Peter Alexander Rupert Carington, 6th Baron Carrington, Baron Carington of Upton (6 June 1919 – 9 July 2018), was a British Conservative Party politician and hereditary peer who served as Defence Secretary from 1970 to 1974, Foreign Secretary from 1979 to 1982, chairman of the General Electric Company from 1983 to 1984, and Secretary General of NATO from 1984 to 1988. In Margaret Thatcher's first government, he played a major role in negotiating the Lancaster House Agreement that ended the conflict in Rhodesia and enabled the creation of Zimbabwe. Carington later served as the Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Bilderberg Group's meetings from 1990 to 1998.
Carington was Foreign Secretary in 1982 when Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands. He took full responsibility for the failure to foresee this and resigned. As NATO secretary general, he helped prevent a war between Greece and Turkey during the 1987 Aegean crisis.
Following the House of Lords Act 1999, which removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, Carington was created a life peer as Baron Carington of Upton.
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Background and early life
The surname "Carrington" (with two Rs) was adopted by royal licence dated 1839 by his direct male ancestor Robert Carrington, 2nd Baron Carrington, in lieu of Smith. The latter's father, Robert Smith, MP for Nottingham, was created Baron Carrington in 1796 (Peerage of Ireland) and 1797 (Peerage of Great Britain). The spelling of the surname was changed by royal licence to "Carington" (with one r) in 1880 by the 2nd Baron's sons, but the spelling of the title did not change.
Born in Chelsea on 6 June 1919, Peter Alexander Rupert Carington was the only son of the 5th Baron Carrington by his wife, the Hon. Sybil Marion Colville, a daughter of Charles Colville, 2nd Viscount Colville of Culross. His great-uncles were the Liberal statesman Charles Wynn-Carington, 1st Marquess of Lincolnshire, and politician and courtier the Hon. Sir William Carington. Carington grew up in Millaton House, in Bridestowe, Devon. He went to Sandroyd School from 1928 to 1932, based at that time in Cobham, Surrey, and Eton College. On leaving Eton, his housemaster, Cyril Butterwick, said of Carington, "For a really stupid boy, there are three possible professions: farming, soldiering and stockbroking".
After training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Carington was commissioned into the Grenadier Guards as a second lieutenant on 26 January 1939.
Military service
Carington saw active service with his regiment during the Second World War. He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 January 1941, then to temporary captain and to acting major. He was a tank commander during Operation Market Garden in the Netherlands in 1944. He led the first group of four Sherman tanks to cross the Nijmegen road bridge across the Waal River and was awarded the Military Cross (MC) on 1 March 1945 "in recognition of gallant and distinguished services in North West Europe". After the war, Carington remained in the army until 1949.
Political career 1946–1982
In 1938, Carington succeeded his father as 6th Baron Carrington. Although he had the right to take his seat in the House of Lords on his 21st birthday in 1940, since he was on active service he did not do so until 9 October 1945. After leaving the Army, Carington took an active part in the House of Lords and from November 1951 to October 1954 served in the Conservative governments of Winston Churchill and Anthony Eden as Parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Agriculture and Food. He was also appointed as a deputy lieutenant of Buckinghamshire on 2 July 1951. During the Crichel Down affair, which led to the resignation of minister Thomas Dugdale, Carington tendered his resignation, which was refused by the Prime Minister. Carington was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Defence from October 1954 to October 1956, and was then appointed High Commissioner to Australia, a post he held until October 1959. He became a Privy Counsellor in 1959.
Following his return to Britain he served under Harold Macmillan as First Lord of the Admiralty until October 1963. In this role, Carington worked with Lord Mountbatten, who was Chief of the Defence Staff, during a time of major restructuring and reform of the Admiralty. After Alec Douglas-Home became prime minister in October 1963, Carington held the posts of minister without portfolio and Leader of the House of Lords until October 1964, when the general election led to a change of government. From 1964 to 1970 he was Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords.
When the Conservatives returned to power in 1970 under Edward Heath, Carington became Defence Secretary, where he remained until the February 1974 general election. In a 1977 letter discussing the policy of torture of Irish republican internees during Operation Demetrius in August 1971, the then Home Secretary Merlyn Rees attributed the origins of the policy to Carington: '"It is my view (confirmed by Brian Faulkner before his death [NI's prime minister at the time]) that the decision to use methods of torture in Northern Ireland in 1971/72 was taken by ministers – in particular Lord Carrington, then secretary of state for defence."
Carington became shadow defence secretary in 1968 after Enoch Powell was dismissed, following his controversial Rivers of Blood speech on immigration. He also served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 1972 to 1974, and was briefly Secretary of State for Energy from January to March 1974.
Later life and death
Carington served as Secretary General of NATO from 1984 to 1988. He was chairman of the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1983 to 1988. He was appointed Chancellor of the Order of St Michael and St George on 1 August 1984, serving until June 1994.
In 1991, he presided over diplomatic talks about the breakup of Yugoslavia and attempted to pass a plan to end the wars and result in each republic becoming an independent nation.
Aside from his political posts, Carington was chancellor of the University of Reading and served as chairman of several companies, including Christie's, and as a director of many others, including Barclays Bank, Cadbury Schweppes and The Daily Telegraph. He also chaired the Bilderberg conferences from 1990 to 1998, being succeeded in 1999 by Étienne Davignon. From 1983 to 2002, he was president of the Pilgrims Society, and from 1971 to 2018 president of the Britain–Australia Society. He was appointed Chancellor of the Order of the Garter on 8 November 1994, a role from which he retired in October 2012.
After the House of Lords Act 1999 removed the automatic right of hereditary peers to sit in the House of Lords, Carington, along with all former leaders of the House of Lords, was given a life peerage on 17 November 1999. He took this as Baron Carington of Upton, of Upton in the County of Nottinghamshire. He was the longest-serving member of the House of Lords, and following the retirement of Lord Barber of Tewkesbury in 2016, had been the oldest. He was the second longest-serving member of the Privy Council after the Duke of Edinburgh.
Carington died from pneumonia on 9 July 2018, aged 99, at his home, the Manor House, in Bledlow, Buckinghamshire. His son Rupert succeeded him as Baron Carrington and in 2022 on the accession of Charles III became Lord Great Chamberlain of England.
A memorial service for Carrington was held at Westminster Abbey on 31 January 2019.
Family
Carington married Iona McClean (19 March 1920 – 7 June 2009), daughter of Francis McClean and Aileen Wale, on 25 April 1942. They had three children, including Rupert Carington, 7th Baron Carrington. Carington's wife died in 2009 aged 89.
In popular culture
Carington was a guest on BBC Radio 4's long-running programme Desert Island Discs in 1975 and on the same station's A Good Read in 2004.
In the 1977 war film A Bridge Too Far, John Stride played a Grenadier Guards captain at Nijmegen Bridge based on Carington. This portrayal depicted the fictitious argument between Carington and Major Julian Cook on whether to move forward along the "Hell's Highway" route.
In February 1982 Carington was portrayed by Rowan Atkinson in a Not the Nine O'Clock News parody of Question Time, pedantically discussing an imminent nuclear holocaust.
Carington was portrayed by James Fox in the 2002 BBC production of Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.
He was also briefly portrayed by James Smith in the 2011 film The Iron Lady, and by Jeff Rawle in the 2014 play Handbagged.
Honours
1945: Military Cross
1958: Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (KCMG)
1959: Lord of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council
1983: Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH)
1985: Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter (KG); Chancellor of the Order (1994–2012)
1988: Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (GCMG); Chancellor of the Order (1984–1994)
1999: Life peerage, as Baron Carington of Upton
Knight Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III
1988: Presidential Medal of Freedom
Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service
Freedom of the City of London
Honorary degrees
1981: University of Cambridge (LLD)
1983: University of Essex (DUniv)
December 1989: University of Reading (DLitt)
1986: Harvard University (LLD)
1993: University of Nottingham (LLD)
14 December 1998: University of Newcastle upon Tyne (DCL)
21 November 2003: University of Oxford (DCL)