REMEMBERING:
Premiered on 10 Sept 2021 The 5th
Opening of The Scottish Parliament took place on Saturday 2nd July 2016.
Prior to
the event, the crown of Scotland was escorted from Edinburgh Castle under the
watchful eye of The Duke of Hamilton and 3 Scots The Black Watch or The Royal
Regiment of Scotland.
HM Queen
Elizabeth was accompanied by her late husband Prince Philip The Duke of
Edinburgh. They arrived from Holyrood Palace in the Daimler Benz limo.
Obituaries
Obituary:Angus Douglas-Hamilton, the Duke of Hamilton
and Brandon
Angus
Douglas-Hamilton, 15th Duke of Hamilton.Born: 13 September, 1938, in London.
Died: 5 June, 2010, aged 71.
By The
Newsroom
6th Jun
2010, 1:00am
ANGUS
Hamilton was two people: a man surrounded by, suffused in and part of the
history of Scotland and an ordinary bloke, in his language, who was an
engineer, flyer and racing driver. He bore the weight of his father, the first
man to fly over Everest, the man that Rudolf Hess flew from Germany to see in a
bid to end the war, the force behind the creation of Prestwick Airport and
Scottish Aviation.
But he cut
away from that to be an aerial photographer in Malaya, a racing driver and one
of the team which developed the Supercat, an amphibious vehicle still in
military and civilian service today.
Angus Alan
Douglas Douglas-Hamilton was born into a family at the centre of a lively
London and Edinburgh social scene. His mother, Elizabeth Percy, was the
daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, and married the heir to the dukedoms of
Hamilton and Brandon. Her wedding in St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, to the
"Boxing Marquess" was a highlight of 1937.
Angus
Hamilton came into the world in 1938 as the Earl of Angus and succeeded his
father as Marquess of Douglas and Clydesdale in 1940 on the death of his
grandfather, the 13th Duke. Angus Clydesdale often recalled the consternation
in 1941 surrounding the arrival of the "nasty Nazi", Rudolf Hess, who
tried to land near the family's home at Dungavel, in a bizarre mission to
persuade the 14th Duke, presumed to be a confidante of the King, to use his
influence there to end the war.
Angus
Hamilton spent his earliest years at Dungavel, with his grandmother, the
vegetarian and animal rights campaigner, Nina, Duchess of Hamilton, which left
a life-time aversion to violence and cruelty to animals, later to form a key
part of his life with his third wife, Kay Carmichael. His father bought Lennoxlove,
near Haddington, in 1947, and it remains today the centre of the Hamilton
family concerns. Archerfield Estate was added soon after.
He started
school life at Carlekemp in North Berwick where his father bought a large house
by the sea to help Angus recover from bronchitis. He soon progressed to Summer
Fields School in preparation for entry to RJN "Purple Parr's" house
at Eton College in 1951. He always claimed to be no scholar but clearly his
lessons in Greek had struck home and later he was self-taught in Italian
through listening to opera.
In 1953 he
was page to his father at the Coronation. In 1955, his father sent him to Perth
for the month of August, at the end of which he had his solo pilot's flying
licence – which he kept up for the next 50 years. He joined the Air Cadets
while at Eton, and the Oxford University Air Training Corps when he went up in
1956 to read engineering, which became the core of his business interests.
After
university he went into the Royal Air Force, which provided the chance for
independence and a life away from the demands of high society and most, but not
all, of the preparation for future ducal responsibilities.
For
example, in 1963, he was ADC to HRH The Duke of Gloucester who was Lord High
Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. He flew
reconnaissance for the British forces in Malaya fighting against communist
insurgents.
In
Singapore, he started to drive racing cars and soon picked up the "Racing
Marquess" nickname and raced in many parts of Europe in cars like the
Maserati 250F and Lola-Climaxes. In 1967 he was invalided out of the RAF and
came back to Scotland to work as a test pilot, principally on the Bulldog, a
three-seater all-purpose aircraft developed by Scottish Aviation at Prestwick.
In 1972 he
married Sarah Jane Scott, born in 1945 the daughter of Sir Walter Scott, 4th
Baronet, and started to refurbish the farm at Archerfield which was to be his
family home for the next 35 years. They moved into Archerfield in 1975, having
succeeded his father to the dukedoms in 1973, just months before his first
daughter, Lady Eleanor Douglas-Hamilton, was born.
In 1973
Hamilton made his maiden speech as a cross-bencher in the House of Lords on the
subject of nuclear fusion. He described himself as a "humble
engineer", and was listened to by his great friend in the House, Lord
Energlyn, who had been a South Wales miner.
His quiet
work for charity showed when he was appointed to the Order of the St John, and
he often wore the insignia of a Knight of the Order. Even so, his politics were
always to the left and his style self-effacing. As Professor Gordon Donaldson
wrote in Hamilton's 1991 study of Mary, Queen of Scots, "he makes no plea
to be judged other than by professional standards. The fact he is a duke has
nothing to do with it, the fact he is not a trained historian has much to do
with it."
The
pressures of history, perhaps the shadow of a father who had achieved so much,
seem to have been heavy; alcohol became a refuge and life became difficult. A
divorce from Sally followed in 1987 and she died in 1994. A brief marriage to
Jillian Robertson followed but already the most important person in his life
had joined him. Kay Carmichael, then divorced from her husband, met him through
an interest in an abused dog and over the next few years she rescued Hamilton
from the despair of alcohol, forming a bond which gave him the stability and
happiness to pursue with vigour his life as an entrepreneur, aviator and
custodian of more titles than anyone else in Britain.
They
married quietly in 1998 and put much energy into Staffordshire terrier rescue,
campaigns to abolish animal cruelty – especially against the production of foie
gras.
In 1999 the
Duke of Hamilton, as the descendant of the ancient Lords of Abernethy, bore the
Crown from the Honours of Scotland to the opening of the re-convened Scottish
Parliament in which his ancestors had played major roles from the creation of
the dukedom in 1643. He renewed his marriage vows to Kay in the summer of 2009
by which time the cloud of dementia had descended on their lives.
Music,
especially opera, was a lifelong interest. In 1966, Hamilton sported a massive
handlebar moustache and hearing that his favourite tenor, Giovanni Martinelli,
was signing record sleeves in a record shop in Oxford Street in London, marched
in, bought a copy of everything that was on offer and asked the maestro to sign
them.
That moment
was scored in his memory, with the keepa da mustachio story being recalled
right to the end, together with the autographed discs. Even late in his life, a
recording of a fine tenor could be guaranteed to bring a tear. Hamilton was a
wicked mimic, not least of members of his own and other great families with
whom he inevitably came into contact in his formal roles.
He was very
proud of his ancestors, not the great dukes of the 17-19th centuries, but the
sailors of modest rank from whom his branch of the family descended, the
titles, but not all the property, having moved between distant cousins when the
12th Duke died in 1895 with no male issue.
The house
was always full of visitors from a huge circle of friends – ranging from
astronauts to country and western singers, such as George Hamilton IV (a
friend, not a relative). He and Kay were patrons of the arts, as his mother had
been before, and in latter years they were keen to maintain the history of the
family represented in the Kneller portraits at Lennoxlove. But while flying,
driving, opera, art and Lennoxlove were his preoccupations, his passion was for
Kay who remained with him through his most difficult periods.
His son,
Alexander, succeeds to the Dukedoms.
Duke of Hamilton dies in wife's arms after long battle
with dementia
ONE of Scotland's most prominent noblemen has died
after a long battle with dementia.
By The
Newsroom
7th Jun
2010, 12:08am
Updated
7th Jun
2010, 11:18am
https://www.scotsman.com/news/duke-hamilton-dies-wifes-arms-after-long-battle-dementia-1717092
Angus
Douglas-Hamilton, the 15th Duke of Hamilton, died in his wife's arms in his
home in the early hours of Saturday.
The duke,
who was diagnosed with dementia in 2001, had become increasingly ill over the
past two months. He was 71.
His wife,
Kay Hamilton, a passionate animal rights campaigner, last night paid tribute to
her husband as a "wonderful, fun and loving man".
She spoke
of how they had shared their last night together in their East Lothian home.
"Over the last few days he had become increasingly ill and we knew that
time was running out," she said. "He died peacefully in the early
hours of Saturday morning in my arms in the comfort of our home."
The duke
was hereditary bearer of the Crown of Scotland to the Parliament of Scotland,
so had the honour of carrying the Crown in front of the Queen at the opening
ceremony of the Scottish Parliament. The duchess last night recalled the moment
he nearly dropped it.
"He
was walking with the crown on a cushion and as he came down some steps he
almost lost his footing and was about to shout out to his friend the Lord Lyon,
'Here, catch', but he swallowed his words when he realised the Queen was right
behind him."
In his
younger days the duke was a keen flyer and car-racer.
Both the
duke and duchess have been active animal rights campaigners over the years,
banning hunting on their Lennoxlove estate in East Lothian and boycotting
Edinburgh department store Jenners until it stopped selling pat de foie gras.
They also had a passion for Staffordshire terriers.
The duchess
said last night she would continue their work. "I will carry on with the
animal rights work that we were both so passionate about," she said.
In a
tribute to her husband, she also said she would continue her long-running
campaign for people with dementia to be treated by specialist nurses in
hospitals.
She added:
"Even though the dementia made things difficult we still had fun
together."
The heir to
the Hamilton titles is their eldest son, Alexander Douglas Hamilton, Marquess
of Douglas and Clydesdale, who was born in 1978.
The duchess
added: "My husband supported many worthy causes and I know he was content
that his son Alex as the new duke will be able to carry on and expand these
activities."
A spokesman
for Buckingham Palace said: "The Queen is sending a personal message of sympathy
to the family."
A private
funeral for friends and family will be held this week and a memorial service is
being planned for later in the summer.
Alexander Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 16th Duke of
Hamilton, 13th Duke of Brandon (born 31 March 1978) is a Scottish nobleman and
the premier peer of Scotland.
He is the
son of Angus Douglas-Hamilton, 15th Duke of Hamilton, and his first wife, Sarah
Scott, and was educated at Keil School, Dumbarton, and Gordonstoun in Scotland.
Upon the
death of his father on 5 June 2010, he became the 16th Duke of Hamilton in the
Peerage of Scotland and 13th Duke of Brandon in the Peerage of Great Britain.
He also inherited other Scottish peerages and titles, Marquess of Douglas,
Marquess of Clydesdale, Earl of Angus, Earl of Lanark, Earl of Arran and Cambridge,
Lord Abernethy and Jedburgh Forest, Lord Machanshyre and Polmont and Lord Aven
and Innerdale, and the Barony of Dutton in the peerage of Great Britain.
The Duke is
the Hereditary Keeper of the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the hereditary bearer
of the Crown of Scotland. In this role, he walks immediately before the monarch
in the ancient ceremonial procession known as the Riding of Parliament.
The seat of
the Dukes of Hamilton is Lennoxlove House, replacing the now-demolished
Hamilton Palace.
.jpeg)
No comments:
Post a Comment