooster, which debuted last year at Euston Hall, is back June 5 through 7 with another beguiling slate of R&B, blues, bluegrass, and country acts. Grafton became enamored with American music during the two years he lived in Nashville (2002–2004), where he worked at a music-management firm and hosted a weekly radio show. An 18-month stint on the Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang world tour followed. “It was work hard, play hard, all the way,” he says.

Now settled down with his wife, Olivia, an art historian, and their two-year-old, Alfred (another child is due in July), the 12th Duke of Grafton is currently consumed with a massive two-year renovation of the estate. “I had to step up and get on with it,” he says.