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Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th Marquess of
Salisbury
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Michael James Gascoyne-Cecil, 7th
Marquess of Salisbury, PC (born September 30,
1946), was a Conservative politician and Leader of the
House of Lords, under his courtesy title of Viscount
Cranborne.
Political career
Lord Cranborne attended Eton College and
Christ Church, Oxford and became a merchant banker
before going to work on the family estates. He was
selected, unexpectedly, as Conservative candidate for
South Dorset in 1976, where his family owned lands,
despite the presence of several former MPs on the
shortlist. He spoke at the 1978 Conservative Party
conference to oppose sanctions on Rhodesia. He won the
seat in the 1979 general election, the seventh
consecutive generation of his family to sit in the
Commons, and in his first speech urged Ian Smith to
stand aside in favour of Abel Muzorewa.
He attracted a general reputation as a
right-winger, especially on matters affecting the
Church of England, but confounded this reputation when
he co-wrote a pamphlet in 1981 which said that the
fight against unemployment ought to be given more
priority than the fight against inflation. He took an
interest in Northern Ireland, and when Jim Prior
announced his policy of 'Rolling Devolution', resigned
an unpaid job as assistant to Douglas Hurd.
Lord Cranborne became known as an
anti-communist through activities in support of Afghan
refugees in Pakistan in the early 1980s, and sending
food parcels to Poland. He was involved in efforts to
fund the Afghan resistance. His strong opposition to
any involvement by the Republic of Ireland in Northern
Ireland led him to oppose the Anglo-Irish Agreement
and contributed to his decision to retire from
Parliament in 1987.
However, he had made a useful friendship with
John Major while in Parliament. After the 1992 general
election, Major utilised a rarely-used process known
as a writ of acceleration, to call Lord Cranborne up
to the House of Lords in one of his father's junior
baronies. Lord Cranborne was summoned as Baron Cecil
of Essendon (his father's most junior dignity), though
continued to be known by his courtesy style of
Viscount Cranborne.
He served for two years as a junior Defence
Minister before being appointed as Leader of the House
of Lords. When Major resigned to fight for re-election
as Conservative Party Leader in July 1995, Lord
Cranborne led his re-election campaign. He was
recognised as one of the few members of the Cabinet
who were personally loyal to Major, but continued to
lead the Conservative Peers after Labour won the 1997
general election.
When the new Prime Minister Tony Blair
proposed the removal of the hereditary element in the
House of Lords, Lord Cranborne negotiated a pact with
the government to retain a small number (later set at
ninety-two) of hereditary peers for the interim
period. For the sake of form this amendment was
formally proposed by Lord Weatherill, Convenor of the
Cross-Bench Peers. However, Lord Cranborne gave his
party's approval without consulting the Leader,
William Hague, who knew nothing and was embarrassed
when Blair told him of it in the House of Commons.
Hague then sacked Lord Cranborne, who accepted his
error, saying that he had "rushed in, like an
ill-trained spaniel".
All former Leaders of the House of Lords who
were hereditary peers accepted Life Peerages to keep
them in the House in 1999. Lord Cranborne, who had
received the life Barony of Gascoyne-Cecil, remained
active on the backbenches, until the House adopted new
rules for declaration of financial interests which he
believed were too onerous. He took 'Leave of Absence'
on November 1, 2001. He was therefore out of the House
when he succeeded his father as 7th Marquess on July
11, 2003.
Personal life: ancestry, lineage, and
family
Robert Michael James Gascoyne-Cecil was born
on 30 September 1946 as the eldest child and
first-born son of the Honourable Robert and Mollie
Gascoyne-Cecil, who became Viscount and Viscountess
Cranborne in 1947, when his great-grandfather the 4th
Marquess of Salisbury (son and heir of the 3rd
Marquess of Salisbury, thrice Prime Minister) died on
4 April.
His father the 6th Marquess succeeded his
father, the 5th Marquess of Salisbury (1893-1972), and
generally eschewed a political career unlike his
father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. The 3rd
Marquess of Salisbury (1830-1903) had been a great
late Victorian Prime Minister; the 4th Marquess of
Salisbury (1861-1947) had been Tory Leader of the
House of Lords; the 5th Marquess of Salisbury
(1893-1972) had been also a leading Conservative
politician in the House of Lords. The Marquises of
Salisbury were descended from the 1st Marquess, a
courtier and favourite of King George III of the
United Kingdom, who was himself a descendant of Robert
Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury and one of the men who
brought about the accession of King James I of
England. Robert Cecil was himself a younger son of
Elizabeth's courtier-advisor William Cecil, Lord
Burghley, the descendant of a Welsh soldier David
Cyssell.
His mother Marjorie "Mollie" Olein
Wyndham-Quin was a descendant of the 5th Earl of
Dunraven and Mount-Earl on her father's side, and of
the 4th Earl of Bradford via her maternal grandmother.
Lady Salisbury is a noted gardener, who has advised
several other beginning gardeners including Charles,
Prince of Wales.
His parents had seven children, of whom four
sons and a daughter survive, although two sons
predeceased them.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil began using Robert as
his preferred Christian name from his 21st birthday.
In 1970, aged 23, he married Hannah Stirling, niece of
Lt Col David Stirling (a co-founder of the SAS)
and a descendant of the Lords Lovat, Scottish Catholic
aristocrats. The marriage was initially opposed by his
family, mostly because Miss Stirling was Roman
Catholic.
During the 1970s, Lord and Lady Cranborne had
two sons and three daughters (including twins), of
whom the two elder daughters are married. Until
recently, they lived at Cranborne Manor, Dorset. The
family seat is Hatfield House, once home to Queen
Elizabeth I of England which was given the family by
James I of England in exchange for the Cecil family
house Theobalds, which the king liked better. The
Salisbury family is very wealthy, with land in Dorset,
Hertfordshire, and in London; and with heirlooms at
Hatfield House.
He ranked 192nd in the Sunday Times Rich List
2005, with an estimated wealth of £250m.
The Marquess of Salisbury's heir is his elder
son the Honourable Robert Edward "Ned"
William Gascoyne-Cecil, called Viscount Cranborne (b.
1970); he is currently unmarried, though he does have
a daughter born out of wedlock in 2001 by Camilla
Davidson.
Offices and Honours (2006)
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