William Astor, 3rd Viscount Astor
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|
Fulham East | |
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| In office 14 November 1935 – 15 June 1945 | |
| Preceded by | John Wilmot |
| Succeeded by | Michael Stewart |
| Personal details | |
| Born | William Waldorf Astor II 13 August 1907 Cliveden, Buckinghamshire, England |
| Died | 7 March 1966 (aged 58) Nassau, Bahamas |
| Spouses | Phillipa Hunloke
(m. 1955; div. 1960)Bronwen Alun-Pugh (m. 1960) |
| Children | 4, including Nancy Langhorne |
| Relatives | Astor family |
| Alma mater | Eton College New College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Businessman, politician |
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William Waldorf Astor II, 3rd Viscount Astor (13 August 1907 – 7 March 1966) was an English businessman and Conservative Party politician. He was also a member of the Astor family.
Background and education
William was the eldest son of
Political career
In 1932, Astor was appointed secretary to
In World War II, he served as a naval intelligence officer, acquiring no distinction, but gaining many influential contacts.[1] He returned as the Conservative MP for Wycombe in the 1951 general election, serving for ten months. On his father's death in 1952, he inherited his peerages, becoming the 3rd Viscount Astor and Baron Astor, with a seat in the House of Lords. This forced a by-election in Wycombe, which was won by the Conservative candidate John Hall.
Astor then took over the family's Cliveden estate in Buckinghamshire, where he and his family continued to live until 1966. Active in thoroughbred horse racing, he inherited Cliveden Stud, a horse farm and breeding operation in the village of Taplow near Maidenhead.
During the 1963 Profumo affair, Astor was accused of having an affair with Mandy Rice-Davies. In response to being told during one of the trials arising out of the scandal that Astor had denied having an affair with her, Rice-Davies famously replied, "Well he would, wouldn't he?"
Personal life and death
Astor married three times:[2]
William married Sarah Norton (20 January 1920 – 4 February 2013; daughter of Richard, 6th Baron Grantley) on 14 June 1945 and they were divorced in 1953. They had one son together:
- William Astor, 4th Viscount Astor (William Waldorf Astor III; born 27 December 1951); he married Annabel Jones on 14 January 1976.
William married Phillipa Victoria Hunloke (10 December 1930 – 20 July 2005, whose maternal grandfather was Victor Cavendish, 9th Duke of Devonshire) on 26 April 1955 and they were divorced on 3 June 1960. They had one daughter together:
- Emily Mary Astor (born 9 June 1956)
William Astor married, finally
- Janet Elizabeth Astor (born 1 December 1961); she married the Earl of March and Kinrara, later the 11th Duke of Richmond, on 30 November 1991.
- Pauline Marian Astor (born 26 March 1964)
Astor died in
His son succeeded him in the viscountcy.References
- ^ Anthony Summers & Stephen Dorril. Honeytrap (Coronet Books) 1987. page 64.
- Sutton Publishing, 1998) pages 669–670.
- New York Times. 8 March 1966. Retrieved 21 March 2010.
- ^ dijit.net. "Astor Mausoleum - Mausolea & Monuments Trust". www.mmtrust.org.uk. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
External links
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| National | |
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