Lucius Cary, 15th Viscount Falkland

Lucius Edward William Plantagenet Cary, 15th Viscount of Falkland (born 8 May 1935) is a British nobleman and politician.

The Viscount's coat of arms

Background and education

Cary is the eldest of four children, and the only son of Lucius Cary, 14th Viscount of Falkland and Constance Mary Berry, daughter of Captain Edward Berry. The Viscount of Falkland is the senior viscountcy in the peerage of Scotland, created in 1620 by King James VI.

Cary was educated at Wellington College in Berkshire, and was formerly an officer in the Hussars.[1]

Political career

Cary succeeded his father in the viscountcy in 1984 and sat in the House of Lords with the Social Democratic Party, later joining the Liberal Democrats. Following the removal of the majority of hereditary peers under the House of Lords Act 1999, he was one of the ninety-two elected to remain. In 2011 Falkland left the Liberal Democrats and now sits as a Crossbencher.[2] He is a supporter of Humanists UK, and has been a Vice-President of the Royal Stuart Society since 2015 (his ancestors were ardent Jacobites, and he holds the title of 10th Earl of Falkland in the Jacobite Peerage).

Lord Falkland lives in a townhouse in Clapham, a few miles from the Palace of Westminster; however he became embroiled in the parliamentary expenses scandal in 2009, when it was brought to light that he had registered his main residence as a house in Kent belonging to his aunt-in-law, entitling him to substantial payments from the Government for travel expenses. Defending his actions, Falkland said: "I didn't do it to make £125,000, I claimed the expenses in order to be able to meet the expenses of my life. I haven't got another income. You might say I'm an impoverished peer: my family over many hundreds of years have been noted for their poverty."[1]

Family

The Viscount married Caroline Anne Butler, daughter of Lieut-Cmdr George Butler, in 1962; they were divorced in 1990. They have four children:[3]

  • The Hon. Lucius Alexander Plantagenet Cary, Master of Falkland (born 1963)
  • Hon. Camilla Anne Cary (1965–1972)
  • Hon. Samantha Camilla Cary (born 1973)
  • Hon. Lucinda Mary Cary (born 1974)

He was married again in 1990 to Nicole Mackey, with whom he has one child:[3]

  • Hon. Charles Byron Milburn Cary (born 1992)

Arms
Coat of arms of Lucius Cary, 15th Viscount Falkland
Coronet
A Coronet of a Viscount
Crest
A Swan wings elevated proper
Escutcheon
Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Argent on a Bend Sable three Roses of the field barbed and seeded proper (Cary); 2nd, Sable two Bars nebuly Ermine (Spencer of Spencer Combe); 4th, France and England quarterly with a Bordure company Argent and Azure (Beaufort)
Supporters
Dexter: An Unicorn Argent armed crined tufted and unguled Or; Sinister: A Lion guardant proper ducally crowned and gorged with a Plain Collar Or
Motto
In Utroque Fidelis (Faithful in both)

References
  1. "Peer used house he didn't own to pocket £200,000 expenses". Neil Sears for The Daily Mail. 6 November 2009.
  2. House of Lords, Official Website - Viscount Falkland
  3. Falkland, Viscount of. Cracroft's Peerage. 10 May 2008.
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by
Lucius Henry Charles Plantagenet Cary		 Viscount of Falkland
1984–present		 Incumbent

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