The Viscount Astor | |
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Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for National Heritage | |
In office 20 July 1994 –6 July 1995 | |
Prime Minister | John Major |
Preceded by | Iain Sproat |
Succeeded by | The Lord Inglewood |
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Social Security | |
In office 16 September 1993 –20 July 1994 | |
Prime Minister | John Major |
Preceded by | Ann Widdecombe |
Succeeded by | James Arbuthnot |
Lord-in-waiting Government Whip | |
In office 11 October 1990 –16 September 1993 | |
Prime Minister | Margaret Thatcher John Major |
Preceded by | The Lord Cavendish of Furness |
Succeeded by | The Lord MacKay of Ardbrecknish |
Member of the House of Lords | |
as a hereditary peer 4 July 1973 –11 November 1999 | |
Preceded by | The 3rd Viscount Astor |
Succeeded by | Seat abolished |
as an elected hereditary peer 11 November 1999 | |
Election | 1999 |
Preceded by | Seat established |
Personal details | |
Born | William Waldorf Astor III 27 December 1951 |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse | |
Children | 3 |
Parents | |
Relatives | See Astor family |
Alma mater | Eton College |
Occupation | Politician, businessman |
William Waldorf Astor III, 4th Viscount Astor (born 27 December 1951) is an English businessman and politician who sits as a Conservative hereditary Lord Temporal in the House of Lords. He is a member of the Astor family, which is known for its prominence in business, society, and politics in both the United States and the United Kingdom.
Astor was a Lord-in-waiting (a House of Lords whip) from 1990 to 1993. He was then made a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Social Security. In 1994, he moved to the Department of National Heritage where he served until leaving the government in 1995.
He was a member of the Founding Council of the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford. [1]
Viscount Astor is Chairman of Silvergate Media and director of Networkers Plc (since 2007) and trustee of Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham.
Astor was an early opponent of the HS2 high-speed rail project. [2]
Astor married Annabel Lucy Veronica Jones (born 1948), daughter of Timothy Angus Jones and Patricia David Pandora Clifford on 14 January 1976. They have three children:
The heir to the viscountcy is his elder son, Will. [3]
His wife Annabel's stepfather was his uncle Michael Langhorne Astor.
Viscountess Astor was previously married to Sir Reginald Sheffield, 8th Baronet by whom she is the mother of Samantha Cameron, wife of former Prime Minister David Cameron.
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Thomas Galloway Dunlop du Roy de Blicquy Galbraith, 2nd Baron Strathclyde,, known informally as Tom Strathclyde, is a British Conservative politician. Lord Strathclyde served in the political role of Leader of the House of Lords from the 2010 general election until January 2013 and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, having been Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords (1998–2010). As of 2024, he is the most recent hereditary peer to serve as Leader of the Lords.
Earl Ferrers is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1711 for Robert Shirley, 14th Baron Ferrers of Chartley. The Shirley family descends from George Shirley of Astwell Castle, Northamptonshire. In 1611 he was created a Baronet, of Staunton Harold in the County of Leicester, in the Baronetage of England. He was succeeded by his son Henry, the second Baronet, who married Lady Dorothy Devereux, daughter of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. On the death of her brother Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, she became the youngest co-heir to the baronies of Ferrers of Chartley and the barony of Bourchier, which had fallen into abeyance on the death of the third Earl. Shirley was succeeded by his eldest son, the third Baronet. He died unmarried and was succeeded by his younger brother, the fourth Baronet. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London by Oliver Cromwell and died there in 1656. On his death the title passed to his eldest son, the fifth Baronet. He died at an early age and was succeeded at birth by his posthumous son, the sixth Baronet.
Viscount Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for the financier and statesman William Waldorf Astor, 1st Baron Astor. He had already been created Baron Astor, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent, in 1916, also in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Baron Astor of Hever, of Hever Castle in the County of Kent, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1956 for John Jacob Astor, a prominent newspaper proprietor and Conservative politician. He was the fourth child of William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor. Lord Astor of Hever was succeeded in 1971 by his eldest son, the second Baron, who served as Lord Lieutenant of Kent between 1972 and 1982.
The Astor family achieved prominence in business, society, and politics in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 19th and 20th centuries. With German roots, some of their ancestry goes back to the Italian and Swiss Alps, the Astors settled in Germany, first appearing in North America in the 18th century with John Jacob Astor, one of the wealthiest people in history.
William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor was an American-English attorney, politician, hotelier, publisher and philanthropist. Astor was a scion of the very wealthy Astor family of New York City. He moved to England in 1891, became a British subject in 1899, and was made a peer as Baron Astor in 1916 and Viscount Astor in 1917 for his contributions to war charities. The census-designated place of Waldorf, Maryland is named after him.
Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, DL was an American-born English politician and newspaper proprietor. He was a member of the Astor family. He was active in minor political roles. He was devoted to charitable projects, and with his more famous wife Nancy became a prominent fixture in upper class English society.
Lieutenant-Colonel John Jacob Astor V, 1st Baron Astor of Hever, DL was an American-born English newspaper proprietor, politician, sportsman, and military officer. He was a member of the Astor family.
The Hon. Michael Langhorne Astor was a British Conservative Party politician.
Jonathan Harold Esmond Vere Harmsworth, 4th Viscount Rothermere, is a British peer and owner of a newspaper and media empire founded by his great-grandfather Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere. He is the chairman and controlling shareholder of the Daily Mail and General Trust, formerly "Associated Newspapers", a media conglomerate which includes the Daily Mail.
William Waldorf Astor II, 3rd Viscount Astor was an English businessman and Conservative Party politician. He was also a member of the Astor family.
Edward Peter Bertram Savile Foljambe, 5th Earl of Liverpool, is an English Conservative politician and businessman. He has been married three times and has two children from his first marriage. He serves as a member of the House of Lords, the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
Gilbert Heathcote-Drummond-Willoughby, 2nd Earl of Ancaster, known as Lord Willoughby de Eresby from 1892 to 1910, was a British Conservative politician.
Annabel Lucy Veronica Astor, Viscountess Astor, is an English businesswoman and socialite who is the CEO of OKA, a home furnishings design company. Before co-founding OKA, she was the owner and designer of the Annabel Jones jewellery business in London.
Robin John Orlando Bridgeman, 3rd Viscount Bridgeman,, is a British hereditary peer and politician. He is a member of the House of Lords, and sits as a Conservative.
Ivor Grosvenor Guest, 2nd Viscount Wimborne, was a British politician.
John Andrew Davidson, 2nd Viscount Davidson, was a British peer and Conservative politician. Regarded as a safe pair of hands, he became deputy chief whip in the House of Lords.
Captain Sir Bede Edmund Hugh Clifford was a British diplomat and colonial administrator, born in New Zealand, where his parents had moved in an unsuccessful attempt at sheep-farming.
John Jacob "Johnny" Astor VIII, 3rd Baron Astor of Hever,, is an English businessman and politician from the Astor family. He sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative hereditary peer from 1986 to his retirement in 2022. Astor was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence from 2010 to 2015. Astor is a Deputy Lieutenant of Kent.
Evelyn Rowland Esmond Baring, 4th Earl of Cromer, styled Viscount Errington from 1953 to 1991, is a British peer and businessman. He was managing director of Inchcape (China) Ltd. and a director of Schroder Asia Pacific Fund PLC. As Earl of Cromer, he was a member of the House of Lords from 1991 to 1999.