John Anthony Brabazon, 15th Earl of Meath (born 11 May 1941), previously known as Lord Ardee, is a British and Irish peer and a landowner in

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ga, Contae Chill Mhantáin ) is a county in Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is bordered by t ...

. He was a member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

from 1998 to 1999.

Early life

The son of Major Anthony Windham Normand Brabazon and Elizabeth Mary Bowlby, he was known as Lord Ardee from 1949, when his father became 14th

Earl of Meath Earl of Meath is a title in the Peerage of Ireland created in 1627 and held by the head of the Brabazon family. This family descends from Sir Edward Brabazon, who represented County Wicklow in the Irish House of Commons and served as High Sheri ...

. He was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

and was

Page of Honour A Page of Honour is a ceremonial position in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. It requires attendance on state occasions, but does not now involve the daily duties which were once attached to the office of page. The onl ...

to Queen Elizabeth II between 1956 and 1958. In 1959, he was commissioned as a

subaltern Subaltern may refer to: *Subaltern (postcolonialism), colonial populations who are outside the hierarchy of power * Subaltern (military), a primarily British and Commonwealth military term for a junior officer * Subalternation, going from a univer ...

into the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

and served until 1963. Charles Mosley, ed., '' Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'', vol. 2 (Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), p. 2656

Career

On 19 December 1998, he succeeded to his father's peerages, two in the

peerage of Ireland The Peerage of Ireland consists of those titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It is one of the five divisi ...

, Earl of Meath (1627) and Baron Ardee (1616), and one in the

peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the ...

, Baron Chaworth of Eaton Hall (1831), the last of these giving him a seat in the House of Lords. However, this came to an end when the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given Royal Assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

came into effect. In 1997, Meath was reported to be a writer and speaker on national competitiveness and social decay in the last two decades of the 19th century.

Personal life

On 12 May 1973, he married Xenia Goudime-Levkovitsch, daughter of Paul Goudime-Levkovitsch. They have three children: *Corinna Lettice Brabazon (born 1974) *Anthony Jacques Brabazon, Lord Ardee (born 1977) *Serena Alexandra Brabazon (born 1979) He lives at

Killruddery House Killruddery House (also spelled "Kilruddery") is a large country house on the southern outskirts of Bray in County Wicklow, Ireland, approximately south of Dublin.

, Bray,

, Ireland. In 2001, he sold a mountain sporting estate of 4,125 acres at

Rathdrum, County Wicklow Rathdrum () is a village in County Wicklow, Ireland. It is situated high on the western side of the Avonmore river valley, which flows through the Vale of Clara. Transport Railway Rathdrum is served by mainline train and bus from Dublin and ...

, for £10 million, but continued to own some 800 acres in the same county, estimated to be far more valuable.Alan O'Day, Neil Fleming, ''Longman Handbook of Modern Irish History Since 1800'' (2014)
p. 617
/ref>

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meath, John Brabazon, 15th Earl of 1941 births Living people Grenadier Guards officers 20th-century Anglo-Irish people People educated at Harrow School John Anthony 15 Meath