From his birth he was styled Marquess of Huntly until, in 1827, he succeeded his father and became the 5th Duke of Gordon. From 1780 till 1786 he was educated at Eton and, on 28 October 1788 as a nobleman, was admitted at St.John's College, Cambridge. In 1790 he joined the army and, in 1801, was a Major-General, in 1808 a Lieutenant-General, in 1819 finally becoming a General. He was also, from 1796 till 1806, Colonel of the 92nd Foot (the Gordon Highlanders, 
raised from his father's estates). In 1798 he served in Ireland during the rebellion, in 1799 in Holland where he was wounded, then in 1809 in Walcheren. 
From 1792 till 1794 he was Grand Master of Freemasons in Scotland and, in 1806 and 1807, a Tory M.P. for Eye. On 11 April 1807 he was summoned to Parliament as Lord Gordon of Huntly. From 1808 till 1836 he was Lord Lieutenant of County Aberdeen. On 19 July 1821, at the 
Coronation of King George IV, he officiated as Lord High Constable. 
From 1828 till 1830 he was Keeper of the Great Seal and, from 1835 till his death, President of the Highland and Agricultural Society. He was unmarried, handsome and, by all accounts, exceptionally charming. Among his Highland neighbours he was 'so general a favourite, that all people seemed to wake up as it were when he came amongst them'. 
By Ann Thomson, a housemaid at Gordon Castle, born in 1780 and died in 1862, he fathered two children. Charles, born in 1798, became an admiral, and Susan, born in 1805, became the wife of Henri Sordet. 
On 15 March 1804 by Jane Graham, he became the father of Georgiana Huntly Gordon. About Jane Graham, born in 1772 and died in 1838, very little is known. Georgiana married Andrew McCrae and became a renowned painter. 
Since his father's estate was heavily in debt, he was in need of a rich wife and, on 11 December 1813 by special license at Bath, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Brodie, a wealthy India merchant. His bride was young, and good, and rich, but neither clever nor handsome. She made him very happy and paid his most pressing debts, or rather her father did. However, the marriage remained childless so that he was the last of his line. 
 

Source: Leo van de Pas