Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon

Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon, OBE, TD, DL (3 October 1930 – 17 August 1985), styled Viscount Eden between 1961 and 1977, was a British Army officer and, later, a Conservative politician. He was the younger son of Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden and his first wife, Beatrice (née Beckett).

The Right Honourable
The Earl of Avon
OBE
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment
In office
11 September 1984 – 27 March 1985
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded bynew appointment
Succeeded byAngela Rumbold
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy
In office
6 January 1983 – 11 September 1984
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byDavid Mellor
Succeeded byDavid Hunt
Lord-in-waiting
Government Whip
In office
22 September 1980 – 6 January 1983
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded byThe Lord Mowbray
Succeeded byThe Lord Lucas of Chilworth
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
14 January 1977 – 17 August 1985
Hereditary Peerage
Preceded byThe 1st Earl of Avon
Succeeded byEarldom extinct
Personal details
Born
Nicholas Eden

(1930-10-03)3 October 1930
Died17 August 1985(1985-08-17) (aged 54)
London, England
Political partyConservative
Parent(s)Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon
Beatrice Beckett

Career

Eden was educated at Ludgrove School[1] and Eton College.[2] Called up for National Service, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, his father's former regiment, on 20 May 1950.[3] He transferred to a Territorial Army commission with effect from 6 August 1953, in the same rank (seniority from 20 May 1950), and was promoted to acting lieutenant from the same date (seniority from 17 January 1952).[4] He served as ADC to the Governor General of Canada from 1952 to 1953.[2] He was promoted to acting captain on 1 March 1956,[5] to the substantive rank on 3 October 1957 (seniority from 1 March 1956),[6] to acting major on 1 November 1959 and to substantive major on 3 October 1964 (seniority from 1 November 1959.[7][8] He was awarded the Territorial Decoration (TD) in 1965[2] and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1970 New Year Honours for his military service. Regimentally within the Territorial Army he served from 1953 with Queen Victoria's Rifles and from 1961 to 1970 its successor the Queen's Royal Rifles.[2] He was appointed an ADC (TAVR) to the Queen in 1978.[2]

He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the Greater London county in 1973 and Vice Chairman of the Greater London TAVR Association.[2]

Eden succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father in 1977, his elder brother Pilot Officer Simon Gascoigne Eden having been killed in action in June 1945, while serving as a navigator with the RAF in Burma.[9]

Government service

Having risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Green Jackets, Lord Avon served under Margaret Thatcher as British Parliamentary delegate to the North Atlantic Assembly from 1979,[2] a Lord-in-waiting from 1980 to 1983, as Under-Secretary of State for Energy from 1983 to 1984 and as Under-Secretary of State for the Environment from 1984 until his resignation because of ill health in March 1985, shortly before his death.[10]

Personal life

Widely known to have been homosexual,[11] Lord Avon was unmarried and died from complications related to AIDS at the age of 54.[10] The cause of death on the death certificate was stated as meningoencephalitis or "inflammation of the brain."[12] Upon his death, his titles became extinct.[11] At the time of his death, The News of the World identified a man "listed as authorizing cremation of Avon’s body as an antiques dealer who lived with Avon in Holland Park."[12]

The character of Peter Morton in the 1992 film Peter's Friends is said to have been partly inspired by Lord Avon.[13][14]

Arms
Coat of arms of Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon
Crest
A dexter arm in armour embowed couped at the shoulder Proper the hand grasping a Garb also Proper.
Escutcheon
Gules on a chevron Argent between three garbs Or banded Vert as many escallops Sable
Supporters
On the dexter side a leopard guardant Or resting the sinister hind paw on a garb Or banded Vert and on the sinister side a like leopard resting the dexter hind paw on a similar garb.
Motto
Si Sit Prudentia (If There Be But Prudence)
Orders
Order of the British Empire (not pictured)

References
  1. Barber, Richard. The Story of Ludgrove.
  2. Mosley, Charles, ed. (1982). Debrett's Handbook 1982, Distinguished People in British Life. Debrett's Peerage Limited. p. 72. ISBN 0-905649-38-9.
  3. "No. 38978". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 July 1950. p. 3866.
  4. "No. 40663". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 December 1955. p. 7274.
  5. "No. 40796". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 June 1956. p. 3298.
  6. "No. 41216". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 November 1957. p. 6399.
  7. "No. 41858". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 October 1959. p. 6931.
  8. "No. 43450". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 September 1964. p. 8287.
  9. Commonwealth War Graves Commission
  10. "Nicholas Eden, Earl of Avon And Former Aide to Thatcher". The New York Times. 21 August 1985. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  11. Coleman, Brian (25 June 2007). "Thatcher the gay icon". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 29 June 2007.
  12. "Papers Report Former Prime Minister's Son Died of AIDS". AP NEWS. 25 August 1985. Retrieved 27 November 2019.
  13. "Matt & Andrej Koymasky - Famous GLTB - Nicholas Eden Lord Avon".
  14. "Clarissa Eden, Countess of Avon, obituary".
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