Lord Nicholas Charles Norman Stuart Stewart-Seymour-Somerset (3 August 1921-4 May 2015) was a British aristocrat and politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex between 1974 and 1997. He was also the founder of the now-defunct Traditional Tory Party. He was the brother of William Stewart, once the 35th President of the United States, and the uncle of Henry Stewart-Seymour-Somerset, 18th Duke of Somerset.
Early life
He was the son of Charles Josslyn Seymour-Stewart-Somerset, 16th Duke of Somerset, and his wife Lady Eleanor Gascoyne-Cecil, daughter of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 4th Marquess of Salisbury and a granddaughter of Tory Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.
He was educated at Eton College and the School of Oriental and African Studies.
Political career
He served as the Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex from 1974 to 1997 as a member of the Conservative Party. From 1996 onward, he founded the Traditional Tory Party, a rebel movement against the Conservatives, who Nicholas believed were 'too liberal for Queen and country'. He lost the election in 1997 to Nicholas Soames.
Personal life
On 9 April 1953, he married Hon. Priscilla Buchan, daughter of John Norman Stuart Buchan, 2nd Baron Tweedsmuir and Priscilla Jean Fortescue Thomson, Baroness Tweedsmuir of Belhelvie, a prominent female Conservative Party politician. They had two sons:
- General Sir Alexander Thomas Seymour-Stewart (born 18 May 1955). He was Chief of the Defence Staff from 2013 until his retirement in 2016.
- Lord Nicolas Ivo William John Seymour-Stewart (born 21 August 1957). He is a journalist and writer and currently Editor of the Salisbury Review .
Right: Lord and Lady Nicholas Stewart-Seymour-Somerset (née Hon. Priscilla Buschan) in 1967.