Nicholas Lowther, 2nd Viscount Ullswater

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nicholas James Christopher Lowther, 2nd Viscount Ullswater, LVO, PC (born 9 January 1942), succeeded his great-grandfather in the Viscountcy of Ullswater in 1949. He is one of very few peers to have succeeded a great-grandfather in a title.

An amateur jockey in his youth, he began to hold political posts in the British government of Margaret Thatcher, and under John Major rose to Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms (Government Chief Whip in the House of Lords) in 1993 and Minister of State for the Environment (as well as member of the Privy Council) in 1994. However, he left the Government in a 1995 reshuffle and in 1998 became the Private Secretary to Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and continued in this office until her death in 2002.

As a member of a Royal Household he could not take part in partisan politics and did not seek to remain in the House of Lords when the House of Lords Act 1999 was passed. However, after the death of the Viscount of Oxfuird in January 2003, he emerged as the Conservatives' preferred candidate and won the by-election enabling him to return to the House of Lords.

On 22 May 2006, Lord Ullswater was nominated for the newly-created post of Lord Speaker and in the election held on 28 June 2006 emerged in third place out of a total of nine candidates. [1] His great-grandfather, James Lowther, served as Speaker of the House of Commons 1905–1921.

Honorary Titles
Preceded by: The Lord Hesketh	Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms 1993–1994	Succeeded by: The Lord Strathclyde
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: James William Lowther	Viscount Ullswater 1949–Present	Succeeded by: Current Incumbent