Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

TD DL (3 October 1930 – 17 August 1985), styled Viscount Eden between 1961 and 1977, was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer and, later, a Conservative politician. He was the younger son of Prime Minister

Sir Anthony Eden Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1955 until his resignation in 1957. Achieving rapid promo ...

and his first wife,

Beatrice Beatrice may refer to: * Beatrice (given name) Places In the United States * Beatrice, Alabama, a town * Beatrice, Humboldt County, California, a locality * Beatrice, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Beatrice, Indiana, an unincorporated ...

(''née'' Beckett).

Career

Eden was educated at Ludgrove School and

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

. Called up for National Service, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

, his father's former regiment, on 20 May 1950. He transferred to a Territorial Army commission with effect from 6 August 1953, in the same rank (seniority from 20 May 1950), and was promoted to acting lieutenant from the same date (seniority from 17 January 1952). He served as ADC to the

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...

from 1952 to 1953. He was promoted to acting captain on 1 March 1956, to the substantive rank on 3 October 1957 (seniority from 1 March 1956), to acting major on 1 November 1959 and to substantive major on 3 October 1964 (seniority from 1 November 1959. He was awarded the

Territorial Decoration __NOTOC__ The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer Officer's Decoration when the Te ...

(TD) in 1965 and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the

1970 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1970 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the '' Lo ...

for his military service. Regimentally within the Territorial Army he served from 1953 with Queen Victoria's Rifles and from 1961 to 1970 its successor the

Queen's Royal Rifles Queens is a borough of New York City. Queens or Queen's may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Queens (group), a Polish musical group * "Queens" (Saara Aalto song), 2018 * ''Queens'' (novel), by Stephen Pickles, 1984 * "Queens", a song by C ...

. He was appointed an ADC (TAVR) to the Queen in 1978. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the Greater London county in 1973 and Vice Chairman of the Greater London TAVR Association. Eden succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father in 1977, his elder brother

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

Simon Gascoigne Eden having been killed in action in June 1945, while serving as a

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's primar ...

with the RAF in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Government service

Having risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Green Jackets, Lord Avon served under

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

as British Parliamentary delegate to the North Atlantic Assembly from 1979, a

Lord-in-waiting Lords-in-waiting (male) or baronesses-in-waiting (female) are peers who hold office in the Royal Household of the sovereign of the United Kingdom. In the official Court Circular they are styled "Lord in Waiting" or "Baroness in Waiting" (without ...

from 1980 to 1983, as Under-Secretary of State for Energy from 1983 to 1984 and as Under-Secretary of State for the Environment from 1984 until his resignation because of ill health in March 1985, shortly before his death.

Personal life

Widely known to have been homosexual, Lord Avon was unmarried and died from complications related to

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

at the age of 54. The cause of death on the death certificate was stated as meningoencephalitis or "inflammation of the brain." Upon his death, his titles became extinct. At the time of his death, ''

The News of the World The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national red top tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling English-language newspaper, and at closure still had one o ...

'' identified a man "listed as authorizing cremation of Avon’s body as an antiques dealer who lived with Avon in

Holland Park Holland Park is an area of Kensington, on the western edge of Central London, that contains a street and public park of the same name. It has no official boundaries but is roughly bounded by Kensington High Street to the south, Holland Road ...

." The character of Peter Morton in the 1992 film ''

Peter's Friends ''Peter's Friends'' is a 1992 British comedy film directed and produced by Kenneth Branagh, and written by Rita Rudner and Martin Bergman. The film follows six friends (Stephen Fry, Branagh, Alphonsia Emmanuel, Hugh Laurie, Imelda Staunton and ...

'' is said to have been partly inspired by Lord Avon.

Arms

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Avon, Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl Of 1930 births 1985 deaths King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Queen Victoria's Rifles officers People educated at Eton College Politicians from London Officers of the Order of the British Empire Children of prime ministers of the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting Earls of Avon LGBT peers Gay politicians LGBT politicians from England AIDS-related deaths in England LGBT military personnel 20th-century LGBT people People educated at Ludgrove School Deputy Lieutenants of Greater London