Alastair Ivor Gilbert Boyd, 7th Baron Kilmarnock (11 May 1927 – 19 March 2009) was a Scottish writer, Hispanophile, and

Chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

of the

Clan Boyd Clan Boyd is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands and is recognized as such by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. History Origins of the clan The name Boyd is said to be descriptive, being derived from the Scottish Gaelic ''buidh'' which means ...

Early life

Boyd was born into an aristocratic British family, and served as a pageboy at the

coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The coronation of George VI and his wife, Elizabeth, as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and as Emperor and Empress of India took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Wednesday 12 May 1937. ...

. He was educated at

Bradfield College Bradfield College, formally St Andrew's College, Bradfield, is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils aged 11–18, located in the small village of Bradfield in the English county of Berkshire. It is note ...

and

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

and was commissioned into the

Irish Guards ("Who Shall Separate s") , colors = , identification_symbol_2 Saffron (pipes), identification_symbol_2_label = Tartan , identification_symbol = , identification_symbol_label = Tactical Recognition F ...

in 1946. He served with them until 1948, including a spell in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

Personal life

Boyd married Diana Mary Gibson in 1954 but the marriage was dissolved in 1970. Gibson died in 1975. He married for a second time, in 1977. His new wife, Hilary Bardwell ("Hilly"), had been married twice before: first to

Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...

(with whom she had three children: Philip Amis, the novelist

Martin Amis Martin Louis Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, memoirist, and screenwriter. He is best known for his novels ''Money'' (1984) and ''London Fields'' (1989). He received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his memoir '' ...

, and

Sally Amis ''The Pregnant Widow'' is a novel by the English writer Martin Amis, published by Jonathan Cape on 4 February 2010.

), and later to

D. R. Shackleton Bailey David Roy Shackleton Bailey FBA (10 December 1917 – 28 November 2005) was a British scholar of Latin literature (particularly in the field of textual criticism) who spent his academic life teaching at the University of Cambridge, the Univers ...

. Boyd and Bardwell had one son, James Charles Edward Boyd, known as "Jaime," who was born in 1972. After the end of Kingsley Amis's second marriage, he came to live with Lord Kilmarnock and his ex-wife Hilly. Boyd lived for much of his life at

Ronda Ronda () is a town in the Spanish province of Málaga. It is located about west of the city of Málaga, within the autonomous community of Andalusia. Its population is about 35,000. Ronda is known for its cliff-side location and a deep chasm ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

, first with Diana, and later with Hilly and their son James, where he variously ran a tapas bar and a language school. As Boyd's only son was born before his parents' marriage, the title of Baron Kilmarnock was inherited by Boyd's younger brother, Robin Jordan Boyd (b. 1941), who succeeded to the peerage in 2009. He has two sons, Simon John Boyd, born 1978, and Mark Julian Boyd, born 1981. The heir apparent is the elder of his two sons, Simon John Boyd, who has a son, Lucian Michael Boyd (born 2007).

Political career

After inheriting his father's title in 1975, he took his seat in the House of Lords, eventually joining the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

. He served as the party's

chief whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

in the Lords from 1983 to 1986. He was the deputy leader of the SDP Peers from 1986 to 1987, and served as the chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Aids from 1987 to 1996.

Writing

His publications include ''Sabbatical Year'' (1958); ''The Road from Ronda'' (1969); ''The Companion Guide to Madrid and Central Spain'' (1974); ''The Essence of Catalonia'' (1988); ''The Sierras of the South'' (1992); ''The Social Market and the State'' (1999); and ''Rosemary: A Memoir'' (2005). His essay, The Quest (2006), on the paintings of his friend

Miles Richmond Miles Peter Richmond (19 December 1922 – 7 October 2008) was a British artist. Born Peter Richmond, in Isleworth, Middlesex, he added the name Miles in the 1980s, and became generally known as such. From 1940 to 1943 he attended Kingston Sc ...

(1922–2008), appeared in catalogues that accompanied exhibitions by Richmond at the Convento de Santo Domingo, Ronda (2006) and the Galeria Italcable,

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

(2008).

Notes

References

''The Times'' obituary
* * Debrett's Peerage

External links

*
laserrania.org Lord Kilmarnock
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilmarnock, Alastair Boyd, 7th Baron 1927 births 2009 deaths Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Irish Guards officers Scottish clan chiefs People educated at Bradfield College Social Democratic Party (UK) hereditary peers Place of birth missing 20th-century Scottish businesspeople