AIRLIE, Rt Hon 13th Earl of KT GCVO PC 1926-2023
Richard R
DAVID JOHN Ogilvie b 9 March 1958 s father as 14th Earl of AIRLIE 2023 but has yet to establish claim. He m 1st, 1981 (div 1990), Hon Geraldine Theodora Mary Gabriel HARMSWORTH d of 3rd Viscount ROTHERMERE and had a dau. He m 2nd 1991, Tarka, da of John KINGS, of Austin, Texas, USA and had three sons.
SONS LIVING (by 2nd m)
DAVID HUXLEY Ogilvie (Master of Ogilvy,) b 11 Dec 1991
Hon Joseph Skene OGILVY b 21 March 1995
Hon Michael Moir OGILVY b 20 Jan 1997; Page of Honour 2008-9 to The late Queen ELIZABETH II
DAUGHTER LIVING (by 1st m)
Lady Augusta Amadeus Caroline OGILVY b 1981
He died on 26 June 2023. The news is in The Telegraph online:
"He was the last
surviving person to have attended the 1937 Coronation of George VI"
The Earl of Airlie, dashing courtier who led Schroders through the Big Bang and reviewed the royal finances – obituary
He helped Schroders to be ‘last of the great independent merchant banks’ and at the Palace he advised on the response to Diana’s death
By Telegraph Obituaries 28 June 2023 • 2:18pm
The 13th Earl of Airlie, who has died aged 97, had a high-flying City career as chairman of Schroders before serving as Lord Chamberlain – head of the Royal Household – during a period of media frenzy, financial pressure, fire and tragedy for Queen Elizabeth II and her family.
David Airlie’s aristocratic elegance and lightness of manner disguised the impact of his leadership at Schroders, the international merchant banking group where he was not only a well-respected helmsman but also a shrewd driver of change. Likewise, he might easily have been mistaken for the Royal Household’s most handsome ornament – but was in reality a decision-maker who achieved major reforms of palace management as well as public relations.
Having known Queen Elizabeth II since they had played together in the nursery (or so it was said, and they were indeed born less than a month apart), he was a trusted friend – as was his American-born wife Ginny – during the most difficult passage of her long reign.
Lord Airlie took up the post of Lord Chamberlain in December 1984 and found himself in charge of an arcane organisation that had barely changed since the Queen’s father’s era. He swiftly formed the view that its financial situation was “quite alarming”: in short, the palace was in danger of running out of money.
When Airlie proposed a thorough review, the Queen gave him full authority to carry it out – effectively changing the Lord Chamberlain’s ancient ceremonial and non-executive role to that of chief executive. According to one of his successors, Airlie proceeded to “read the riot act” to department heads, telling them that they must work to budgets and co-operate with each other: “And that didn’t half rattle a few cages.”
…David George Coke Patrick Ogilvy was born on May 17 1926, the fourth of six children (three girls followed by three boys) of the 12th Earl of Airlie and his wife, née Lady Alexandra Coke, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Leicester. King George V was one of his godparents, and his brother Angus would become, in 1963, the husband of Princess Alexandra, the Queen’s first cousin.
…He was the last surviving person to have attended the 1937 Coronation of George VI, in which he took part as a page, carrying the coronet of his father, who was Lord Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother). At the recent Coronation of King Charles, the Earl wore the collar of the Order of the Thistle and sat in the front row of the nave.
His father, the 12th Earl, was a soldier, banker, sometime courtier and pillar of the Scottish establishment, very much as his heir would become. The family traced descent from Sir James Ogilvy, ambassador of Scotland to Denmark, who was created Lord Ogilvy of Airlie in 1491.
The earldom, dating from 1631, was “attainted” during the 18th century because of the family’s Jacobite leanings, but restored by Act of Parliament in 1826. The 13th Earl was thereby, strictly speaking, “de facto 11th Earl, 13th but for the Attainder”.
…he spent time in America courting his bride-to-be Virginia (Ginny) Fortune Ryan, a 19-year-old heiress from Newport, Rhode Island, whose great-grandfather Thomas Fortune Ryan had founded the New York Public Railroad and the Union Tobacco Company. Their wedding in October 1952 at St Margaret’s, Westminster – attended by the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and the film star Douglas Fairbanks Jr – was a major society event, featured in the nation’s cinemas on British Pathé News.
…Lord Airlie was appointed GCVO in 1984 and a Knight of the Thistle the following year; he was chancellor of both the Royal Victorian Order and the Order of the Thistle and a rare non-royal recipient of the Royal Victorian Chain, awarded personally by the monarch.
After retiring as Lord Chamberlain he became a Permanent Lord in Waiting. In Scotland he was Captain-General of the Royal Company of Archers (the monarch’s bodyguard) and lord lieutenant for Angus – where his home for more than half a century was Cortachy Castle, a 15th century mansion with Victorian additions at Kirriemuir, surrounded by extensive farming and sporting estates.
…Lady Airlie was the first American to be a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, and later Lady of the Bedchamber. She survives her husband with their three sons and three daughters. The earldom passes to his eldest son David, Lord Ogilvy, born in 1958.
The 13th Earl of Airlie, born May 17 1926, died June 26 2023
dpth...@gmail.com
The confusion arises because of two attainders, one of which was pardoned in the lifetime of the attainted person, and one which was not reversed form more than 100 years.
The 3rd Earl died in 1717. His eldest, James, son had been attainted in 1715 and so could not hold the title. When James died, his brother assumed the earldom, but a subsequent ruling held that because the attainted person survived the existing holder, the title was forfetited. (Cokayne notes other cases in which a seemingly contrary opinion was reached.) Some of the successors used the title, but it was not legally restored until 1826.
Since then, I have seen three different numbering schemes. For example, as to David Ogilvy, the restored 1826 Earl of Airlie:
Burke’s 1959 calls him 6th Earl of Airlie [counting John (1699-1761) as 4th Earl and Walter (1733-1819) as 5th Earl; Cokayne, and a Burke’s online edition ca 2002/7, call him 4th Earl of Airlie [counting him as the first earl since 1717]; the numbering used by Debrett’s 2011 edition makes him 9th Earl of Airlie [which counts all who had the right to the title (with or without attainders), even the attainted son of the 3rd Earl, who clearly could not hold the title]
dpth...@gmail.com
David, 3rd Earl of Airlie, d.1717; m.1696 Lady Grizel Lyon
1a) James, Lord Ogilvy, d.Edinburgh 12 Jan 1731; m.6 Dec 1730 Anne Erskine (d.Edinburgh 27 Nov 1735); he was attainted in 1715, whereby he was unable to assume the peerage
2a) John (1699-Cortachy 24 Jul 1761); m.1722 Margaret Ogilvy (d.1767); at the time, he was considered to be 4th Earl of Airlie, his succession not being affected by his brother’s attainder
1b) David (Cortachy 16 Feb 1725-Cortachy 3 Mar 1803); m.1st Margaret Johnstone (30 Oct 1724-1757); m.2nd 1770 Anne Stewart (d.Airlie Lodge 27 Dec 1798); he himself was attainted in 1746, but received a pardon in 1783; he generally styled himself Lord Ogilvy until 1783 and Earl of Airlie from 1783; he had issue by 1st m.:
1c) David (4 Dec 1751-Kinnalty House 6 Apr 1812); per Cokayne, he was insane and never assumed the titles
2b) Walter (1733-Cortachy 10 Apr 1819); m.1st Margaret Fullarton (d.Balnaboth 3 Jun 1780); m.2nd Forfar 12 Nov 1780 Jean Ogilvy (d.Cortachy 11 Jun 1818); he was generally considered at the time to be Earl of Airlie
1c) David, restored 1826 as Earl of Airlie (16 Dec 1785-London 20 Aug 1849); m.1st 7 Oct 1812 Clementina Drummond (d.London 1 Sep 1835); m.2nd Edinburgh 15 Nov 1838 Margaret Bruce (d.Brighton 17 Jun 1845)
dpth...@gmail.com
bx...@yahoo.com
bx...@yahoo.com
colinp
colinp
bx...@yahoo.com
malcolm davies
bx...@yahoo.com
Richard R
From the Telegraph of 29 June 2023: AIRLIE David, Earl of Airlie, KT, GCVO, PC, died peacefully at home at the age of 97 on June 26th 2023. He will be much missed by his wife, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
BREMENMURRAY
Ivan Prekajski
At the coronation he needed to be supported by two men while standing to greet King and Queen.
Harry Merritt
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malcolm davies
Editor's Note: The numbering of the Earls from the 3rd onwards needs revision in the light of current interpretation of the Act of 26 May 1826 reversing the Act of Attainder of 13 Nov 1715 against James, Lord Ogilvy. It is now thought that the purpose of the reversal was to restore the Earldom and two subsidiary Scottish Lordships of Parliament held with it retroactively, such interpretation resting as it does on the rider 'as if it had never been' ('it' referring to the Attainder). If so, the James, Lord Ogilvy, already mentioned above, who dsp 12 Jan 1730/1, should be regarded as 4th Earl but for the attainder; his younger brother John (self-styled 4th Earl) should be regarded as 5th Earl but for the attainder; David, self-styled 5th Earl, should be regarded as 6th Earl but for the attainder; the mad David Ogilvy, who died 1812, should be regarded as 7th Earl but for the attainder' the latter's uncle Walter Ogilvy (d. 1819) should be regarded as 8th Earl but for the attainder, and David, immediate beneficiary of the 1826 reversal, should be regarded as 9th Earl but for the attainder; for '5th Earl etc' as regards subsequent Earls of Airlie, read '10th Earl etc.' and so on.
Richard R
Obit in the Times of 30 June 2023:
E X T R A C T
“…he was thought to be the last surviving person to have attended the [1937 coronation]…”
The Earl of Airlie obituary
Chairman of Schroders turned influential courtier who modernised the royal household and presided over a regime of financial reforms
A year into his role as lord chamberlain, the 13th Earl of Airlie asked Queen Elizabeth II, a friend from childhood, whether she would back him if he introduced some significant changes to the management of the royal household.
The answer was an unequivocal “yes”, and so he commissioned Peat Marwick McLintock (later KPMG), the royal auditors, to investigate the running of the “firm”, as Prince Philip called it. The result was a 1,393-page report, completed in 1986, which recommended 188 changes. All of them were approved by Airlie’s employer, who made one small but notable input: “Why,” she asked, “have I got so many footmen?”
As lord chamberlain from 1984 until 1997, Airlie presided over a regime of financial reform and the first substantial reorganisation of the royal household since the early years of Queen Victoria. His strategy ruffled the feathers of the more entrenched courtiers and retainers, but he was backed all the way by the Queen, to whom he could talk with total frankness…
… As one official put it: “The lord chamberlain’s office, with all its protocol, was from another world, straight out of the 1920s. People came in at 10am and had dry martinis at noon. But you couldn’t fault them on state occasions, banquets, parades and so on.”
Airlie, a Scottish aristocrat who could trace his ancestry back to the times of the Pictish tribes, and whose family had a history of royal service, blended the dynamism of a successful banker with the attributes of a traditional courtier. He was, colleagues recalled, part-City wizard and part-Highland chieftain.
He shared Maclean’s taste for ceremony and his very first task was to practise walking backwards holding his white staff of office — the lord chamberlain’s role as he precedes the sovereign at great state occasions…
… David George Coke Patrick Ogilvy was born in 1926, the fourth of six children to the 12th Earl of Airlie and his wife, née Lady Alexandra Coke, the daughter of the 3rd Earl of Leicester. Though he would officially become the 13th earl, he was, strictly speaking, the 11th if one observed two 18th-century “attainders” imposed because of the family’s support of the Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745, and only lifted by parliament in 1826. The earldom dated back to 1639.
His grandmother, Mabell, Countess of Airlie, was lady of the bedchamber and confidante of Queen Mary. His father was lord-in-waiting to George V and lord chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth (both as consort to George Vl and as the Queen Mother).
David attended the 1937 coronation of George VI and Queen Elizabeth, at which he served as a young page to his father: he was thought to be the last surviving person to have attended the historic event…
… Lord Ogilvy, as he was known until he succeeded his father as earl in 1968, was touted as an eligible match for Princess Margaret; it was his younger brother, Angus, who would marry the Queen’s cousin, Princess Alexandra.
In 1952 he married Virginia (“Ginny”) Ryan, a 19-year-old heiress from Newport, Rhode Island, and the granddaughter of the Jewish-American financier Otto Kahn. Ryan was the first and only American lady of the bedchamber to the Queen; she also ran a bulb and flower farm on their 69,000-acre estate, where they lived in the 15th-century Cortachy Castle, within walking distance of Balmoral. She survives him along with their six children: Lady Doune Ogilvy; Lady Jane Ogilvy; David Ogilvy, 14th Earl of Airlie; the Hon Bruce Ogilvy; Lady Elizabeth Ogilvy; and the Hon Patrick Ogilvy…
…Though he would become one of the late Queen’s oldest friends, their relationship had a rocky start: at one of his early birthday parties he was presented with a pedal car, which his father suggested he should invite Princess Elizabeth to have a ride in. He recalled his tantrum: “I said: ‘Certainly not. This is my birthday, this is my car, and nobody else is going to have a ride in it’.”
The 13th Earl of Airlie KT GCVO PC, merchant banker and courtier, was born on May 17, 1926. He died on June 26, 2023, aged 97
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-earl-of-airlie-obituary-xg7v0nbjs
BREMENMURRAY
Richard R
From the Times of 4 July 2023: OGILVY David, Earl of Airlie KT, GCVO, PC died peacefully on 26th June 2023, aged 97. Family service and burial at Cortachy Church to be followed by memorial services in Edinburgh and London on dates to be announced.
Richard R
Court Circular
Buckingham Palace
15th November, 2023
The King and Queen were present at the Service of Thanksgiving for the late Earl of Airlie KT (Lord Chamberlain to The late Queen Elizabeth II) which was held in the Chapel of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London SW3, this afternoon.
The Prince of Wales was represented by Miss Helen Asprey.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh were represented by Mrs Angus Galletley.
The Princess Royal was represented by Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence.
The Duke of Kent was represented by Earl of St Andrews.
Princess Alexandra, the Hon Lady Ogilvy was represented by Mr James Ogilvy and Miss Marina Ogilvy.
colinp
Henry W
colinp
Earldom of Airlie in the Peerage of Scotland The Lord Chancellor reported that David John Ogilvy had established his claim to the Earldom of Airlie in the Peerage of Scotland. The Clerk of the Parliaments was accordingly directed to enter the Earl of Airlie on the register of hereditary peers maintained under Standing Order 9(4)