CAMERON OF LOCHIEL, Donald Angus CVO, 27th Chief (1946-2023)
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Richard R
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Donald Cameron of Lochiel, Scottish clan chief and long-serving Highland public figure – obituary
He modernised his estate and castle but his energies were mainly devoted to community life and being head of a worldwide network of Camerons
Donald Cameron of Lochiel, who has died aged 77, was a much-loved clan chieftain and community leader in the West Highlands of Scotland, after a first career as a City banker.
Chiefs of Clan Cameron, traditionally addressed as “Lochiel”, trace their line to Donald Dubh, a late-14th century warrior who is regarded as the first authentic leader of a confederation of tribes that dominated the lands known as Lochaber, astride the south-western end of the Great Glen.
As 27th chief, Donald Cameron inherited an estate of more than 90,000 acres – much of it, in his words, “wild hilltops” – and Achnacarry Castle, a 19th century mansion close to the site of an earlier stronghold that had been burned to the ground after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, his ancestor the 19th chief (“Gentle Lochiel”) having been a commander of the defeated Jacobite forces.
He modernised the estate, adding hydro power and holiday lettings to a traditional mix of forestry, farming and stalking, and completed a ten-year restoration of the castle, which had to be stripped to bare stonework when wet rot was uncovered….
Donald Angus Cameron was born in London on August 2 1946 to Col Sir Donald Hamish Cameron and his wife Margaret, née Gathorne-Hardy. Sir Donald, the 26th chief and a grandson of the 5th Duke of Montrose, was a wartime soldier who made a business career as vice chairman of Royal Bank of Scotland and chairman of Scottish Widows.
Known as “younger of Lochiel” during his father’s lifetime, Donald Angus was educated at Harrow, where he was a keen footballer, and read history at Christ Church, Oxford….
When in London, where he was a past president of the Highland Society, he regularly drove his scooter to a table at Il Portico, a neighbourhood trattoria in Kensington whose owners greeted him as part of the family.
Donald Cameron was appointed CVO in 2018. He married, in 1974, Lady Cecil Kerr, daughter of the 12th Marquess of Lothian, who was a long-serving volunteer and deputy chairman for Save the Children. She survives him with their three daughters and a son, Donald Andrew John Cameron, Conservative MSP for Highlands and Islands, who succeeds as 28th chief.
Donald Cameron of Lochiel, born August 2 1946, died October 20 2023
(quite coincidentally I dined at Il Portico a couple of Saturdays ago (after a very interesting guided tour of St James's Palace) and can vouch for the excellence of the welcome and the cooking)