Puffin's Club
Puffin's is a British luncheon club, originally founded in the 1960s by the historian Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk. The club was named after the founder's first wife, Diana Hay, 23rd Countess of Erroll and has primarily attracted Scots clan chiefs and European aristocrats.[1]
Originally, Puffin's met weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays in Edinburgh. It now assembles monthly on a Thursday, in both Edinburgh and London. Membership is, as in other gentlemen's clubs, strictly by invitation. Eligibility is that one's ancestors fought at the Battle of Flodden, or would have fought had they been present.[2]
It has been said that Puffin's in the 1960s and 1970s counted half the crowned heads of Europe as its members,[1] and the membership has consistently been varied and eccentric. Among its notable members have been, e.g., Ex-King Zog I, King of Albania, Otto von Habsburg (last crown prince of Austria-Hungary), the actor Terence Stamp, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Sir Nicholas Fairbairn, Sir Fitzroy Maclean, Sir George Dick-Lauder, 12th Baronet and Lord Dacre, who all attended with varying frequency.[3]
Present day members include the founder's two sons, Merlin Hay, 24th Earl of Erroll and Peregrine Moncreiffe of that Ilk,[4] the author Roddy Martine and former MP Narindar Saroop.[5]
References
- ^ a b "Puffin of that Ilk", The Spectator: http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-april-1997/22/the-puffin-of-that-ilk
- ^ Custom byline text: From the archive (25 July 1992). "Luncheon, the most civilised clan gathering". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
- ^ Cf. "Puffin of that Ilk", The Spectator: http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/19th-april-1997/22/the-puffin-of-that-ilk
- ^ http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/2062/Peregrine-David-Euan-Malcolm-MONCREIFFE-OF-THAT-ILK
- ^ http://telegraph.boisdale.co.uk/archieve/Telegraph%20June%20july%202007.pdf