Gavin Astor, 2nd Baron Astor of Hever DL (1 June 1918 – 28 June 1984), was an English soldier, publisher, peer, and member of the Astor family. Lord Astor served as chairman of the Times Publishing Company and president of the family owned Times Newspapers Ltd. In 1955, he founded the Astor of Hever Trust, a charity that makes grants to arts, medicine, religion, education, conservation, youth, and sport organisations.

Early life

Astor was born on 1 June 1918. He was the eldest son of the American born John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever, and Lady Violet Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound. He had two younger brothers, Hugh and John. His mother had two children, Mary and George, from her previous marriage to Lord Charles Petty-Fitzmaurice. His father, the fourth child of William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor and Mary Dahlgren Paul, was only five years old when his family left New York to live in England. His mother was the third of the five children of Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto, Viceroy and Governor-General of India and Governor General of Canada, and Mary Caroline Grey (a daughter of Gen. Charles Grey, the second son of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey). He was educated at Eton College and New College, Oxford.

Career

After Oxford, Astor joined the Life Guards, where he reached the rank of captain. Business positions included the chairmanship of the Times Publishing Company and life presidency of Times Newspapers Ltd, succeeding his father in 1959. He was appointed High Sheriff of Sussex in 1955. Upon the death of his father in 1971, he inherited the barony and Hever Castle in Kent, which the family opened to tours in 1963. In 1983, the Astor sold the castle to John Guthrie, chairman of the family-run business, Broadland Properties Limited. In 1955, he founded the Astor of Hever Trust, a charity aimed to collect donations for arts, medicine, religion, education, conservation, youth, and sport.

Personal life

On 4 October 1945, Astor married Lady Irene Haig (1919–2001), youngest daughter of the late Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, and Dorothy Maud Vivian Haig. Together, they had five children: Astor died of cancer in 1984 at his home near Tarland, Scotland. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son Johnny.

Descendants

Through his daughter Sarah, he was a grandfather of Harry Marcus George Lopes (b. 1977), who married Laura Rose Parker Bowles, the second child of Andrew Parker Bowles and Camilla Shand, thus making her the stepdaughter of King Charles III.