Wednesday 2 November 2022

REMEMBERING: The 5th Opening of the Scottish Parliament - 02-JUL-2016 / Angus Douglas-Hamilton, 15th Duke of Hamilton. and Alexander Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 16th Duke of Hamilton


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

https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituaryangus-douglas-hamilton-duke-hamilton-and-brandon-2442429

 

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.


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