The 4th Baron O'Hagan, Member of the European Parliament (Independent) 1973-75 and for Devon (Conservative) 1979-94; Junior Opposition Whip, House of Lords 1977-79, has died aged 79.
The peer died after suffering a severe head injury. An inquest opening in Exeter revealed that the former Conservative peer died 23 March, 2025, at the North Devon District Hospital in Barnstaple.
Lord O'Hagan, Charles Towneley Strachey, was a godson of the late Queen Elizabeth II, and was a Page of Honour to the Queen 1959-1962.
He was born 6 September, 1945, son of Maj the Hon (Thomas) Anthony Edward Towneley-O'Hagan later Strachey (1917-1955), and his wife Lady Mary Sophia Palmer (1920-2001), a close friend of the late monarch, Lady-in-Waiting to HRH The Princess Elizabeth 1944-47, and an Extra Lady-in-Waiting to HRH until 1949, third daughter of the 3rd Earl of Selborne, CH, PC (1887-1971), and his wife the former Hon Grace Ridley (died 22 September, 1959), daughter of the 1st Viscount Ridley, PC (1842-1904).
He succeeded as 4th Baron O'Hagan (Peerage of the UK, cr 1870), on the death of his paternal grandfather, the 3rd Baron, 18 December, 1961.
He married 1stly, 13 Jul 1967 (div. 1984) HSH Princess Tamara Imeretinsky (former wife of Lt Cmdr Thomas Mervyn Smith-Dorrien-Smith RN, of Tresco Abbey, Isles of Scilly), 1st daughter of S/Ldr HSH Prince Michael Imeretinsky, of La Colle, Route de Castellar, Menton, France, by his wife Margaret Stella Kinnaird, former wife of Hon Patrick Charles Kinnaird MC (5th son of Arthur Fitzgerald [Kinnaird], 11th Lord Kinnaird, by his wife and cousin Mary Alma Victoria Agnew, 5th daughter of Sir Andrew Agnew of Lochnaw, 8th Bt.) and 2nd daughter of Henry FitzHerbert Wright, of Yeldersley Hall, co. Derby; and married 2ndly, March 1985 (div. 1995) Mrs Mary Claire Parsons, only dau. of Rev Leslie Roose-Francis, of Trencoth, Blisland, Bodmin, co. Cornwall; and married 3rdy, Dec 1995, Elizabeth Lesley Eve Smith, daughter of Hubert Smith, of Exeter. co. Devon.
Lord O'Hagan leaves issue, a daughter from his first marriage, the Hon Nina Natalia, and a daughter from his second marriage, the Hon Antonia Philippa Mary.
The peerage now passes to his younger brother, the Hon Richard Towneley Strachey (born 29 Dec, 1950).
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