William Edward Robin Hood Hastings-Bass, 17th Earl of Huntingdon, (born 30 January 1948), is an English

hereditary peer The hereditary peers form part of the peerage in the United Kingdom. As of September 2022, there are 807 hereditary peers: 29 dukes (including five royal dukes), 34 marquesses, 190 earls, 111 viscounts, and 443 barons (disregarding subsid ...

and former racehorse trainer to

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

. 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 1990 to 1999.

Early life

Hastings-Bass was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He is from an equestrian family: his father

Peter Hastings-Bass Peter Robin Hood Hastings-Bass (16 July 1920–4 June 1964) was a British Horse racing, racehorse horse trainer, trainer. Hastings-Bass was born Peter Hastings in 1920. His father was Aubrey Hastings (a son of the 14th Earl of Huntingdon), wh ...

and grandfather Aubrey Hastings were horse trainers; his mother, Priscilla Hastings, was also a racehorse owner and among the first women admitted as members of the

Jockey Club The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs and both the Rowley Mile and July Course in Newmarket, amo ...

. He started in horse training as an assistant to

Noel Murless Sir Charles Francis Noel Murless (24 March 19109 May 1987) was an English racehorse trainer who one of the most successful of the twentieth century. Murless began his career as a trainer in 1935 at Hambleton Lodge in Yorkshire before moving to H ...

and later worked in Australia with

Bart Cummings James Bartholomew Cummings (14 November 1927 – 30 August 2015), also known by his initials J. B. Cummings, was one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He was known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as he w ...

and

Colin Hayes Colin Sidney Hayes (16 February 1924 – 21 May 1999) was an Australian champion trainer of thoroughbred racehorses based in Adelaide, South Australia. During his career he trained 5,333 winners including 524 individual Group or Listed winne ...

Career

He gained his trainer’s licence in 1976. Outside the world of racing, he took part in charitable work, driving a lorryload of supplies to Bosnia and taking part in a bicycle ride across Borneo and a safari in the

Australian outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

. In August 1990, the 16th Earl of Huntingdon died without a son. Hastings-Bass, a great-grandson of the 14th Earl, inherited his peerages and joined the House of Lords. From 1988 to 1998, Huntingdon ran his yard at

West Ilsley West Ilsley is a village and civil parish in Berkshire, England. The population of the village at the 2011 Census was 332. Location and amenities It is situated in West Berkshire, north of Newbury on the Berkshire Downs. The companion village ...

, Berkshire, having taken over from

Dick Hern William Richard Hern (20 January 1921 – 22 May 2002) was an English Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and winner of sixteen British Classic Races between 1962 and 1995, and was Champion Trainer on four occasions. Following his early career ...

. Horses he trained include

Ascot Gold Cup The Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards (4,014 ...

winners Indian Queen and Drum Taps. He retired from horse training in 1998, citing financial problems. After retiring as the Queen’s racehorse trainer, Huntingdon was appointed as a

Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, o ...

(L.V.O.).

Personal life

Huntingdon was married to Susan Warner from 1989 to 2001 and is the maternal uncle of Clare Balding.www.burkespeerage.com
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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Huntingdon, William Hastings-Bass, 17th Earl Of 1948 births Living people People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British racehorse trainers Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...