Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton
Alexander Daniel Alan Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton (born 10 October 1943) is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.[1][2] He is the eldest son of the Conservative politician Maurice Macmillan and grandson of prime minister Harold Macmillan.
The Earl of Stockton | |
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Member of the European Parliament for South West England | |
In office 10 June 1999 – 10 June 2004 | |
Preceded by | Constituency created |
Succeeded by | Roger Knapman |
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |
In office 29 December 1986 – 11 November 1999 Hereditary Peerage | |
Preceded by | Harold Macmillan |
Succeeded by | House of Lords Act 1999 |
Personal details | |
Born | 10 October 1943 |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) | Birgitte Hamilton (m. 1970, div. 1991) Miranda, Countess of Stockton (m. 1995, div. 2011) |
Relations | Maurice Macmilllan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden (father) Katharine Ormsby-Gore (mother) |
Children | Daniel Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden Lady Rebecca Macmillan Lady Louisa Macmillan |
Life
Lord Stockton was educated at Eton College, the University of Paris, and at Strathclyde University.[3] He was a member of the European Parliament for South West England from 1999 to 2004. He was one of the hereditary peers to have been excluded from the House of Lords. He inherited his peerage from his grandfather, Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963, on his death at the end of 1986, as his father was already deceased.[4]
He has been an unsuccessful candidate sixteen times in the by-elections held among hereditary peers for a seat in the House of Lords. Most notably, in 2007 he came third in a contest to replace Lord Mowbray, behind the winner, Lord Cathcart, and Lord Younger of Leckie; in the 2010 by-election to replace Lord Northesk, he came second behind Lord Younger of Leckie; in 2011 he lost to Lord Hanworth in a ballot for the seat of the deceased Lord Strabolgi; and in 2014 he lost out to the Earl of Oxford and Asquith.[5]
At the May 2011 local council elections, Lord Stockton was elected as a Conservative councillor on South Bucks district council.[6] Both his father Maurice Macmillan (1921–1984) and his grandfather preceded him as Chairman of Macmillan Publishers Ltd., the publishing house long owned by the family. Stockton sold it to the German Holtzbrinck group. He ranked 253rd in the Sunday Times 2004 Rich List, with an estimated wealth of £165m.[7]
Lord Stockton renovated Hayne Manor with his current wife in Devon and listed it for sale.[8][9]
On 29 April 2002, Lord Stockton appeared alongside several other relatives of deceased former Prime Ministers, as well as then-Prime Minister Tony Blair and the four surviving former Prime Ministers at the time (Ted Heath, Jim Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher and John Major), for a dinner at Buckingham Palace which formed part of the celebrations for the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II.[10]
Lord Stockton is Vice President of the Royal Crescent Society, Bath.
Marriages
- Hélène Birgitte Hamilton, 1970, divorced 1991. There were three children of this marriage:
- Daniel Maurice Alan Macmillan, Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden (b. 9 October 1974)[11]
- Lady Rebecca Elizabeth Macmillan (b. 1980)
- Lady Louisa Alexandra Macmillan (b. 1982)
- Miranda Quarry (1947-2020), (the third wife of Peter Sellers), 23 December 1995, divorced 2011. This union produced no children.
Arms
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References
- "Earl Alexander Macmillan speaks at Royal Hotel dinner". Scarborough Evening News, April 17, 2008
- "Mr Alexander Macmillan". millbanksystems.com.
- Burke's Peerage 2003, vol 3, page 3752
- "Archived item". Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2010.
- "Hereditary Peers' By-election" (PDF). www.parliament.uk. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
- "Election results". South Bucks Council. Archived from the original on 22 July 2011.
- "indopedia.org". www.indopedia.org.
- "Hunting, shooting and partying", The Sunday Times, 16 July 2006
- "Historic renovated house in Devon – Farmers Weekly". 16 August 2006.
- "Queen dines with her prime ministers". BBC News. 29 April 2002.
- "The elite". The Guardian. 11 April 1999.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Macmillan, 2nd Earl of Stockton. |
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Stockton
Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by Harold Macmillan |
Earl of Stockton 1986–present |
Incumbent Heir apparent: Viscount Macmillan of Ovenden |
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | ||
Preceded by The Earl of Woolton |
Orders of precedence in the United Kingdom | Succeeded by Lord Nicholas Windsor |