Christopher Soames

Arthur Christopher John Soames, Baron Soames, GCMG, GCVO, CH, CBE, PC (12 October 1920 – 16 September 1987) was a British Conservative politician who served as a European Commissioner and the last Governor of Southern Rhodesia. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Bedford from 1950 to 1966. He held several government posts and attained Cabinet rank.

The Right Honourable The Lord Soames GCMG GCVO CH CBE PC
Soames in 1966
Governor of Southern Rhodesia
In office 11 December 1979 – 18 April 1980
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Humphrey Gibbs[a] as Governor of Southern Rhodesia Josiah Zion Gumede[b] as President of Zimbabwe Rhodesia
Succeeded by	Canaan Banana as President of Zimbabwe
Vice-President of the European Commission
In office 6 January 1973 – 5 January 1977
President	François-Xavier Ortoli
European Commissioner for External Relations
In office 6 January 1973 – 5 January 1977
President	François-Xavier Ortoli
Preceded by	Jean-François Deniau
Succeeded by	Wilhelm Haferkamp
Her Majesty's Ambassador to France
In office September 1968 – 27 October 1972
Preceded by	Patrick Reilly
Succeeded by	Edward Tomkins
Ministerial offices Leader of the House of Lords and Lord President of the Council In office 5 May 1979 – 14 September 1981 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher Preceded by The Lord Peart (Lords) Michael Foot (Council) Succeeded by The Baroness Young (Lords) Francis Pym (Council) Shadow Foreign Secretary In office 4 August 1965 – 13 April 1966 Leader Edward Heath Preceded by Reginald Maudling Succeeded by Alec Douglas-Home Shadow Secretary of State for Defence In office 16 February 1965 – 4 August 1965 Leader Alec Douglas-Home Preceded by Peter Thorneycroft Succeeded by Enoch Powell Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food In office 16 October 1964 – 16 February 1965 Leader Alec Douglas-Home Preceded by Fred Peart Succeeded by Martin Redmayne Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food In office 27 July 1960 – 16 October 1964 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan Alec Douglas-Home Preceded by John Hare Succeeded by Fred Peart Secretary of State for War In office 6 January 1958 – 27 July 1960 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan Preceded by John Hare Succeeded by John Profumo Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty In office 9 January 1957 – 6 January 1958 Prime Minister Harold Macmillan Preceded by George Ward Succeeded by Robert Allan Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Air In office 6 April 1955 – 9 January 1957 Prime Minister Anthony Eden Preceded by George Ward Succeeded by Ian Orr-Ewing
Parliamentary offices Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal Life peerage 19 April 1978 – 16 September 1987 Member of Parliament for Bedford In office 23 February 1950 – 10 March 1966 Preceded by Thomas Skeffington-Lodge Succeeded by Brian Parkyn
Personal details
Born	Arthur Christopher John Soames (1920-10-12)12 October 1920 Penn, Buckinghamshire, England
Died	16 September 1987(1987-09-16) (aged 66) Odiham, Hampshire, England
Resting place	St Martin's Church, Bladon
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Mary Churchill ​ (m. 1947)​
Children	5, including Nicholas, Emma and Rupert
Parent	Arthur Granville Soames (father)
Relatives	Winston Churchill (father‑in‑law)
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Royal Military College, Sandhurst

Christopher and Mary Soames in Lenzerheide, February 1947

Early life and education

Soames was born in Penn, Buckinghamshire, England, the son of Captain Arthur Granville Soames (the brother of Olave Baden-Powell, World Chief Guide, both descendants of a brewing family who had joined the landed gentry) by his marriage to Hope Mary Woodbine Parish.^[1] His parents divorced while he was a boy, and his mother married her second husband Charles Rhys (later 8th Baron Dynevor), by whom she had further children including Richard Rhys, 9th Baron Dynevor.

Soames was educated at West Downs School, Eton College, and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst.^[2] He obtained a commission as an officer in the Coldstream Guards just before World War II broke out. During the war, he served in France, Italy, and North Africa and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for his actions at the Second Battle of El Alamein in 1942.^[3]

Political career

After military service during the Second World War, Soames served as the Assistant Military Attaché in Paris.^[1] He was the Conservative MP for Bedford from 1950 to 1966 and served under Anthony Eden as Under-Secretary of State for Air from 1955 to 1957 and under Harold Macmillan as Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty from 1957 to 1958.^[1] In the 1955 Birthday Honours, he was invested as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).^[4]

In 1958 he was sworn of the Privy Council. He served under Macmillan as Secretary of State for War (outside the Cabinet) from 1958 to 1960 and then in the cabinets of Macmillan and his successor Alec Douglas-Home as Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food from July 1960 to 1964. Home had promised to promote him to Foreign Secretary if the Conservatives won the 1964 general election, but they did not.^[5]

Between 1965 and 1966, Soames was Shadow Foreign Secretary under Edward Heath. He lost his seat in Parliament in the 1966 election. In 1968 Harold Wilson appointed him Ambassador to France,^[6] where he served until 1972.^[7] During his tenure as ambassador, he was involved in the February 1969 "Soames affair", following a private meeting between Soames and French president Charles de Gaulle, the latter offering bilateral talks concerning a partnership for Britain in a larger and looser European union, the talks not involving other members. The British government eventually refused the offer, and that for a time strained Franco-British relations. He was then a Vice-President of the European Commission from 1973 to 1976.^[8] He was considered as a potential challenger to Edward Heath in the 1975 Conservative Party leadership election. The eventual winner Margaret Thatcher would have withdrawn if he had stood.^[9] He was created a life peer on 19 April 1978 as Baron Soames, of Fletching in the County of East Sussex.^[10]

He served as the interim governor of Southern Rhodesia from 1979 to 1980, charged with administering the terms of the Lancaster House Agreement and overseeing its transition to internationally recognised independence as Zimbabwe in 1980. From 1979 to 1981, he was Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Lords under Margaret Thatcher, concurrent with his duties in Southern Rhodesia.^[1]

Outside politics

Soames served as president of the Royal Agricultural Society of England in 1973, was a non-executive director of N.M. Rothschild and Sons Ltd 1977–1979, and a director of the Nat West Bank 1978–1979.^[11]

Personal life

Lord Soames married Mary Churchill, the youngest child of Winston and Clementine Churchill, on 11 February 1947. They had five children:

• Arthur Nicholas Winston Soames, Baron Soames of Fletching (b. 12 February 1948), Member of House of Lords, former Conservative MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Defence;^[12]
• Emma Mary Soames (b. 6 September 1949), editor of Saga magazine;
• Jeremy Bernard Soames (b. 25 May 1952);
• Charlotte Clementine Soames, Countess Peel (b. 17 July 1954), married to William Peel, 3rd Earl Peel, former Lord Chamberlain;
• Rupert Christopher Soames (b. 18 May 1959).^{[citation needed]}

Christopher and Mary Soames' grave at St Martin's Church, Bladon, in 2015

Lord Soames died from cancer at his home in Odiham on 16 September 1987.^[1] His ashes were buried within the Churchill plot at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

In date order:

• Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) – 1942^[11]
• Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) (Civil division) – 1955^[11]
• Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) – 1972^[13]
• Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) – 1972^[14]
• Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (France) – 1972^[2]
• Robert Schuman Prize – 1976^[11]
• Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) – 1980^[15]

Arms

Coat of arms of Christopher Soames

Crest In front of a rising sun Proper upon a lure Gules feathered Argent fesswise a falcon belled Or. Escutcheon Gules a chevron Or between in chief two mallets erect of the second and in base two wings conjoined in lure Argent. Motto Vilius Virtutibus Aurum[16]

Notes

1. Humphrey Gibbs' position as governor was abolished by the government of Rhodesia in 1965, but the abolition was unrecognised and Gibbs still legally held office until 1969
2. Josiah Zion Gumede was head of state of the internationally unrecognised government of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, which was formed following the Internal Settlement of 1978