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{{Short description|British peer (1939–2022)}}
]
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
'''Merlin Charles Sainthill Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley, ]''' (born ] ]) is a ] ], author, and veteran right-wing activist<ref></ref>. In 1941, at the age of three, he succeeded his ], the ], to the ], and until the ] sat in that body as a hereditary peer.
{{Use British English|date=November 2012}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = ]
| name = The Lord Sudeley
| party = ]
| office = ]
| status = ]
| termlabel = ]
| termstart = 17 June 1960
| termend = 11 November 1999
| image = The_Lord_Sudeley.jpg
| caption = Baron Sudeley in 1987
| education =
| alma_mater = ] ]
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|06|17|df=yes}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2022|09|05|1939|06|17|df=yes}}
| death_place =
| occupation = Politician, author, activist
| parents = Michael Hanbury-Tracy (father) <br /> Colline Amabel St Hill (mother)
| nationality = British
| spouse = {{marriage|The Hon Elizabeth Villiers|1980|1988|end=divorced}} <br /> {{marriage|Margarita née Danko|1999|2006|end=divorced}}<br /> {{marriage|Tatiana Dudina|2010|}}
| residence =
}}


'''Merlin Charles Sainthill Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FSA}} (17 June 1939 – 5 September 2022) was a ], author, and ].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lords/Story/0,,200246,00.html |title=The Guardian |website=] |date=1999-10-27 |access-date=2013-08-12}}</ref> In 1941, at the age of two, he succeeded his ], Richard Hanbury-Tracy, 6th Baron Sudeley, to the ] and until the reforms of ], he regularly sat as a ].
A member of the ], all his adult life, he was sometime President and also Chairman of the ] for seventeen years. He is Vice-Chancellor of the ].


Hanbury-Tracy's reputation was severely damaged in later life by racist comments he made in reports and speeches, alongside comments he made praising the ] leader, ].<ref name="thetimes.co.uk">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lord-sudeley-obituary-bm6dxd8tv|title=Lord Sudeley obituary|date=29 November 2023|via=www.thetimes.co.uk |url-access=subscription}}</ref> A member of the ] all his adult life, he was also sometimes President and Chairman of the ] for seventeen years. He was Vice-Chancellor of the ],<ref>''The Monarchist'', no.66, p.5, 1985, Norwich, UK</ref> and President of the ] until death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.traditionalbritain.org/about |title=About &#124; Traditional Britain Group |publisher=Traditionalbritain.org |access-date=2013-08-12}}</ref>
==Family==
Sudeley's father, Captain Michael Hanbury-Tracy, a ] officer, died from wounds received at ].


==Early life and education==
His paternal grandfather, Lieutenant Felix Hanbury-Tracy, also an officer in the Scots Guards, was killed attacking German positions near Fromelles on ] ].
Merlin Hanbury-Tracy was born on 17 June 1939 to Captain Michael Hanbury-Tracy, a ] officer, who died from wounds received at ], and Colline Annabel, only daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Collis George Herbert St. Hill, the ], commander of the 2/5 battalion of ], who was also killed by a sniper at ], France, on 8 July 1917.<ref>''The Times'', Saturday, 4 Aug 1917, p.4, col.A, Issue 41548.</ref>


Hanbury-Tracy's parents sent him to ], one of England’s premier public schools. He later graduated in history from ]. Hanbury-Tracy was also sometimes an adjunct lecturer at the ].<ref>] entry]</ref> He served his ] obligations in the ranks of the Scots Guards.
His maternal grandfather, Lieutenant-Colonel Collis George Herbert St. Hill <ref> post re Lieutenant-Colonel Collis George Herbert St. Hill</ref>, the ], then commanding the 2/5 ], was killed by a sniper at Villers-Plouich, France, on July 8, 1917.


==Political Activity==
Sudeley served his ] obligations in the ranks of the Scots Guards.
Lord Sudeley was a member of the ] for 39 years. He inherited his peerage aged 2, and finally took his seat in the House at the age of 21. He was a regular attender and introduced several measures, most notably the Bill to prevent the unlicensed export of historical manuscripts and, in 1981, a Bill to uphold the ].


===Expulsion from the House of Lords===
==Education==
Sudeley was one of the unelected ] expelled from the Upper House by the ]. Faced with losing his hereditary position, Sudeley opposed democratic reforms to the House of Lords. Sudeley claimed the House of Lords should be left unreformed, declaring that "If it isn't broken why mend it?" He also said that since he believed inherited titles were "inextricably" tied to the monarchy that it was "odd that they just want to touch one institution and not the other". He also claimed that the House of Lords had developed a "wealth of experience". In 1985 he was elected a Vice-Chancellor of the reactionary ].<ref>''The Monarchist'', no.66, p.5, 1985 Norwich, UK</ref>
], ] ]]]
Sudeley was educated at ], and later read history at ]. As a young man, studying at Oxford, he was offered the position of Tutor to ] whilst on a visit to the country. He would have been charged with teaching the King how to hunt, swim and shoot. Although a good rider, Lord Sudeley declined, wishing to continue with his studies. Lord Sudeley has also lectured at the ].<ref>] entry]</ref>


From the early 1970s, Sudeley was active in the ] of which he became president in February 1991.<ref>Monday Club Executive Council Minutes, 25 February 1991, Westminster Hall (W6), House of Commons.</ref> He wrote for them a leading essay on "The Role of Heredity in Politics",<ref>''Monday World'' magazine, Winter, 1971/72.</ref> produced a Club Policy Paper against ''Lords Reform'' in December 1979, and in 1991 they published his booklet titled, and arguing for, ''The Preservation of the House of Lords'', with a foreword by parliamentarian ].
==Political Activities==
Sudeley was a very active member of the ] for thirty nine years (since he was 21, the minimum age one can take one's seat), introducing several measures, most notably the Bill to prevent the unlicensed export of historical manuscripts. He was one of the ] who ceased to be members of the Upper House by the ]. In 1985 he was elected a Vice-Chancellor of the ], <ref>''The Monarchist'', no.66, p.5, 1985 Norwich, UK</ref>.


===Racism and praise of Hitler===
] 'El Salvador' Dinner, London, ], ]. L to R: ], Lord Sudeley, ]'s Foreign Minister, Andrew Smith (yellow tie), Dr. ]]]
Sudelely's reputation was possibly affected by racist comments he made in speeches and reports. On 2 June 2006, '']'' quoted him as stating, in a report of the Monday Club's Annual General Meeting, that "] did well to get everyone back to work". It also reported him saying that "True though the fact may be that some races are superior to others", going on to suggest that such rhetoric might interfere with the Monday Club's hopes of being accepted again in ] circles.<ref name="thetimes.co.uk"/>


In September 2001, the ] ] said the Monday Club was a "viable organisation… in a sense what the party is about".<ref name=NM/> However, six weeks later, after becoming leader, he publicly distanced the party from the Monday Club until it ceased to "promulgate or discuss policies relating to race";<ref>Nicholas Watt, , '']'', 19 October 2001</ref> he also indicated that no Conservative MPs should contribute to '']'', a quarterly magazine of which Lord Sudeley was a Patron, after an article in it described ] as a "terrorist".<ref name=NM>
Since the early 1970s, Lord Sudeley has been active in the ], and in 1991 he authored a booklet for them entitled and arguing for "''The Preservation of the House of Lords''".
{{cite news| last1 = Morris| first1 = Nigel| date = 2001-10-19| title = Tories axe right-wing group over race issue| url = http://www.mail-archive.com/pen-l@galaxy.csuchico.edu/msg62269.html| newspaper = The Independent| publication-date = 2001-10-19| issn = 0951-9467| access-date = 2013-12-07| quote = Just six weeks ago, before his election, Mr Duncan Smith described the Monday Club as a "viable organisation with the party and they are, in a sense what the party is about". However, in a swift about-turn, three Conservative MPs, Andrew Hunter, Andrew Rosindell and Angela Watkins, were earlier this month instructed by the new leadership to sever their links with the Monday Club. Mr Hunter had been its deputy chairman and associate editor of its Right Now! magazine, which described Nelson Mandela as a "terrorist".}}</ref>


] 'El Salvador' Dinner, London, 25 September 1989. L to R: ], Sudeley, José Manuel Pacas Castro (]'s Foreign Minister), Andrew Smith (yellow tie), Dr. ]]]
He spoke out against the reform of the Lords, saying: "If it isn't broken why mend it?", and also that since he believed inherited titles were "inextricably" tied to the monarchy that it was "odd that they just want to touch one institution and not the other". He also cited the wealth of experience that the Lords had built up. <ref></ref>


Sudeley was also a former Vice-president of the now-defunct ], and on ] ], chaired a WGI dinner at ] for ] President, ], and his inner cabinet. <ref>'']''</ref><ref>'']''</ref> <ref>Court & Social Columns, ], ]</ref>. Lord Sudeley was also a vice-president of the now-defunct Western Goals Institute.<ref>'']''</ref><ref>'']''</ref><ref>Court & Social Columns, 26 September 1989</ref>


He is Patron of the (The 4th Lord Sudeley was foreclosed upon by ] in 1902), and was Convenor of the . He is also Patron of the Prayer Book Society. Lord Sudeley was also Patron of the Bankruptcy Association (] foreclosed upon ] in 1893, when his debt was covered twice over by large assets) and Convenor of the Forum for Stable Currencies. He was also Lay Patron of the Prayer Book Society and a past President of the ].


==Hobbies==
On (] ]), '']'' quoted Sudeley as stating, in a report to the Monday Club's Annual General Meeting, that "Hitler did well to get everyone back to work". It also reported him saying that "True though the fact may be that some races are superior to others", going on to suggest that such rhetoric might interfere with the Monday Club's hopes of being accepted again in ] circles.
Lord Sudeley once described in '']'' one of his hobbies as "Ancestor Worship", with "Conversation" being listed in ]. He took great pride in the former family seat of ] in ] which the family was later forced to sell.<ref>''The Sudeleys - Lords of Toddington'', 20 academic contributors, published by the Manorial Society of Great Britain, London, 1987, pps:222-234, {{ISSN|0261-1368}}</ref> In its successful blend of the Perpendicular Gothic and Picturesque styles, Toddington is the fore-runner of the ] when the soon-to-be 1st Lord Sudeley was selected as chairman of the new parliamentary committee to settle upon the design. His contributions based upon Toddington's were accepted and enhanced.<ref>''The Sudeleys - Lords of Toddington, 1987, p.232.</ref>


At Easter 1985, in conjunction with the century-old ] (of which he sat on the Governing Council), Sudeley held a conference at his old home, the proceedings published in a volume entitled ''The Sudeleys - Lords of Toddington'', taking the history of his family back to ]'s murder and ultimately to ]. On 21 November 2006, he arranged a further conference at the ] on "Visual Aspects of Toddington in the 19th century".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=21617501832&searchurl=tn%3DSudeleys%2Band%2BToddington%26sortby%3D17&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1|title = Book Details}}</ref>
In 2001, Tory leader ] had publicly distanced the party from the club until it ceased to "promulgate or discuss policies relating to race"; he also indicated that no Tory MPs should contribute to ''Right Now!'', a quarterly magazine with which Sudeley was associated, which received notice after an article in it called ] a terrorist. Three Conservative M.P.s resigned from the Club.<ref></ref>
<ref></ref>


Lord Sudeley has written many published essays, including a history of the English gentleman for a German pharmaceutical magazine, ''Die Waage''. He also wrote a history of the House of Lords in which he promoted its ] (as opposed to ]) interpretation, entitled ''Peers Through the Mist of Time'',.<ref>Publisher: Diehard Books, London,2018, {{ISBN|978-164316003-0}}</ref> A launch for his book took place at the Brooks's Club in London on 28 September 2018. In his 2021 book ''Toddington, the Unforgotten Forerunner'', Sudeley tells the story of his family's former seat, designed in a blend of Perpendicular Gothic and Picturesque by Charles Hanbury-Tracy, later Chairman of the Commission for the Rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament in the same style, and its tragic and unexplained loss.<ref>Diehard Books, pubs.</ref> He is also the author of a satire on Greek mythology (published in ]'s famous ''Pick of Today's Short Stories'') and a quantity of politically incorrect short stories mostly published in the ''London Miscellany'' magazine.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.thelondonmiscellany.com/| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140521145230/http://www.thelondonmiscellany.com/| archive-date = 2014-05-21| title = The LONDON MISCELLANY A Magazine for Literature and Art First published in 1825}}</ref> In recent years Sudeley style-edited a definitive monograph on ]'s architecture, translated from the Russian.
==Interests==
Sudeley once described in '']'' one of his hobbies as "Ancestor Worship", with "conversation" being listed in ]. His enduring love throughout his life, and in which he continues to take an active interest, has been for the former family seat of ] in ], built by the ] to replace the mediaeval building nearby, which had been in the family for 1,000 years.


==Personal life==
At Easter 1985, in conjunction with the century-old ] (of which he sits on the Governing Council), he held a conference there entitled "The Sudeleys - Lords of Toddington"; he gave a similar talk on 20 November 2006 for the centenary dinner of the Manorial Society, at ] club in ], of which he is a member. He is also a member of the Lansdowne Club. Lord Sudeley argued consistently in the House of Lords in defence of the 1662 '']'' against what he saw as a reformist ] of the ]. (he is a lay patron of the ) and a past President of the .
Lord Sudeley lived in a mansion flat in Dorset Square, London. He had been married three times and divorced twice.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://londonersdiary.standard.co.uk/2010/09/a-lord-and-his-new-bride.html | title=A lord and his new bride | work=Evening Standard | date=30 September 2010 | access-date=15 October 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101005073800/http://londonersdiary.standard.co.uk/2010/09/a-lord-and-his-new-bride.html | archive-date=5 October 2010}}</ref>


Sudeley married his first wife on 18 January 1980 (dissolved 1988), Elizabeth Mairi Villiers<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/onsmarriage1984/?name=Merlin_Hanbury-Tracy&pcat=bmd_marriage&qh=8P4ro2PiWaeLdZdGXNDoMA%3D%3D| title = Merlin Hanbury-Tracy - England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 - Ancestry.co.uk}}</ref> (3 November 1941 – 29 September 2014),<ref name="burkespeerage.com">{{Cite web |url=https://www.burkespeerage.com/featured_families_Sudeley.php |title=Burke's Peerage - the Official Website |access-date=12 September 2018 |archive-date=12 September 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180912204339/https://www.burkespeerage.com/featured_families_Sudeley.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> daughter of Derek William Charles Keppel, Viscount Bury (heir-apparent of the 9th ]) and ] (youngest daughter of the ],<ref>''Daily Telegraph'', 17 January 2005</ref> and ex-wife of Alastair Michael Hyde Villiers, a Partner in Panmure Gordon & Company, stockbrokers.
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Sudeley was married secondly in 1999 (dissolved 2006) to Margarita (born 1962) daughter of Nikolai Danko, and ex-wife of ] broker Nigel Kellett.
In 1998 he co-founded and hosted the ] which ] took over after the ].

Sudeley married a third time, in 2010, Dr Tatiana Dudina (born 19 August 1950), daughter of Russian Colonel Boris Dudin and Galina Veselovskaya. Dr Dudina holds a ] in ] from Moscow State Linguistic University.<ref name="burkespeerage.com"/>

===Death===
Lord Sudeley died on 5 September 2022, at the age of 83.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Lord Sudeley obituary |newspaper=] |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lord-sudeley-obituary-bm6dxd8tv |access-date=2022-09-22 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2022/09/07/lord-sudeley-peer-who-courted-controversy-fondness-reactionary/|title=Lord Sudeley, peer who courted controversy with his fondness for reactionary causes – obituary|first=Telegraph|last=Obituaries|newspaper=The Telegraph |date=7 September 2022|via=www.telegraph.co.uk |url-access=subscription}}</ref> He was succeeded in the Barony of Sudeley by his third cousin once removed, Nicholas Hanbury-Tracy.

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image={{center|] ]}}
|escutcheon = "Quarterly: 1st and 4th or, an escallop in the chief point sable, between two bendlets gules (Tracy); 2nd and 3rd or, a bend engrailed vert plain cotised sable" (Hanbury).
|crest = "1st, on a chapeau gules, turned up ermine, an escallop sable, between two wings or; 2nd, out of a mural coronet sable, a demi-lion rampant or, holding in the paws a battle-axe sable, helved gold."
|supporters = "On either side a falcon, wings elevated proper, beaked and belled or."
|badge = "A fire beacon, and in front thereof and chained thereto a panther ducally gorged, the tail nowed."<ref>{{cite book |title=Debrett's peerage & baronetage 2003 |date=2003 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |pages=1539 |url=https://archive.org/details/debrettspeerageb0000unse_r0m8/page/1538/mode/2up?q=Sudeley&view=theater}}</ref>
|motto = Memoria Pii Æterna "The pious are held in everlasting remembrance"}}


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist}} {{reflist}}


==Sources== ==Sources==
* Copping, Robert, ''The Monday Club - Crisis and After'' May 1975, page 25, published by the Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, (P/B). * Copping, Robert, ''The Monday Club - Crisis and After'' May 1975, page 25, published by the Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, (P/B).
* Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, ''Lords Reform - Why Tamper with the House of Lords'', ] publication, December 1979, (P/B). * Sudeley, The Rt. Hon. The Lord, ''Lords Reform - Why Tamper with the House of Lords'', ] publication, December 1979, (P/B).
* Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, ''A Guide to Hailes Church'', nr. Winchcombe, Gloucester, 1980, (P/B), ISBN 0714020583 * Sudeley, The Rt. Hon. The Lord, ''A Guide to Hailes Church'', nr. Winchcombe, Gloucester, 1980, (P/B), {{ISBN|0-7140-2058-3}}
* Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, ''The Role of Hereditary in Politics'', in ''The Monarchist'', January 1982, no.60, Norwich, England. * Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, ''The Role of Hereditary in Politics'', in ''The Monarchist'', January 1982, no.60, Norwich, England.
* Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, ''Becket's Murderer - William de Tracy'', in ''Family History'' magazine, Canterbury, August 1983, vol.13, no.97, pps: 3 - 36. * Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, ''Becket's Murderer - William de Tracy'', in ''Family History'' magazine, Canterbury, August 1983, vol.13, no.97, pps: 3 - 36.
Line 62: Line 96:
* London ''Evening Standard'' newspaper, 27 March 1991 - article: ''An heir of neglect - A Life in the Home of Lord Sudeley'' (pps:32-33). * London ''Evening Standard'' newspaper, 27 March 1991 - article: ''An heir of neglect - A Life in the Home of Lord Sudeley'' (pps:32-33).
* Births, Deaths & Marriages, Family Record Centre, Islington, London. * Births, Deaths & Marriages, Family Record Centre, Islington, London.
* Mosley, Charles, (editor) ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, & Knightage'' 106th edition, Switzerland, (1999), ISBN 2-940085-02-1 * Mosley, Charles, (editor) ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, & Knightage'' 106th edition, Switzerland, (1999), {{ISBN|2-940085-02-1}}
* Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, ''The Sudeley Bankruptcy'' in ''London Miscellany'' June 1999 edition. * Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, ''The Sudeley Bankruptcy'' in ''London Miscellany'' June 1999 edition.
* ''OK!'' magazine, London, issue 175, 20 August 1999, (7-page report on his wedding). * ''OK!'' magazine, London, issue 175, 20 August 1999, (7-page report on his wedding).
* Mitchell, Austin, M.P., ''Farewell My Lords, London, 1999, (P/B), ISBN 1-902301-43-9 * Mitchell, Austin, M.P., ''Farewell My Lords'', London, 1999, (P/B), {{ISBN|1-902301-43-9}}
* Gliddon, Gerald, ''The Aristocracy and The Great War'', Norwich, 2002, ISBN 0-947893-35-0 * Gliddon, Gerald, ''The Aristocracy and The Great War'', Norwich, 2002, {{ISBN|0-947893-35-0}}
* Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, ''Usery or Taking Interest for Lending Money'', published by the Forum for Stable Currencies, 2004, (P/B). * Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, ''Usery or Taking Interest for Lending Money'', published by the Forum for Stable Currencies, 2004, (P/B).
* Perry, Maria, ''The House in Berkeley Square", London,2003. * Perry, Maria, ''The House in Berkeley Square'', London,2003.

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Latest revision as of 21:02, 17 August 2024

British peer (1939–2022)

The Right HonourableThe Lord Sudeley
Baron Sudeley in 1987
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
Hereditary peer
17 June 1960 – 11 November 1999
Personal details
Born(1939-06-17)17 June 1939
Died5 September 2022(2022-09-05) (aged 83)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s) The Hon Elizabeth Villiers ​ ​(m. 1980; div. 1988)​
Margarita née Danko ​ ​(m. 1999; div. 2006)​
Tatiana Dudina ​(m. 2010)​
Parent(s)Michael Hanbury-Tracy (father)
Colline Amabel St Hill (mother)
Alma materWorcester College, Oxford University of Oxford
OccupationPolitician, author, activist

Merlin Charles Sainthill Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley, FSA (17 June 1939 – 5 September 2022) was a British hereditary peer, author, and monarchist. In 1941, at the age of two, he succeeded his first cousin once removed, Richard Hanbury-Tracy, 6th Baron Sudeley, to the Barony of Sudeley and until the reforms of House of Lords Act 1999, he regularly sat as a hereditary peer.

Hanbury-Tracy's reputation was severely damaged in later life by racist comments he made in reports and speeches, alongside comments he made praising the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. A member of the Conservative Party all his adult life, he was also sometimes President and Chairman of the Conservative Monday Club for seventeen years. He was Vice-Chancellor of the International Monarchist League, and President of the Traditional Britain Group until death.

Early life and education

Merlin Hanbury-Tracy was born on 17 June 1939 to Captain Michael Hanbury-Tracy, a Scots Guards officer, who died from wounds received at Dunkirk, and Colline Annabel, only daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Collis George Herbert St. Hill, the Royal North Devon Hussars, commander of the 2/5 battalion of Sherwood Foresters, who was also killed by a sniper at Villers-Plouich, France, on 8 July 1917.

Hanbury-Tracy's parents sent him to Eton College, one of England’s premier public schools. He later graduated in history from Worcester College, Oxford. Hanbury-Tracy was also sometimes an adjunct lecturer at the University of Bristol. He served his National Service obligations in the ranks of the Scots Guards.

Political Activity

Lord Sudeley was a member of the House of Lords for 39 years. He inherited his peerage aged 2, and finally took his seat in the House at the age of 21. He was a regular attender and introduced several measures, most notably the Bill to prevent the unlicensed export of historical manuscripts and, in 1981, a Bill to uphold the Book of Common Prayer.

Expulsion from the House of Lords

Sudeley was one of the unelected hereditary peers expelled from the Upper House by the House of Lords Act 1999. Faced with losing his hereditary position, Sudeley opposed democratic reforms to the House of Lords. Sudeley claimed the House of Lords should be left unreformed, declaring that "If it isn't broken why mend it?" He also said that since he believed inherited titles were "inextricably" tied to the monarchy that it was "odd that they just want to touch one institution and not the other". He also claimed that the House of Lords had developed a "wealth of experience". In 1985 he was elected a Vice-Chancellor of the reactionary International Monarchist League.

From the early 1970s, Sudeley was active in the Conservative Monday Club of which he became president in February 1991. He wrote for them a leading essay on "The Role of Heredity in Politics", produced a Club Policy Paper against Lords Reform in December 1979, and in 1991 they published his booklet titled, and arguing for, The Preservation of the House of Lords, with a foreword by parliamentarian John Stokes.

Racism and praise of Hitler

Sudelely's reputation was possibly affected by racist comments he made in speeches and reports. On 2 June 2006, The Times quoted him as stating, in a report of the Monday Club's Annual General Meeting, that "Hitler did well to get everyone back to work". It also reported him saying that "True though the fact may be that some races are superior to others", going on to suggest that such rhetoric might interfere with the Monday Club's hopes of being accepted again in Conservative Party circles.

In September 2001, the Conservative Party leadership candidate Iain Duncan Smith said the Monday Club was a "viable organisation… in a sense what the party is about". However, six weeks later, after becoming leader, he publicly distanced the party from the Monday Club until it ceased to "promulgate or discuss policies relating to race"; he also indicated that no Conservative MPs should contribute to Right Now!, a quarterly magazine of which Lord Sudeley was a Patron, after an article in it described Nelson Mandela as a "terrorist".

At the Western Goals Institute 'El Salvador' Dinner, London, 25 September 1989. L to R: Denis Walker, Sudeley, José Manuel Pacas Castro (El Salvador's Foreign Minister), Andrew Smith (yellow tie), Dr. Harvey Ward

Lord Sudeley was also a vice-president of the now-defunct Western Goals Institute.

Lord Sudeley was also Patron of the Bankruptcy Association (Lloyds Bank foreclosed upon Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 4th Baron Sudeley in 1893, when his debt was covered twice over by large assets) and Convenor of the Forum for Stable Currencies. He was also Lay Patron of the Prayer Book Society and a past President of the Powysland Club.

Hobbies

Lord Sudeley once described in Who's Who one of his hobbies as "Ancestor Worship", with "Conversation" being listed in Debrett's. He took great pride in the former family seat of Toddington Manor in Gloucestershire which the family was later forced to sell. In its successful blend of the Perpendicular Gothic and Picturesque styles, Toddington is the fore-runner of the Houses of Parliament when the soon-to-be 1st Lord Sudeley was selected as chairman of the new parliamentary committee to settle upon the design. His contributions based upon Toddington's were accepted and enhanced.

At Easter 1985, in conjunction with the century-old Manorial Society of Great Britain (of which he sat on the Governing Council), Sudeley held a conference at his old home, the proceedings published in a volume entitled The Sudeleys - Lords of Toddington, taking the history of his family back to Thomas Becket's murder and ultimately to Charlemagne. On 21 November 2006, he arranged a further conference at the Society of Antiquaries of London on "Visual Aspects of Toddington in the 19th century".

Lord Sudeley has written many published essays, including a history of the English gentleman for a German pharmaceutical magazine, Die Waage. He also wrote a history of the House of Lords in which he promoted its Tory (as opposed to Whig history) interpretation, entitled Peers Through the Mist of Time,. A launch for his book took place at the Brooks's Club in London on 28 September 2018. In his 2021 book Toddington, the Unforgotten Forerunner, Sudeley tells the story of his family's former seat, designed in a blend of Perpendicular Gothic and Picturesque by Charles Hanbury-Tracy, later Chairman of the Commission for the Rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament in the same style, and its tragic and unexplained loss. He is also the author of a satire on Greek mythology (published in John Pudney's famous Pick of Today's Short Stories) and a quantity of politically incorrect short stories mostly published in the London Miscellany magazine. In recent years Sudeley style-edited a definitive monograph on Azerbaijan's architecture, translated from the Russian.

Personal life

Lord Sudeley lived in a mansion flat in Dorset Square, London. He had been married three times and divorced twice.

Sudeley married his first wife on 18 January 1980 (dissolved 1988), Elizabeth Mairi Villiers (3 November 1941 – 29 September 2014), daughter of Derek William Charles Keppel, Viscount Bury (heir-apparent of the 9th Earl of Albemarle) and Lady Mairi Vane-Tempest-Stewart (youngest daughter of the 7th Marquess of Londonderry, and ex-wife of Alastair Michael Hyde Villiers, a Partner in Panmure Gordon & Company, stockbrokers.

Sudeley was married secondly in 1999 (dissolved 2006) to Margarita (born 1962) daughter of Nikolai Danko, and ex-wife of Lloyd's broker Nigel Kellett.

Sudeley married a third time, in 2010, Dr Tatiana Dudina (born 19 August 1950), daughter of Russian Colonel Boris Dudin and Galina Veselovskaya. Dr Dudina holds a doctorate in philology from Moscow State Linguistic University.

Death

Lord Sudeley died on 5 September 2022, at the age of 83. He was succeeded in the Barony of Sudeley by his third cousin once removed, Nicholas Hanbury-Tracy.

Arms

Coat of arms of Merlin Hanbury-Tracy, 7th Baron Sudeley
Crest
"1st, on a chapeau gules, turned up ermine, an escallop sable, between two wings or; 2nd, out of a mural coronet sable, a demi-lion rampant or, holding in the paws a battle-axe sable, helved gold."
Escutcheon
"Quarterly: 1st and 4th or, an escallop in the chief point sable, between two bendlets gules (Tracy); 2nd and 3rd or, a bend engrailed vert plain cotised sable" (Hanbury).
Supporters
"On either side a falcon, wings elevated proper, beaked and belled or."
Motto
Memoria Pii Æterna "The pious are held in everlasting remembrance"
Badge
"A fire beacon, and in front thereof and chained thereto a panther ducally gorged, the tail nowed."

References

  1. "The Guardian". TheGuardian.com. 27 October 1999. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  2. ^ "Lord Sudeley obituary". 29 November 2023 – via www.thetimes.co.uk.
  3. The Monarchist, no.66, p.5, 1985, Norwich, UK
  4. "About | Traditional Britain Group". Traditionalbritain.org. Retrieved 12 August 2013.
  5. The Times, Saturday, 4 Aug 1917, p.4, col.A, Issue 41548.
  6. Debrett's entry]
  7. The Monarchist, no.66, p.5, 1985 Norwich, UK
  8. Monday Club Executive Council Minutes, 25 February 1991, Westminster Hall (W6), House of Commons.
  9. Monday World magazine, Winter, 1971/72.
  10. ^ Morris, Nigel (19 October 2001). "Tories axe right-wing group over race issue". The Independent. ISSN 0951-9467. Retrieved 7 December 2013. Just six weeks ago, before his election, Mr Duncan Smith described the Monday Club as a "viable organisation with the party and they are, in a sense what the party is about". However, in a swift about-turn, three Conservative MPs, Andrew Hunter, Andrew Rosindell and Angela Watkins, were earlier this month instructed by the new leadership to sever their links with the Monday Club. Mr Hunter had been its deputy chairman and associate editor of its Right Now! magazine, which described Nelson Mandela as a "terrorist".
  11. Nicholas Watt, Tories cut Monday Club link over race policies, The Guardian, 19 October 2001
  12. Daily Telegraph
  13. The Times
  14. Court & Social Columns, 26 September 1989
  15. The Sudeleys - Lords of Toddington, 20 academic contributors, published by the Manorial Society of Great Britain, London, 1987, pps:222-234, ISSN 0261-1368
  16. The Sudeleys - Lords of Toddington, 1987, p.232.
  17. "Book Details".
  18. Publisher: Diehard Books, London,2018, ISBN 978-164316003-0
  19. Diehard Books, pubs.
  20. "The LONDON MISCELLANY A Magazine for Literature and Art First published in 1825". Archived from the original on 21 May 2014.
  21. "A lord and his new bride". Evening Standard. 30 September 2010. Archived from the original on 5 October 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  22. "Merlin Hanbury-Tracy - England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 - Ancestry.co.uk".
  23. ^ "Burke's Peerage - the Official Website". Archived from the original on 12 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  24. Daily Telegraph, 17 January 2005
  25. "Lord Sudeley obituary". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  26. Obituaries, Telegraph (7 September 2022). "Lord Sudeley, peer who courted controversy with his fondness for reactionary causes – obituary". The Telegraph – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  27. Debrett's peerage & baronetage 2003. London: Macmillan. 2003. p. 1539.

Sources

  • Copping, Robert, The Monday Club - Crisis and After May 1975, page 25, published by the Current Affairs Information Service, Ilford, Essex, (P/B).
  • Sudeley, The Rt. Hon. The Lord, Lords Reform - Why Tamper with the House of Lords, Monday Club publication, December 1979, (P/B).
  • Sudeley, The Rt. Hon. The Lord, A Guide to Hailes Church, nr. Winchcombe, Gloucester, 1980, (P/B), ISBN 0-7140-2058-3
  • Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, The Role of Hereditary in Politics, in The Monarchist, January 1982, no.60, Norwich, England.
  • Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, Becket's Murderer - William de Tracy, in Family History magazine, Canterbury, August 1983, vol.13, no.97, pps: 3 - 36.
  • Sudeley, the Rt. Hon.The Lord, essays in The Sudeleys - Lords of Toddington, published by the Manorial Society of Great Britain, London, 1987,(P/B)
  • Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, The Preservation of The House of Lords Monday Club, London, 1991, (P/B).
  • London Evening Standard newspaper, 27 March 1991 - article: An heir of neglect - A Life in the Home of Lord Sudeley (pps:32-33).
  • Births, Deaths & Marriages, Family Record Centre, Islington, London.
  • Mosley, Charles, (editor) Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, & Knightage 106th edition, Switzerland, (1999), ISBN 2-940085-02-1
  • Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, The Sudeley Bankruptcy in London Miscellany June 1999 edition.
  • OK! magazine, London, issue 175, 20 August 1999, (7-page report on his wedding).
  • Mitchell, Austin, M.P., Farewell My Lords, London, 1999, (P/B), ISBN 1-902301-43-9
  • Gliddon, Gerald, The Aristocracy and The Great War, Norwich, 2002, ISBN 0-947893-35-0
  • Sudeley, The Rt. Hon.The Lord, Usery or Taking Interest for Lending Money, published by the Forum for Stable Currencies, 2004, (P/B).
  • Perry, Maria, The House in Berkeley Square, London,2003.
Political offices
Preceded byMark Mayall Chairman of the Monday Club
May 1993 – December 2007 		Succeeded byAndrew Hunter
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded byRichard Hanbury-Tracy Baron Sudeley
1941–2022 		Succeeded byNicholas Hanbury-Tracy
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