Alexander Scrymgeour, 12th Earl of Dundee

The Earl of Dundee
Member of the House of Lords
as a hereditary peer
28 October 1983 – 11 November 1999
Preceded byThe 11th Earl of Dundee
Succeeded bySeat abolished
as an elected hereditary peer
11 November 1999
Election1999
Preceded bySeat established
Lord-in-waiting
Government Whip
In office
3 October 1986 – 26 July 1989
Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher
Preceded bynew appointment
Succeeded byThe Lord Reay
Personal details
Born (1949-06-05) 5 June 1949 (age 75)
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Siobhan Mary Llewellyn
(m. 1979; died 2019)

Alexander Henry Scrymgeour, 12th Earl of Dundee, DL (born 5 June 1949), is a Scottish peer, Conservative politician and Chief of the Clan Scrymgeour.

Born on 5 June 1949, Dundee is the son of Henry Scrymgeour-Wedderburn, 11th Earl of Dundee, and Patricia Montagu Douglas Scott.[1] He was educated at Ludgrove School[2] and Eton College before attending the University of St Andrews. He was a Page of Honour to Queen Elizabeth II.

Lord Scrymgeour's first active experience as a Conservative politician was as the party's candidate in the Hamilton by-election in 1978. He has sat in the House of Lords since his father's death in 1983, and served as a Lord-in-waiting (Conservative Party whip in the House of Lords) from 1986 to 1989. He served as Government Spokesperson for Education (1986–1988), Government Spokesperson for Scottish Affairs (1986–1989), Government Spokesperson for Home Affairs and for Energy from (1987–1989). He was made an elected hereditary peer (as Earl of Dundee) in 1999.[3]

He has served as the UK delegate to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 1992 to 1997. He was also a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Western European parliament from 1992 to 1999.[3] The Earl is honorary consul for Croatia in Edinburgh,[4] and is decorated with the Order of Prince Branimir.[5] The Dundee Trust works on the Dalmatian coast in Croatia on behalf of DFID to distribute humanitarian aid to some of the poorest people in the Balkans.

A farmer of thirty years' experience, Lord Dundee's Farming Company manages some 2000 acres over the counties of Fife and Angus. Dundee has sat in the House since 1983 where he has exercised his privileges on a number of agriculture and environmental standing committees. Most recently his interests have turned to health questions.[6]

Lord Dundee is also the Hereditary Royal Standard Bearer of Scotland,[7] Constable of Dundee, and Chief of the Name and Arms of Scrymgeour. He was one of the peers carrying the Royal Standards at the 2023 Coronation.[8]

He is a member of the New Club, Edinburgh and Whites, in London.[9]

  1. ^ "Dundee: Deaths Announced". Daily Telegraph announcements.
  2. ^ Barber, Richard (2004). The Story of Ludgrove. Oxford: Guidon Publishing. p. 200. ISBN 0-9543617-2-5.
  3. ^ a b "Earl of Dundee". BBC. Archived from the original on 19 March 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  4. ^ "Diplomatic Missions and Consular Offices of Croatia - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
  5. ^ "Odluka kojom se odlikuju Redom kneza Branimira s ogrlicom". Narodne novine (in Croatian). 1 June 2010. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  6. ^ 9 November 2016, http://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/Earl-of-Dundee/2735
  7. ^ Tomlinson, Richard (20 December 1992). "They also serve, who only ush". The Independent. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013.
  8. ^ "Coronation order of service in full". BBC News. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  9. ^ Who's Who 2016, 168th ed., Bloomsbury, London, 2015.