Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon
Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon (3 October 1930 – 17 August 1985), styled Viscount Eden between 1961 and 1977, was a British Conservative politician and younger son of Prime Minister Anthony Eden and his first wife, Beatrice (née Beckett). He succeeded in the earldom on the death of his father in 1977, his elder brother Pilot Officer Simon Gascoigne Eden having been killed in action in June 1945, while serving as a navigator with the RAF in Burma.[1]
Lord Avon served under Margaret Thatcher as a Lord-in-Waiting from 1980 to 1983, as Under-Secretary of State for Energy from 1983 to 1984 and as Under-Secretary of State for the Environment from 1984 until shortly before his death from AIDS the following year at the age of 54.[2] Widely known to have been homosexual,[2] Lord Avon was unmarried and his titles died with him. The character of Peter Morton in the film Peter's Friends is loosely inspired by him.
References
- ^ Commonwealth War Graves Commission
- ^ a b Coleman, Brian (2007-06-25). "Thatcher the gay icon". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 2011-06-05. Retrieved 2007-06-29.
External links
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- 1930 births
- 1985 deaths
- AIDS-related deaths in England
- Children of Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom
- Conservative Party (UK) Baronesses- and Lords-in-Waiting
- Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
- Eden family
- Gay politicians
- LGBT politicians from England
- Gay peers
- Peerage of the United Kingdom earl stubs