Lucius Edward William Plantagenet Cary, 15th Viscount of Falkland (born 8 May 1935), styled Master of Falkland from 1961 to 1984, is a British nobleman and former politician.

Background and education

Cary is the youngest of three children, and the only son of Lucius Cary, 14th Viscount of Falkland, and Constance Mary Berry, daughter of Captain Edward Berry. The Falkland viscountcy is the senior viscountcy in the

Peerage of Scotland The Peerage of Scotland (; ) is one of the five divisions of peerages in the United Kingdom and for those peers created by the King of Scots before 1707. Following that year's Treaty of Union 1707, Treaty of Union, the Kingdom of Scots and the ...

, created in 1620 by

King James VI James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

. Cary was educated at Wellington College in Berkshire, and was formerly an officer in the

Hussars A hussar, ; ; ; ; . was a member of a class of light cavalry, originally from the Kingdom of Hungary during the 15th and 16th centuries. The title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry ...

Political career

Cary succeeded his father in the viscountcy in 1984 and sat 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 ...

with the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

, later joining the Liberal Democrats. Following the removal of the majority of hereditary peers under the

House of Lords Act 1999 The House of Lords Act 1999 (c. 34) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the House of Lords, one of the chambers of Parliament. The Act was given royal assent on 11 November 1999. For centuries, the House of Lords ...

, he was one of the ninety-two elected to remain. In 2011 Falkland left the Liberal Democrats and sat as a

Crossbencher A crossbencher is a minor party or independent member of some legislatures, such as the Parliament of Australia. In the British House of Lords the term refers to members of the parliamentary group of non-political peers. They take their name fr ...

until his retirement in 2023.House of Lords, Official Website - Viscount Falkland
/ref> He is a supporter of

Humanists UK Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent Irreligion in the United Kingdom, non-religious people in the UK throug ...

, and has been a vice-president of the

Royal Stuart Society The Royal Stuart Society, founded in 1926, is the largest extant Jacobite organisation in the United Kingdom. Its full name is The Royal Stuart Society and Royalist League, although it is best known simply as the "Royal Stuart Society". It acknow ...

since 2015 (his ancestors were ardent Jacobites, and he holds the title of 10th Earl of Falkland in the

Jacobite Peerage The Jacobite peerage includes those peerages created by James II and VII, and the subsequent Jacobite pretenders, after James's deposition from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland following the Glorious Revolution of 1688. These creati ...

Family

The Viscount married Caroline Anne Butler, daughter of Lieut-Cmdr George Butler, in 1962; they were divorced in 1990. They have four children:Falkland, Viscount of
Cracroft's Peerage. 10 May 2008. *Hon. Lucius Alexander Plantagenet Cary, Master of Falkland (born 1 February 1963) *Hon. Camilla Anne Cary (3 February 1965 – 6 June 1972) *Hon. Samantha Camilla Cary (born 30 March 1973) *Hon. Lucinda Mary Cary (born 11 December 1974) He was married again in 1990 to Nicole Mackey, with whom he has one child: *Hon. Charles Byron Milburn Cary (born 11 December 1992)

Arms

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Falkland, Lucius Cary, 15th Viscount 1935 births Living people British humanists People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire Liberal Democrats (UK) hereditary peers 8th King's Royal Irish Hussars officers Social Democratic Party (UK) hereditary peers Earls in the Jacobite peerage Viscounts Falkland Crossbench hereditary peers Hereditary peers elected under the House of Lords Act 1999 Peers retired under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014