Christopher Soames

The Right Honourable The Lord Soames GCMG GCVO CH CBE PC
Governor of Southern Rhodesia
In office 11 December 1979 – 18 April 1980
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Preceded by	Sir Humphrey Gibbs Josiah Zion Gumede (President of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia)
Succeeded by	Canaan Banana (President of Zimbabwe)
Leader of the House of Lords
In office 5 May 1979 – 14 September 1981
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	The Lord Peart
Succeeded by	The Baroness Young
Lord President of the Council
In office 5 May 1979 – 14 September 1981
Prime Minister	Margaret Thatcher
Preceded by	Michael Foot
Succeeded by	Francis Pym
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
European Commissioner for Trade
In office 6 January 1973 – 5 January 1977
President	François-Xavier Ortoli
Preceded by	Ralf Dahrendorf
Succeeded by	Wilhelm Haferkamp
British Ambassador to France
In office September 1968 – 27 October 1972
Preceded by	Patrick Reilly
Succeeded by	Edward Tomkins
Shadow Foreign Secretary
In office 11 November 1965 – 13 April 1966
Prime Minister	Ted Heath
Preceded by	Reginald Maudling
Succeeded by	Alec Douglas-Home
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
Member of Parliament for Bedford
In office 23 February 1950 – 31 March 1966
Preceded by	Tom 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, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Mary Churchill (m. 1947–87)
Children	5, including Nicholas, Emma, and Rupert Soames
Alma mater	Royal Military College, Sandhurst

Christopher Soames and his wife with Generals Aharon Yariv and Zvi Zamir during a visit to Israel, January 1966

Churchill and Soames grave at St Martin's Church, Bladon

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

Early life

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 which had joined the landed gentry) by his marriage to Hope Mary Woodbine Parish. His parents divorced while he was a boy, and his mother married as her second husband Charles Rhys (later, 8th Baron Dynevor), by whom she had further children including Richard Rhys, 9th Baron Dynevor.

Education

Soames was educated at West Downs School, Eton College, and RMC Sandhurst.

Political career

After military service during the Second World War, Soames served as the Assistant Military Attaché in Paris. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Bedford from 1950 to 1966 and served under Sir 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. In the 1955 Birthday Honours he was invested as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

In 1958 he was admitted to 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 Sir 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 election, but they did not.

Between 1965 and 1966, Soames was Shadow Foreign Secretary under Edward Heath. He lost his seat in Parliament in the 1966 general election. In 1968 Harold Wilson appointed him Ambassador to France, where he served until 1972. In 1972 Soames was subsequently made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO), a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG), and a Grand Officer of the French Legion d'Honneur. He was then a Vice-President of the European Commission from 1973 to 1976. He was created a life peer on 19 April 1978 as Baron Soames, of Fletching in the County of East Sussex.

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 governmental transition into Zimbabwe.

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 Rhodesia. In 1980, he was invested as a Companion of Honour.

Family

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

• The Rt Hon. Sir Arthur Nicholas Winston Soames (b. 12 February 1948) – Conservative Member of Parliament and former Shadow Secretary of State for Defence
• The Hon. Emma Mary Soames (b. 6 September 1949) – editor of Saga magazine
• The Hon. Jeremy Bernard Soames (b. 25 May 1952)
• The Hon. Charlotte Clementine Soames, the Countess Peel (b. 17 July 1954), is married to The Earl Peel, the Lord Chamberlain
• The Hon. Rupert Christopher Soames (b. 18 May 1959).

Death

Lord Soames died from pancreatitis, aged 66. His ashes were buried within the Churchill plot at St Martin's Church, Bladon, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire.

Styles of address

• 1920–1950: Mr Christopher Soames
• 1950–1955: Mr Christopher Soames MP
• 1955–1958: Mr Christopher Soames CBE MP
• 1958–1966: The Rt Hon. Christopher Soames CBE MP
• 1966–1968: The Rt Hon. Christopher Soames CBE
• 1968–1972: HE The Rt Hon. Christopher Soames CBE
• 1972: HE The Rt Hon. Sir Christopher Soames GCMG CBE
• 1972: HE The Rt Hon. Sir Christopher Soames GCMG GCVO CBE
• 1972–1978: The Rt Hon. Sir Christopher Soames GCMG GCVO CBE
• 1978–1979: The Rt Hon. The Lord Soames GCMG GCVO CBE PC
• 1979–1980: HE The Rt Hon. The Lord Soames GCMG GCVO CBE PC
• 1980: The Rt Hon. The Lord Soames GCMG GCVO CBE PC
• 1980–1987: The Rt Hon. The Lord Soames GCMG GCVO CH CBE PC

Further reading

• Jago, Michael Rab Butler: The Best Prime Minister We Never Had?, Biteback Publishing 2015 ISBN 978-1849549202
• Stevan Pavlowitch, Apologising for the Empire, Oxford University Press, England (1996)
• Claire Sanderson, Perfide Albion ? L’affaire Soames et les arcanes de la diplomatie britannique, Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, 2011.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Christopher Soames
• Time:Festive Birth of a Nation (Zimbabwe)
• Maximilian Genealogy Master Database 2000
• Nicholas Soames – MP for Mid Sussex