Nicholas Lowther, 2nd Viscount Ullswater

Nicholas James Christopher Lowther, 2nd Viscount Ullswater LVO PC (born 9 January 1942), succeeded his great-grandfather in the Viscountcy of Ullswater in 1949, sitting in the House of Lords as a Conservative. He is one of very few peers to have succeeded a great-grandfather in a title.

The Right Honourable The Viscount Ullswater LVO PC
Lowther in 2018
Minister of State for Housing
In office 20 July 1994 – 6 July 1995
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	George Young
Succeeded by	Robert Jones
Chief Whip of the House of Lords Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms
In office 16 September 1993 – 20 July 1994
Prime Minister	John Major
Preceded by	The Lord Hesketh
Succeeded by	The Lord Strathclyde
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Employment
In office 24 July 1990 – 16 September 1993
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher John Major
Preceded by	The Lord Strathclyde
Succeeded by	The Lord Henley
Lord-in-waiting Government Whip
In office 26 July 1989 – 22 July 1990
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Lord Henley
Succeeded by	The Lord Reay
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 April 2003 as an excepted hereditary peer
Preceded by	The Viscount of Oxfuird
In office 24 July 1963 – 11 November 1999 as a hereditary peer
Preceded by	The 1st Viscount Ullswater
Succeeded by	Seat Abolished (House of Lords Act 1999)
Personal details
Born	(1942-01-09) 9 January 1942
Political party	Conservative
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Early life

Lowther was the son of John Lowther (1910-1942), and Priscilla Lambert (1917-1945). His father was secretary to HRH The Duke of Kent, and died alongside the Duke in the Dunbeath air crash. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.

Political career

Lowther was made a Lord-in-waiting (whip) in January 1989 by Margaret Thatcher before becoming Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Employment in July 1990. He was retained by John Major in that role until 1993, when he became Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms (Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords). He remained in this role for a year when he became Minister of State for Housing at the Department of the Environment in 1994 (as well as a Privy Counsellor) in 1994, but he left the Government in a 1995 reshuffle.

Princess Margaret

In 1998, he became the Private Secretary to Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and continued in this office until her death in 2002. He was appointed Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order in the special Honours List issued by the Queen after Princess Margaret's demise.

Return to politics

As a member of a Royal Household he could not take part in partisan politics and did not seek to remain in the House of Lords when the House of Lords Act 1999 was passed. But after the death of the Viscount of Oxfuird in January 2003, he won the all-house by-election, enabling him to return to the House of Lords.

On 22 May 2006, Lord Ullswater was nominated for the newly created post of Lord Speaker, and in the election held on 28 June 2006 emerged in third place out of nine candidates. His great-grandfather, James Lowther, served as Speaker of the House of Commons 1905–1921.

Arms

Coat of arms of Nicholas Lowther, 2nd Viscount Ullswater

Coronet A Coronet of a Viscount Crest A Dragon passant Argent Escutcheon Or six Annulets three two and one a Crescent for difference Supporters On either side a Horse Argent gorged with a Wreath of Laurel Vert and charged on the shoulder with a Portcullis chained Or Motto Magistratum Indicat Virum (The office shows the man)

Personal life

Lord Ullswater was an amateur jockey in his youth.

In 1967, he married Susan Weatherby. The couple has two sons and two daughters:

• Hon. Emma Mary Lowther, (b. 1968)
• Hon. Clare Priscilla Lowther, (b. 1970)
• Hon. Benjamin James Lowther (b. 1975)
• Hon. Edward John Lowther (b. 1981)

The family lives at Docking in Norfolk.

References

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• "Keele University Political Science Resources". Retrieved 7 July 2007.
• "Lord Speaker election". Archived from the original on 18 March 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2007.

Political offices
Preceded by The Lord Hesketh	Chief Whip in the House of Lords Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms 1993–1994	Succeeded by The Lord Strathclyde
Party political offices
Preceded by The Lord Hesketh	Conservative Chief Whip in the House of Lords 1993–1994	Succeeded by The Lord Strathclyde
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by James Lowther	Viscount Ullswater 1949–present	Incumbent