William David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech (20 May 1918 – 26 January 1985), known as David Ormsby-Gore until June 1961 and as Sir David Ormsby-Gore from then until February 1964, was a British diplomat and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician.

Early life

William David Ormsby-Gore was born into an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

aristocratic family on 20 May 1918 in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

, London, the second son of William Ormsby-Gore, 4th Baron Harlech, a Conservative politician, and Lady Beatrice Edith Mildred Gascoyne-Cecil. His maternal great-grandfather was British Prime Minister The 3rd Marquess of Salisbury. He was educated at St Cyprian's School,

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

. A well-known story told of him at Eton is that, when a boy in his house killed himself, the housemaster called the boys together, and asked if any of them had any idea why this should have happened. Ormsby-Gore put up his hand and asked, "Please sir, could it have been the food?" In 1939, he was commissioned into the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

( Berkshire Yeomanry Field Regiment), served in the ' Phantom' reconnaissance unit, and worked with airborne and other special units. By the end of the War, he held the rank of

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

on the general staff. After the war, his father handed over to him all his land, and Ormsby-Gore farmed the 400 acres (1.6 km²) of the Woodhill Estate,

Oswestry Oswestry ( ; ) is a market town, civil parish and historic railway town in Shropshire, England, close to the England–Wales border, Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5 road (Great Britain), A5, A483 road, A483 and A495 road, A495 ro ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

. In 1948, he was commissioned a Major in the Shropshire Yeomanry, but left in 1950.

Career

Member of Parliament

At the 1950 general election, he was elected Member of Parliament for

, which he remained until 1961. Under Prime Minister

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

he served briefly, from November 1956 to January 1957, as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and under Prime Minister

Harold Macmillan Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...

he was from 1957 to 1961 Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. After the election of

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), also known as JFK, was the 35th president of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. He was the first Roman Catholic and youngest person elected p ...

he was appointed

British Ambassador to the United States The British ambassador to the United States is in charge of the British Embassy, Washington, D.C., the United Kingdom's diplomatic mission to the United States. The official title is His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the United States of A ...

on 18 October 1961. This meant that he had to take the Chiltern Hundreds on 1 June, so that he could resign from the House.

Ambassador to the United States

Ormsby-Gore knew Kennedy well from his time in London, where his father

Joseph P. Kennedy Joseph Patrick Kennedy Sr. (September 6, 1888 – November 18, 1969) was an American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and politician. He is known for his own political prominence as well as that of his children and was the ambitious patri ...

had served as American Ambassador. Like Macmillan, Ormsby-Gore was distantly related to Kennedy, but had a closer relationship than did Macmillan with the President-elect and his brother

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

. Six months after Kennedy took office Ormsby-Gore was in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Referred to under the Kennedy administration as "our kind of Ambassador", he supplied Kennedy with a stream of advice and

Cuban cigars Cuban cigars are cigars manufactured in Cuba from tobacco grown within that island nation. Historically regarded as among the world's "finest", they are synonymous with the island's culture and contribute over one quarter of the value of all expo ...

via his diplomatic bag. He was almost a resident at the White House, being more a friend of the family than a mere ambassador. After

President Kennedy's assassination John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, on November 22, 1963. Kennedy was in the vehicle with his wife Jacqueline Kennedy Onas ...

there were rumours of a romance between Ormsby-Gore and

Jacqueline Kennedy Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...

. In 1968 he proposed marriage to her, but, she did not accept. Ormsby-Gore was one of the pallbearers at Robert F. Kennedy's funeral along with

Robert McNamara Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...

John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1 ...

W. Averell Harriman William Averell Harriman (November 15, 1891July 26, 1986) was an American politician, businessman, and diplomat. He was a founder of Harriman & Co. which merged with the older Brown Brothers to form the Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. investment ...

, C. Douglas Dillon, Kirk Lemoyne Billings (schoolmate of John F. Kennedy),

Stephen Edward Smith Stephen Edward Smith (September 24, 1927 – August 19, 1990) was the husband of Jean Ann Kennedy. He was a financial analyst and political strategist in the 1960 United States presidential campaign of his brother-in-law John F. Kennedy. Earl ...

(husband to Jean Ann Kennedy),

David Hackett David Low Hackett (November 12, 1926 – April 23, 2011) was an American official. Biography Born in Dedham, Massachusetts, Hackett was appointed by President John F. Kennedy to head the President's Committee on Juvenile Delinquency and Yo ...

Jim Whittaker James W. Whittaker (born February 10, 1929), also known as Jim Whittaker, is an American climber and mountain guide. Born and raised in Seattle, Washington. On May 1, 1963, he became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest as ...

and

John Seigenthaler John Lawrence Seigenthaler ( ; July 27, 1927July 11, 2014) was an American journalist, writer, and political figure. He was known as a prominent defender of First Amendment rights. Seigenthaler joined the Nashville newspaper ''The Tennessea ...

. Under the

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

administration relations were more formal but remained excellent; and Ormsby-Gore maintained his position after the Labour government took power in Britain in 1964. A fierce opponent of oil-barrel politics, Ormsby-Gore's terse dismissal of the phenomenon ran: "It would indeed be a tragedy if the history of the human race proved to be nothing more than the story of an ape playing with a box of matches on a petrol dump." The extent of his influence over the Kennedy administration is disputed. Unable to persuade the American government to agree with the British line over

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

and the Congo, or to proceed with either a negotiated settlement with Soviet premier

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and the Premier of the Soviet Union, Chai ...

over Berlin or the

Skybolt The Douglas GAM-87 Skybolt (AGM-48 under the 1963 Tri-service system) was an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed by the United States during the late 1950s. The basic concept was to allow US strategic bombers to launch their weapons ...

ballistic missile programme, he nevertheless played a significant role in the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis () in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis (), was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of Nuclear weapons d ...

and ensured that Britain's views were taken into account by the American government. The friendships of Ormsby-Gore and Macmillan with John F. Kennedy helped secure the first Test-Ban Treaty in 1963. Macmillan and Ormsby-Gore had been attempting to achieve a test-ban treaty with the Russians for the past ten years, and won Kennedy over through letters from Macmillan and frank discussions between Ormsby-Gore and Kennedy. They persuaded him to act like a statesman and conclude Test-ban treaties with Russia and not fear being branded as an appeaser by political opponents in the United States. Ormsby-Gore was a participant in what is referred to as a "twenty-five year conversation to do with the role of a leader in a democratic society". He encouraged Kennedy to remain focused on issues relevant to the world and the future, rather than attempting to protect himself politically. According to the Duchess of Devonshire, who travelled with the British delegation to Kennedy's funeral in November 1963, Macmillan's successor as Prime Minister

Alec Douglas-Home Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel ( ; 2 July 1903 – 9 October 1995), known as Lord Dunglass from 1918 to 1951 and the Earl of Home from 1951 to 1963, was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative ...

had wanted to appoint Ormsby-Gore as Foreign Secretary, but R. A. Butler had insisted on having this post as a condition of serving under Home. After Kennedy's assassination, Ormsby-Gore became involved in a relationship with his widow Jacqueline, going on vacation with her in Cambodia. He proposed marriage to her in 1967 and was turned down. In 1968, when she married the Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis, Lord Harlech was opposed and wrote to her asking her to change her mind.

Later life

Ormsby-Gore retired as ambassador in 1965, a year after his father died, and took his seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

as Lord Harlech, briefly also holding the position of deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. He also had a successful career as a television executive, founding HTV, and served as president of the

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) is a non-governmental organization, non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of films exhibited ...

. He had an active interest in the avant-garde, and for nearly ten years, beginning in 1969, was patron of the

Institute for Research in Art and Technology The Institute for Research in Art and Technology (IRAT, also known as New Arts Lab; Robert Street Arts Lab) was founded in London in 1969 by a group of artists and activists including painter/author Pamela Zoline, video Pioneer John Hopkins, pain ...

. In 1971–1972, he was a deputy chairman of the

Pearce Commission The Commission on Rhodesian Opinion, also known as the Pearce Commission, was a British commission set up in 1971 to test the acceptability of a proposed constitutional settlement in Rhodesia. It was created by the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretar ...

. In 1972, with actor Stanley Baker, Harlech staged a four-day festival near Lincoln.

Personal life

On 9 February 1940, Lord Harlech married Sylvia Lloyd Thomas (1920–1967) daughter of Hugh Lloyd Thomas,

Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary An envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, usually known as a minister, was a diplomatic head of mission who was ranked below ambassador. A diplomatic mission headed by an envoy was known as a legation rather than an embassy. Under the ...

to France between 1935 and 1938, and Guendaline Ada Bellew. Before Lady Harlech's death in an automobile accident on 30 May 1967, they had five children: * Julian Hugh Ormsby-Gore (1940–1974), who died of gunshot wounds, an apparent suicide. * Jane Teresa Denyse Ormsby-Gore (b. 1942), who was said to have had an affair with

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...

during the 1960s; some consider the

Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

song " Lady Jane" to be about her. She married Michael Rainey in 1966 (div. 1984) and lived at Brogyntyn Home Farm,

. * Victoria Mary Ormsby-Gore (1946-1995) * Alice Magdalen Sarah Ormsby-Gore (1952–1995), who was the girlfriend of

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English Rock music, rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s l ...

from 1969-1974. She died of a

heroin Heroin, also known as diacetylmorphine and diamorphine among other names, is a morphinan opioid substance synthesized from the Opium, dried latex of the Papaver somniferum, opium poppy; it is mainly used as a recreational drug for its eupho ...

overdose in 1995. *

Francis David Ormsby-Gore, 6th Baron Harlech Francis David Ormsby-Gore, 6th Baron Harlech (13 March 1954 – 1 February 2016), was a peer in the United Kingdom. In 1985 he inherited the property in Wales and the Harlech title from his father. Early life His parents were David Ormsby-Gore, ...

(1954–2016), who married Amanda Jane Grieve (b. 1959), daughter of

Alan Grieve Alan Thomas Grieve, (22 January 1928 – 14 May 2025) was a British lawyer, company director and chairman of the Jerwood Foundation. Life and career Alan Grieve was born in London, England on 22 January 1928. He was educated at Aldenham School ...

. In 1968, Lord Harlech proposed to the widowed

, whom he had been friends with since before her husband's assassination. Jacqueline Kennedy declined his offer of marriage in a letter, writing: "If ever I can find some healing and some comfort — it has to be with somebody who is not part of all my world of past and pain ... I can find that now if the world will let us." She later married

Aristotle Onassis Aristotle Socrates Onassis (, ; , ; 20 January 1906 – 15 March 1975) was a Greek and Argentine business magnate. He amassed the world's largest privately-owned shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest and most famous men. He was marri ...

. On 11 December 1969, Lord Harlech married American

socialite A socialite is a person, typically a woman from a wealthy or aristocratic background, who is prominent in high society. A socialite generally spends a significant amount of time attending various fashionable social gatherings, instead of having ...

Pamela Colin, daughter of a

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

top corporate lawyer, herself a London resident editor of ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'' and then food editor of the ''

British Vogue ''British Vogue'' (stylised in all caps) is the British edition of the American Fashion journalism, fashion magazine Vogue (magazine), Vogue. The magazine was launched in 1916 by Condé Nast, linking together fashion and high society.König A ...

''. The wedding was attended by

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

, the

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

and Duchess of Devonshire, the Earl and Countess of Drogheda, the

Earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the Peerages in the United Kingdom, peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ...

and Countess of Airlie, The Countess Gowrie, Lord and Lady David Cecil, Sir Fitzroy Maclean, J. J. Astor and

Michael Astor The Hon. Michael Langhorne Astor (10 April 1916 – 28 February 1980) was a British Conservative Party politician. Early life Michael Astor was born on 10 April 1916. He was the fourth child of Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor, and Nancy Wi ...

. They had one daughter: * Pandora Beatrice Ormsby-Gore (b. April 1972), who is the partner of actor

Rory Kinnear Rory Michael Kinnear (born 17 February 1978) is an English actor. He won two Olivier Awards, both at the National Theatre, in 2008 for his portrayal of Sir Fopling Flutter in ''The Man of Mode'', and for playing the William Shakespeare villain ...

, with whom she has two children.

Death

Lord Harlech was seriously injured in a car crash at

Montford Bridge Montford Bridge is a village and bridge. The village is in Shropshire, England, UK. The bridge is in that village. It lies on the River Severn and is close to the town of Shrewsbury. Village Most of the village is in the Montford, Shropshi ...

near

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in Shropshire (district), Shropshire, England. It is sited on the River Severn, northwest of Wolverhampton, west of Telford, southeast of Wrexham and north of Hereford. At the 2021 United ...

on the evening of 25 January 1985 and died at the

Royal Shrewsbury Hospital The Royal Shrewsbury Hospital is a teaching hospital in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. It forms the Shrewsbury site of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, serving patients from Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin) and Powys, ...

the following morning, aged 66. Senator

Edward Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...

, Jacqueline Onassis and other Kennedy family members attended his funeral and interment in

Llanfihangel-y-traethau Llanfihangel-y-traethau ("St. Michael's on the Beaches") was a parish in Ardudwy, Gwynedd, north-west Wales centred on a church of the same name in the village of Ynys. The original parish church was built in the 12th century on a tidal island. La ...

. He was succeeded in the barony by his second and only surviving son, Francis. Contents of Lord Harlech's house at Glyn Cywarch, including his government despatch box containing drafts from him and numerous letters from Jackie Kennedy illustrating their close relationship, were auctioned at Bonhams in London in September 2017 on behalf of his grandson after a preview in New York. The box (whose lock had had to be filed open) and its contents sold for over $40,000.

In popular culture

Ormsby-Gore was portrayed by

Peter Donat Peter Donat (born Pierre Collingwood Donat; January 20, 1928 – September 10, 2018) was a Canadian-American actor. Early life Pierre Collingwood Donat was born in Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada, the son of Marie (née Bardet) and Philip Ernst ...

in the 1974 television play ''

The Missiles of October ''The Missiles of October'' is a 1974 television docudrama about the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. The title evokes the 1962 book '' The Guns of August'' by Barbara Tuchman about the missteps amongst the great powers and the failed ch ...

'', which was about the October 1962

Honours and arms

Honours and Crown appointments

Ormsby-Gore was appointed to be a Deputy Lieutenant of

on 12 April 1961. As the

, he was, on 29 June 1961, appointed to the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

as a Knight Commander (KCMG). In 1962, he was appointed to the

Order of St John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), is a Catholic military order. It was founded in the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in the 12th century and had headquarters there u ...

as a Knight (KStJ).

Coat of arms

Notes

References

* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, * * * Leaming, Barbara. “Jack Kennedy: The Education of a Statesman” (2006). W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Numerous references.

External links

The U.S. Government's Biographical File on Sir David Ormsby-Gore (December 1962)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harlech, David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron 1918 births 1985 deaths 20th-century British businesspeople 20th-century Welsh landowners Alumni of New College, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States 5 British Army personnel of World War II British television executives Ormsby-Gore, David Diplomatic peers

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Military personnel from Westminster Ministers in the Eden government, 1955–1957 Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964 People educated at Eton College People educated at St Cyprian's School People from Oswestry Road incident deaths in England Royal Artillery officers Shropshire Yeomanry officers Ormsby-Gore, David Ormsby-Gore, David Ormsby-Gore, David Ormsby-Gore, David Harlech, B5 Younger sons of barons