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
Harare Province took the same name. Harare Province covers an area of , making it the 2nd-smallest province in Zimbabwe, after Bulawayo Metropolitan Province. It is situated in the northeastern part of the country, in the Mashonaland region. It is bordered to the north by Mashonaland Central Province, to the west by Mashonaland West Province, and to the east and south by Mashonaland East Province. Harare proper covers most of the province's area, while Chitungwiza and Epworth take up smaller areas of the province, both bordering Mashonaland East. Under the Köppen climate classification, Harare Province has a subtropical highland climate (Köppen "Cwb"),