John MacLeod of MacLeod, the 29th chief of his clan and the man who tried to sell Skye's Cuillin Ridge, has died at the age of 71 in a London hospital.

Dunvegan Castle issued a brief statement yesterday confirming the death: "It is with great sadness that we have to announce today the death of Chief John MacLeod of MacLeod the 29th chief of clan MacLeod who passed away peacefully on the 12th of February after a very short illness.

"He was comforted by his wife and family and was surrounded by love and affection to the end.

"Friends and all members of the MacLeod Estate staff were shocked and saddened by his sudden passing."

Islanders had only learned recently that he was ill. He had been suffering from leukaemia.

John Laing, councillor for Dunvegan and the west of Skye, said: "I am deeply sorry to hear of his death. In spite of everything the MacLeods have a very close association to Dunvegan.

"I am sure that the thoughts of all their tenants, the crofters and residents of the area go out to his family, his wife, sons and daughter. We only heard a few weeks ago that he was ill so it is quite a shock."

John Farquhar Munro, the LibDem MSP for Ross, Skye and Inverness, said he had a long association with him and although they didn't always agree they were friends.

"I always found him to be a thorough gentleman," he said.

Another islander who didn't want to be named, told The Herald "He wasn't the right-wing caricature people often assumed. For example, he was very pro-Europe.

"He wanted the UK to join the euro and even marched against the Iraq war."

The three-times married Mr MacLeod will be succeeded by his elder son Hugh Magnus.

He will become the 30th chief of a clan that traces its roots back to the beginning of the 13th century with the birth of Leod, son of the Norse King of Man, Olave the Black and Christina, daughter of the Earl of Ross.

John MacLeod was not born a MacLeod but a Wolrige Gordon.

In 1951 he changed his name to MacLeod of MacLeod by decree of the Lyon Court, having been named heir to his grandmother Dame Flora MacLeod of MacLeod. He succeeded her as chief in 1976. At the time he was a singer and an actor but gave it up because, he said later, the call of Dunvegan was too strong to resist.

In March 2000 he outraged many by putting the iconic Cuillin Ridge on the market, seeking offers of over £10m which he said was needed to repair the 800-year-old Dunvegan Castle.

At the time, he claimed that guests in Dunvegan Castle were having to sleep with their umbrellas up because of the state of the building's roof.

For £10m, a buyer would get 23,300 acres including the peaks, 14 miles of coastline, two rivers, a sheep farm and farmhouse in Glen Brittle. But in 2003, after three years of failing to attract a buyer, Mr MacLeod offered the Cuillin peaks to the people of Scotland if the burden of the castle's multi-million-pound repairs were removed from the estate.

The proposal was that he and his family would stay in part of the castle, but would not receive any money.

The MacLeod estate would be left largely with land under crofting tenure.

At the time he said: "If the Cuillins and the castle can be transformed into national assets in this way, I shall be delighted.

"I should be giving up properties which have been associated with my family for many centuries, and that is not at all easy."

A consortium of public and voluntary bodies was formed to pursue the project. But a subsequent assessment of the castle put the likely bill at £19m, which was deemed to be too high. A bid for lottery funding failed last year and it was understood the estate decided to prepare a more modest bid.