Delaval Thomas Harold Astley, 23rd Baron Hastings (born 25 April 1960), is an

English peer The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. From that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were closed to new creations, and new peers were created in a single Peerag ...

, actor, and farmer.

Family

Delaval Astley was born on 25 April 1960 to Edward Delaval Henry Astley, the 22nd Baron Hastings, and Catherine "Nicki" Hinton, Lady Astley. He was educated at

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley or the College of St. Peter at Radley, is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (independent boarding school) for boys near the village of Radley, in Oxfordshire, in the United Kingd ...

followed by

Hatfield College, Durham Hatfield College is one of the constituent colleges of Durham University in England. It occupies a city centre site above the River Wear on the World Heritage Site peninsula, lying adjacent to North Bailey and only a short distance from Durh ...

. At Durham he was active in student theatre and won the award for best individual performance at the One Act Play Festival during the 1978-1979 academic year. Delaval's father Edward was a prominent member of the British government under the Conservative administrations of the 1960s and a noted philanthropist and patron of the arts. Delaval Astley inherited the ancient baronial title upon the death of his father in April 2007, becoming the 23rd Baron Hastings and 13th Baronet Astley. The most recent Astley family seat was at

Seaton Delaval Hall Seaton Delaval Hall is a Grade I listed building, Grade I listed country house in Northumberland, England, near the coast just north of Newcastle upon Tyne. Located between Seaton Sluice and Seaton Delaval, it was designed by Sir John Vanbrugh i ...

in Northumberland, prior to its being sold to the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

in December 2009. Lord Hastings is married to Veronica M. Smart, now Lady Hastings, and the couple have one son and two daughters.

Career

For some years he played the character of Cameron Fraser in the long-running British radio drama ''

The Archers ''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...

''. Lord Hastings now resides near Letheringsett in

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

, where he is currently a farmer and businessman. He took over management of the 2023-hectare Astley estate in 1998. He has been involved in a variety of local projects, such as the Holt Festival. In 2014, Lord Hastings donated to the Festival and was named a Platinum Ambassador for his contributions. He was chosen to carry one of the gold spurs of the royal regalia, emblems of knighthood and chivalry that were presented to King

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

during his coronation.

References

1960 births Actors awarded British peerages Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham Barons Hastings English male radio actors English male voice actors Living people People from Letheringsett with Glandford People educated at Radley College {{England-actor-stub