Rupert Ponsonby, 7th Baron de Mauley

Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Charles Ponsonby, 7th Baron de Mauley, TD, FCA[1] (born 30 June 1957), is a British hereditary peer, former Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and retired Territorial Army officer.

Lieutenant Colonel The Right Honourable
The Lord de Mauley
TD FCA
Official portrait, 2018
Master of the Horse
Assumed office
1 January 2019
MonarchsElizabeth II
Charles III
Preceded byThe Lord Vestey
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Natural Environment and Science
In office
6 September 2012 – September 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byThe Lord Taylor of Holbeach
Succeeded byThe Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Lord-in-waiting
Government Whip
In office
11 May 2010 – 6 September 2012
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byThe Lord Young of Norwood Green
Succeeded byThe Viscount Younger of Leckie
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as an elected hereditary peer
15 March 2005
Preceded byThe 6th Baron Burnham
Personal details
Born (1957-06-30) 30 June 1957
Political partyConservative
Parents
  • Hon. Thomas Ponsonby
  • Maxine Thellusson
Alma materEton College
Military service
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Branch/serviceBritish Army Reserve
Years of service1976–2005
RankLieutenant colonel
UnitRoyal Wessex Yeomanry

Background and education

Ponsonby was born to Col. Hon. Thomas Maurice Ponsonby, TD, JP, DL (1930–2001), of The Common, Little Faringdon, Lechlade, late Royal Wessex Yeomanry, High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, and his wife Maxine Henrietta (née Thellusson, 1934–2020), daughter of William Dudley Keith Thellusson, of 39, Draycott Place, SW3,[2][3][4] of the Brodsworth Hall branch of the family of the Barons Rendlesham.[5] The 5th Baron de Mauley was his paternal grandfather.

He was educated at Eton College, an independent school for boys near Windsor, Berkshire.

Military service

Ponsonby first joined the Territorial Army in 1976, when he was commissioned into the Royal Wessex Yeomanry as a second lieutenant.[6][7] He was promoted to lieutenant in 1978,[8] major in 1988,[9] and lieutenant-colonel in 2003.[10] In 1988, he was awarded the Efficiency Decoration (Territorial) (TD).[11] He retired in 2005.[12] On 1 June 2011 he was appointed Colonel Commandant Yeomanry,[13] and on 1 July 2015 he became Honorary Colonel of the Royal Wessex Yeomanry.[14]

Peerage

Lord de Mauley succeeded his uncle, the 6th Baron de Mauley, in October 2002. On 10 March 2005, he was declared the winner of a by-election for a Conservative hereditary peers' seat in the House of Lords after the death of Hugh Lawson, 6th Baron Burnham. He was the first peer to have acceded to a title after the House of Lords Act 1999 to have obtained an elective hereditaries' seat in the House.

Political career
Lord de Mauley speaks at the Overseas Territories Joint Ministerial Council meeting in London on 3 December 2014.

He was Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs between 2012 and 2015, after taking over from John Taylor, Baron Taylor of Holbeach, who went to the Home Office. He was previously a Government Lord-in-waiting (a position in the Royal Household given to Government Lords whips) and also served as a Shadow Minister for Children, Schools & Families and Energy & Climate Change from 2008 to 2009, and then an opposition whip from 2009 to 2010.[15]

His selection in 2014 to lead UK fisheries talks in the European Union faced certain criticism, given his background as a hereditary peer with no prior experience in this field.

National Pollinator Strategy

In June 2013 de Mauley announced that his department would produce a National Pollinator Strategy. This followed the Bee Cause campaign led by Friends of the Earth and supported by well over 200 MPs for a bee action plan. Leading bee scientists set seven tests to help assess whether the plan is capable of helping pollinators.[16][17]

Master of the Horse
Lord de Mauley as Master of the Horse during the coronation of Charles III in 2023

In July 2018, the Queen appointed Lord de Mauley to succeed Lord Vestey as Master of the Horse. His appointment took effect on 1 January 2019.[18] In this role, he took part in the 2023 coronation of Charles III.[19]

Family

Lord de Mauley is married to Lucinda (née Royle), younger daughter of Lord Fanshawe of Richmond.

The heir to his title Baron de Mauley is his younger brother, the Hon. (Ashley) George Ponsonby,[2][lower-alpha 1] who is married to the former Camilla Gordon-Lennox (née Pilkington).

Notes and references

Notes
  1. Lord de Mauley's brother was allowed by a warrant of precedence from Elizabeth II to use the style of Honourable, because their father would have held the peerage but for his predeceasing the previous holder.[20]

References
  1. "List of Ministers' Interests" (PDF). Cabinet Office. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  2. "Burke's Peerage & Baronetage | De Mauley of Canford". Burke's Peerage (107th ed.). 2003. p. 1081. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  3. "de Mauley". Who's Who. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  4. Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage, 2008, p. 386.
  5. Armorial Families, A. C. Fox-Davies, p. 1584.
  6. "No. 46909". The London Gazette (Supplement). 24 May 1976. p. 7439.
  7. "No. 47264". The London Gazette (Supplement). 4 July 1977. p. 8747.
  8. "No. 47527". The London Gazette (Supplement). 8 May 1978. p. 5471.
  9. "No. 52665". The London Gazette (Supplement). 23 September 1991. p. 14496.
  10. "No. 56811". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 January 2003. p. 125.
  11. "No. 51543". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 November 1988. p. 13394.
  12. "No. 58008". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 2006. p. 8065.
  13. "No. 59873". The London Gazette (Supplement). 9 August 2011. p. 15188.
  14. "No. 61307". The London Gazette (Supplement). 28 July 2015. p. 13875.
  15. The Lord De Mauley, TD
  16. Bees Summit: A Summary Heading towards a National Pollinator Strategy
  17. "National pollinator strategy: for bees and other pollinators in England". gov.uk. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  18. "Appendix To Court Circular". Court Circular. 26 July 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  19. "Coronation order of service in full". BBC News. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  20. "No. 56937". The London Gazette. 16 May 2003. p. 6081.
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