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Flora Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun

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The Right Honourable
The Lady Saltoun
Saltoun in 2005 in her parliamentary robes
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as a hereditary peer
3 December 1979 – 11 November 1999
Preceded byThe 20th Lord Saltoun
Succeeded bySeat abolished [a] 
as an elected hereditary peer
11 November 1999 – 12 December 2014 [b] 
Preceded bySeat established [a] 
Succeeded byThe Earl of Kinnoull
Personal details
Born
Flora Marjorie Fraser

(1930-10-18)18 October 1930
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died3 September 2024(2024-09-03) (aged 93)
Ballater, Scotland
Political partyCrossbench
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1956; died 2000)​
Parent(s)Alexander Fraser, 20th Lord Saltoun
Dorothy Geraldine Welby

Flora Marjorie Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun[c] (18 October 1930 – 3 September 2024), was a Scottish noblewoman and Crossbench peer.

Until her retirement on 12 December 2014, she was the only holder of a lordship of Parliament with a seat in the House of Lords as an elected hereditary peer.

Early life

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Saltoun was born in Edinburgh on 18 October 1930, the daughter of Alexander, Master of Saltoun (later 20th Lord Saltoun), and Dorothy Geraldine Welby (1890–1985).[2] Her maternal grandfather was Sir Charles Welby, 5th Baronet, Conservative MP for Newark. She was raised at Cairnbulg Castle near Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, which her father had purchased in 1934 after it had been sold by Frasers in 1613.[3] She was educated at Heathfield School, Ascot, and St Mary's School, Wantage. She had an elder brother, Alexander Simon Fraser, Master of Saltoun (1921–1944), who was their father's heir apparent. He was killed in action in March 1944 while serving with the Grenadier Guards during World War II, making Flora heir presumptive.[2]

Career

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In 1979, Flora succeeded her father as 21st Lady Saltoun. She took her seat in the House of Lords as a crossbencher. On 1 May 1984, a decree by the Court of the Lord Lyon, declared that Saltoun was the Chief of the Name and Arms of Clan Fraser and head of the Scottish lowland family, the Frasers of Philorth.[3]

In the Lords, she sat on the ecclesiastical and procedure committees and spoke on policies such as the Common Fisheries Policy and same-sex marriage.[4] She was a proponent of decorum in the house and was opposed to the removal of hereditary peers.[3]

In 1999, when the House of Lords Act 1999 removed 662 hereditary peers, Saltoun was one of the ninety hereditary peers elected to remain in the Lords.[5] On 12 December 2014, she retired from the Lords under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.[6]

Personal life

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Flora Fraser met Alexander Ramsay of Mar (1919–2000), son of the former Princess Patricia of Connaught, at the Perth Hunt Ball. They became engaged and Queen Elizabeth II gave her official consent to the marriage under the Royal Marriages Act 1772 on 19 August 1956.[7]

They were married on 6 October 1956 at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Fraserburgh.[8] Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Queen Ingrid of Denmark (her husband's first cousin) attended.[3] As her father's heir, she kept her maiden surname after marriage. The couple had three daughters:[2]

As Ramsay's wife, she was considered a member of the extended British royal family. They frequently attended garden parties at the Palace of Holyroodhouse and other major royal occasions. Her husband was also closely related to the Swedish and Danish royal families, and they attended the weddings of the future Queen Margrethe II in 1967 and King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976.[3] After being widowed, the last major occasion she attended in Britain was the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011.[9]

The couple inherited Mar Lodge near Braemar from his aunt, Princess Arthur of Connaught. They also resided at Cairnbulg Castle and Inverey House, a mock baronial house they built near Ballater.

Saltoun died at home in Ballater on 3 September 2024, at the age of 93.[3]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b Under the House of Lords Act 1999.
  2. ^ Retired under Section 1 of the House of Lords Reform Act 2014.
  3. ^ It has recently been determined that Margaret Abernethy succeeded her brother, Alexander Abernethy, 9th Lord Saltoun, in 1668, but only survived him by about 10 weeks and had not previously been counted in the title's numbering. This new information has resulted in the ordinals in subsequent Saltoun lords being revised. As a result, Flora Fraser is sometimes listed as the 20th Lady Saltoun.[1]

References

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  1. ^ "History". Flora Fraser, 21st Lady Saltoun. Retrieved 10 July 2007.
  2. ^ a b c Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 3510. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Lady Saltoun, member of the Royal family with a hereditary peerage who enlivened the House of Lords – obituary". The Telegraph. 4 September 2024. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Lady Saltoun of Abernethy". MPs and Lords. UK Parliament. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  5. ^ "75 Lords a-leaping : the happy survivors". The Guardian. 5 November 1999. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  6. ^ Newton Dunn, Tom (20 February 2021). "Ladies first in Tory plan to abolish male primogeniture". The Times. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  7. ^ "No. 40860". The London Gazette. 21 August 1956. p. 4799.
  8. ^ "Scottish Wedding". National Library of Scotland. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  9. ^ "Royal wedding guest list". BBC News. 23 April 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
[edit]
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Lady Saltoun
1979–2024
Member of the House of Lords
(1979–1999) 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New office
 Elected hereditary peer to the House of Lords
under the House of Lords Act 1999
1999–2014 		Succeeded by
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