Malcolm Harry Erskine, 17th Earl of Buchan (4 July 1930 – 11 September 2022) was a Scottish landowner and peer, a member of 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 ...

from 1984 until 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 ...

removed most hereditary peers. The younger son of Donald Cardross Flower Erskine, 16th Earl of Buchan, and his wife Christina Baxendale, he became his father's heir due to the death of his brother David Stuart Erskine (1928–1933) in childhood. He was educated at

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 was styled as Lord Cardross between 1960 and 1984, when he succeeded as the Earl of Buchan (1469), Lord Auchterhouse (1469), Lord Cardross (1610) and Baron Erskine of Restormel Castle (1806). The last of these was in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the Peerage of Great B ...

, the others in that of Scotland. On 21 February 1957, Buchan married Hilary Diana Cecil Power, a daughter of Sir Ivan Power, 2nd Baronet, and his first wife Nancy Hilary Griffiths, and they had four children: *Henry Thomas Alexander Erskine, 18th Earl of Buchan (born 1960) *Lady Seraphina Mary Erskine (born 1961) *Hon. Montagu John Erskine (born 1966) *Lady Arabella Fleur Erskine (born 1969) In 1972, as Lord Cardross, Buchan became a Justice of the Peace for

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and was also a Liveryman of the

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. He was chairman of Battersea Dogs Home. In 1998 in response to plans for

Scottish devolution Scottish devolution is the process of the UK Parliament granting powers (excluding powers over reserved matters) to the devolved Scottish Parliament. Prior to the advent of devolution, some had argued for a Scottish Parliament within the United ...

, he asserted that should these give rise to independence he would establish his claim to the throne of Scotland. In 2003, Buchan was living at Newnham House, Newnham, Hampshire. He died on 11 September 2022, at the age of 92.

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Family tree

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buchan, Malcolm Erskine, 17th Earl of 1930 births 2022 deaths Malcolm category:People educated at Eton College

Buchan Buchan is a coastal district in the north-east of Scotland, bounded by the Ythan and Deveron rivers. It was one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It is now one of the six committee areas of Aberdeenshire. Etymology The ge ...