Lord Richard Cecil well established links with Rhodesia, the capital city of which was named Salisbury after the third Marquess (it was renamed Harare in 1982 on the second anniversary of Zimbabwean independence). The family had extensive land holdings in the country and the fifth Marquess (Lord Richard's grandfather) was a leading British supporter of the white minority UDI government that ruled Rhodesia from 1965-1979. Lord Richard was the eldest of the younger brothers of Robert Cecil, Viscount Cranborne, who has been both an MP and the Leader of the House of Lords. In 2003, Cranborne became 7th Marquess of Salisbury upon the
2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état end of his presidential term, which would coincide with the planned general election in 2018. That same day, "The Independent" reported that ZANU–PF leaders planned to meet the next day to draft a resolution dismissing Mugabe as President on 19 November and impeaching him on 21 November if he refused to step down. On Friday, 17 November, Mugabe appeared to have been temporarily released from his house arrest to attend a graduation ceremony at Zimbabwe Open University in Harare. On Sunday, 19 November, Mugabe was sacked as the leader of ZANU–PF, and Emmerson Mnangagwa, the former Zimbabwean Vice President, appointed