Lady Saltoun of Abernethy
Born: October 18, 1930;
Died: September 3, 2024
Lady Saltoun of Abernethy, who has died aged 93, was one of only two female holders of a lordship to retain a seat in the House of Lords as an hereditary peer. Her contribution to Scottish clan history was considerable. She led her clan with a joyous enthusiasm, created and maintained an excellent clan website and even tried her hand at tartan design – traditional in style avoiding clashing or gimmicky colours.
Flora Marjory Fraser, Lady Saltoun of Abernethy, 21st chief of the name and arms of Fraser, was a redoubtable character either championing a particular passion in the House of Lords or supporting local issues in Aberdeenshire. She was much respected and admired for the work she did on behalf of Clan Fraser and cheerfully labelled herself the “mother of the Clan”.
Lady Saltoun was born in Edinburgh and educated at Heathfield School, Ascot, then trained as a chartered secretary in a city office but deaths in the family resulted in several early changes to her lifestyle. She was descended 22 generations from Mary Bruce, sister of King Robert Bruce. In 1933, Flora Fraser’s father became 20th Lord Saltoun. Her elder brother Alexander, Master of Saltoun, served in the Grenadier Guards and died as a prisoner of war in 1944, making her the new heir.
On the death of her father in 1979 she inherited and took her seat in the Lords. When two decades later, the House of Lords Act removed 662 hereditary peers, Lady Saltoun became one of the few elected to stay and remained until she stepped down in 2015. It was an outstanding personal achievement and a reflection of the respect for her by her colleagues.
In 1956 she married Captain Alexander Ramsay of Mar, great-grandson of Queen Victoria, in St Peter’s Episcopal Church in Fraserburgh. Because of their royal background the Queen had to give her assent in council which she did aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia at Leith before she attended an event at the Edinburgh Festival.
They moved into Cairnbulg Castle near Fraserburgh, an attractive house with a fine view of the Cairngorms. They were both keen upholders of clan traditions and he supported her work for Clan Fraser while Lady Saltoun championed her husband’s work as an environmentalist and his desire to improve and conserve the valuable land, flora and fauna throughout the north-east.
In the Lords, she sat on the ecclesiastical and procedure committees and spoke on issues affecting the fishing industry, the Common Fisheries Policy, social matters and same-sex marriage.
Her work on behalf of the clan was personal and far-ranging. She kept in touch with the various Fraser Societies throughout the world and, indeed, wrote an authoritative history of her clan in 1997, Clan Fraser – A History.
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In 1997, Lady Saltoun and Lord Lovat, Chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat, co-hosted a gathering of Clan Fraser members, the first gathering in 46 years. The four-day event, which attracted Frasers from all round the world, was held at Castle Fraser on the River Don. Lady Saltoun commissioned three new tartans to add to the 21 existing Fraser tartans.
At the international clan gathering in Edinburgh in 2009, she personally funded the Clan Fraser Society tent, with three generations of her family in attendance.
Michael Fraser, former secretary of the Clan Fraser Society, recalls arriving at a society gathering in Edinburgh wearing a suit. “I had been born in Scotland but lived in the south. I confessed to Lady Saltoun I was unsure of my right to wear the tartan. Her response was immediate and typically forthright – ‘You are a Fraser and will wear the tartan!’ From then on, at Christmas, I received a Christmas card from the House of Lords hand addressed to "Dear Cousin".
Lady Saltoun lived for many years in Inverey House in Braemar. The house was built in 1984 after her husband sold the rights to the Dalvorar Beat on the River Dee. He died at Inverey in 2000.
Lady Saltoun combined her busy lives in Westminster and Aberdeenshire with care and attention. She somehow focused on the two different demands with a relaxed and canny ease and had a remarkable memory, especially for names and faces. She proudly displayed on her kitchen wall her certificate as a Cordon Bleu Cook and, so it is said, mixed the sharpest martini in Scotland.
She was often in attendance at royal events in Scotland, notably the annual visits to Holyrood House and Balmoral. Perhaps Lady Saltoun's favourite royal event was the Braemar Highland Games where her husband served as a vice-patron for many years.
Lady Saltoun is succeeded in chiefship by Mrs Nicolson, with Zander (Alexander Fraser) now Master of Saltoun.
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