Tributes have been paid to Lady Saltoun of Aberdeenshire, the last hereditary peer in the House of Lords and clan chief, who has died at 93.
Although born in Edinburgh in 1930, Marjorie Flora Fraser had close links to the north-east, including getting married at St Peter’s Episcopal Church in Fraserburgh, where she wedded Prince Arthur’s grandson Alexander Ramsay of Mar in 1956.
Among the attendees were the Queen Mother and his cousin Queen Ingrid of Denmark, while it was Queen Elizabeth who gave consent for the Saltouns to marry.
The couple’s connection to Fraserburgh was not just their wedding though, as one of their homes was at nearby Cairnbulg Castle.
The daughter of the 20th Lord Saltoun, Alexander Fraser – who served in the House of Lords from 1935 to 1963 – she took up this position as a crossbencher when he died in 1979 and become the 21st Lady Saltoun.
After House of Lords reforms in 1999, 662 hereditary peers were removed – something she was opposed to – from the house, however she kept her position having been one of the 90 peers elected by colleagues to remain in the upper chamber.
Paying tribute to his former colleague was Charles Hay, the Earl of Kinnoull, who currently serves as the convenor of the crossbench peers in the Lords.
Describing her as a “delightful mixture of charm and steel”, as well as being a “very canny person”, he added: “At a technical level she knew what she was doing and with seemingly little effort she’d make things happen.
Lady Saltoun: ‘A great loss’
“She was a canny person who cared so deeply about her area and she did her work in the Lords out of a great sense of service that she brought with herself throughout life.
“She’s a great loss and was someone who is so well thought of, not only throughout Scotland, but among her former colleagues in the Lords.”
In 1984, Lady Saltoun was declared by the heraldry Court of the Lord Lyon as the chief of the name and arms of Clan Fraser, as well as the head of the Frasers of Philorth family.
Captain Ramsay inherited Mar Lodge near Braemar from his aunt Princess Arthur and built Inverey House, which is also located near the Royal Deeside village.
He passed away in 2000 and the last major public occasion that his wife attended was the wedding of the now Prince and Princess of Wales in 2011.
Spoke on issues affecting north-east, including fishing
While in the Lords, she spoke on issues affecting the fishing industry, such as the Common Fisheries Policy, as well as on social policy, including same-sex marriage.
In December 2014, she retired from the House of Lords after legislation was introduced to allow life peers to resign, and she was the last of the 90 elected hereditary members to sit in the parliament.
Her eldest daughter, Katharine Ingrid Mary Isabel Fraser, 66, – a deputy lieutenant of Aberdeenshire – has now become the 22nd Lady Saltoun following the death of her mother on Tuesday, as well as the head of Clan Fraser.
As well as Katharine, the former peer leaves behind two other children, 63-year-old Alice Elizabeth Margaret Ramsay of Mar and Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Ramsay of Mar, 61, all off who were great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria.
Conversation