Robert Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford

The Right Honourable The Earl of Crawford and Balcarres KT GCVO PC DL
Lindsay in 1969
Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office 5 November 1972 – 4 March 1974
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	Joseph Godber
Succeeded by	David Ennals
Minister of State for Defence
In office 23 June 1970 – 5 November 1972
Prime Minister	Edward Heath
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Ian Gilmour
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Hereditary peerage 13 December 1975 – 11 November 1999 Preceded by The 28th Earl of Crawford and Balcarres Succeeded by Seat abolished Life peerage 24 January 1975 – 28 November 2019[a] Member of Parliament for Welwyn Hatfield In office 28 February 1974 – 20 September 1974 Preceded by Constituency established Succeeded by Helene Hayman Member of Parliament for Hertford In office 26 May 1955 – 8 February 1974 Preceded by Derek Walker-Smith Succeeded by Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	Robert Alexander Lindsay (1927-03-05)5 March 1927 London, England
Died	18 March 2023(2023-03-18) (aged 96) Fife, Scotland
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Ruth Meyer-Bechtler ​ ​ (m. 1949; died 2021)​
Children	4, including Anthony
Parent	David Lindsay (father)
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge

Robert Alexander Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford, 12th Earl of Balcarres,^[b] Baron Balniel,^[c] KT, GCVO, PC, DL (5 March 1927 – 18 March 2023),^[1] known by courtesy as Lord Balniel between 1940 and 1975, was a Scottish hereditary peer and Conservative politician who was a member of Parliament from 1955 to 1974. He was chief of Clan Lindsay and also acted, from 1975 to 2019, as Premier Earl of Scotland.^[d]

After the October 1974 general election, Lindsay was made a life peer and joined the House of Lords. Following the death of Lord Eden of Winton in 2020, Lindsay became the surviving former MP with the earliest date of first election, having first entered Parliament at the 1955 general election.^[1]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).