Remembering The Rt. Hon. The Earl of Airlie KT GCVO, PC
A Vice President of The Scouts Association, The 13th Earl of Airlie died on 26 June at the age of 97.
David George Coke Patrick Ogilvy was born on 17 May 1926, the son of the 12th Earl of Airlie and Lady Alexandra Marie Bridget Coke. He attended Eton before joining the 2nd Battalion of the Scots Guards during the Second World War. On 28 December 1968 he succeeded his father as the 13th Earl of Airlie.
Lord Airlie stayed in the Army after the war becoming Aide-de-camp to the British High Commissioner and Commander in Chief of Austria, also serving in Malaya. After leaving the Army in 1950 as a Captain, he attended the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester in order to learn more about estates management as the family holds 69,000 acres of land in Angus which includes Cortachy and Airlie castles.
On 23 October 1952, he married Virginia Fortune, daughter of John Barry Ryan and Margaret Kahn. After his marriage he became involved in merchant banking with J. Henry Schroder Wagg and Company Limited and became a director in 1961 and chairman in 1973. He was also chairman of the General Accident insurance group and a director of Royal Bank of Scotland and Scottish & Newcastle Breweries.
His involvement in Scouts started in 1962 when he became treasurer of The Scouts Association, a position he held until 1986. He was, until his death, a Vice President of The Scouts Association. He was also President of the Scottish Council of The Scout Association.
Lord Airlie had a close involvement with the Royal Family, attending the 1937 Coronation of George VI, the 1953 Coronation of Elizabeth II and was recently at the Coronation of King Charles. In 1984 he became Lord Chamberlain – head of the Royal Household – to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1984 and served until 1997, then becoming a Permanent Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen. His father had held the same position to the Queen Mother. His wife, the Countess of Airlie, was a Lady of the Bedchamber to Elizabeth II.
Lord Airlie has held appointments such as the Deputy Lieutenant, 1986-1989 and Lord-Lieutenant of Angus since 1989 and Justice of the Peace in Angus since 1990. He held a series of appointments with the Queen’s Body Guard for Scotland and was Chancellor of the Royal Victorian Order between 1984 and 1997. He was a founding Chancellor of the Abertay University in 1994 and continued in the role until 2009, with an honorary LLD in 1990.
Lord Airlie is survived by his wife and six children.