Simon Michael Abney-Hastings, 15th Earl of Loudoun (born 29 October 1974), styled as Lord Mauchline until 2012, is a British aristocrat living in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

who is the current holder of the ancient Scottish noble title of

Earl of Loudoun Earl of Loudoun (pronounced "loud-on" ), named after Loudoun in Ayrshire, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1633 for John Campbell, 2nd Lord Campbell of Loudoun, along with the subsidiary title Lord Tarrinzean and Mauchline ...

. Based on the theory of alternative succession to the throne of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

presented by the 2004 documentary ''

Britain's Real Monarch ''Britain's Real Monarch'' is a historical documentary presented by Tony Robinson first shown on Channel 4 on 3 January 2004. It has also been broadcast in Australia and in the United States. The documentary discusses the descendants of George ...

'', he would have become the 'rightful king' on the death of his father.

Biography

The Earl of Loudoun is the son of

Michael Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun Michael Edward Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun (born Michael Edward Lord; 22 July 194230 June 2012), was a British-Australian farmer, who is most noted because of the 2004 documentary ''Britain's Real Monarch'', which alleged he was the ri ...

, whom he succeeded in 2012. He resides in

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had an estimated urban population of 19,318 at June 2018. Wangaratta has recorded a population growth rate of almost 1% annually ...

and

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. * Hereditary Governor / Patron - Repton School Collage,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

* Patron -

Ashby de la Zouch Ashby-de-la-Zouch, sometimes spelt Ashby de la Zouch () and shortened locally to Ashby, is a market town and civil parish in the North West Leicestershire district of Leicestershire, England. The town is near to the Derbyshire and Staffordshire ...

Museum * Patron - Friends of

Loudoun Kirk Loudoun ( gd, Lughdan) is a parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland and lies between five and ten miles east of Kilmarnock. The parish roughly encompasses the northern half of the Upper-Irvine Valley and borders Galston Parish (which encompasses th ...

* President - The Board of Governors
St Andrew's First Aid Australia
* Patron -

Highland Games, Australia. (Formally Ringwood Highland Games) * Patron - Australian Monarchist League, Victoria Branch * Patron - Clan Campbell Society of Australia * Patron - Barnet 1471 Battlefields Society * Patron - Australia Day Council - Victoria. Australia * Protector - Order of St Thomas of Acre
Order of St Thomas of Acre
* Kentucky Colonel 2022 - Highest Honor Commonwealth of Kentucky US

* Esteemed friend of Loudoun Museum, Leesburg,

Loudoun County, Virginia Loudoun County () is in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. In 2020, the census returned a population of 420,959, making it Virginia's third-most populous county. Loudoun County's seat is Leesburg. Loudoun C ...

USA * Chieftain of the Day 2022 - Brigadoon Highland Games - Bundanoon NSW The

heir presumptive An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question. ...

to the title is the present holder's brother, the Hon. Marcus William Abney-Hastings (b. 1981).

Ancestry

Through his grandmother Barbara Huddleston Abney-Hastings, 13th Countess of

Loudoun Loudoun ( gd, Lughdan) is a parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland and lies between five and ten miles east of Kilmarnock. The parish roughly encompasses the northern half of the Upper-Irvine Valley and borders Galston Parish (which encompasses the ...

, he is directly descended from, and heir-general of

George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence (21 October 144918 February 1478), was the 6th son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the brother of English kings Edward IV and Richard III. He played an important role in the ...

, brother of

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

and

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

Royal descent

In 2004, ''

''—a documentary broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

—repeated the claim that the Earl's father, as the senior descendant of

, was the rightful

King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional form of government by which a hereditary sovereign reigns as the head of state of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (the Bailiw ...

. This argument involves the claim that

Edward IV of England Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

was illegitimate.'Rightful heir' to British monarchy dies in Australia
AFP – 5 July 2012, Yahoo! News The Earl, following his father's death, would have become the rightful monarch of England under this alternative path of succession, rather than

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 her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...

and would be the current monarch rather than

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loudoun, Simon Abney-Hastings, 15th Earl Of 1974 births Australian peers Earls of Loudoun People from Wangaratta Living people Australian monarchists