Alastair Boyd, 7th Baron Kilmarnock

Alastair Ivor Gilbert Boyd, 7th Baron Kilmarnock (* May 11, 1927, † 19 March 2009) was a British peer and author.

Life and career

Boyd was the son of Gilbert Boyd, 6th Baron Kilmarnock. He attended Bradfield College and then studied at King's College, University of Cambridge. From 1946 to 1948 he served in the Irish Guards.

Boyd lived a long time in Ronda in Andalusia. He published a number of books, including The Road from Ronda ( 1969) and The Companion Guide to Madrid and Central Spain (1974 ), in which their special attachment to the region and Spain as a whole repeatedly found expression. A close friend connected him with the painter Miles Richmond, who also lived in Ronda for many years.

Boyd was married to his first wife, from 1954 to 1970 with Diana Mary Gibson. On 15 May 1975 he inherited after the death of his father the title of Baron Kilmarnock. In 1977 he married Hillary Bardwell, who had been previously married to Kingsley Amis and DR Shackleton Bailey. The couple had a son. After Kingsley Amis was second marriage failed, he lived at the home of Boyd and his wife and was maintained by them.

In the House of Lords, he was often involved in debates. He was there spokesman for the Social Democratic Party of health issues. His local seat he lost in 1999 by the House of Lords Act 1999. Boyd died in March 2009 at the age of 81 years.

Works (excerpt)

• Sabbatical Year ( 1958)
• The Road from Ronda ( 1969)
• The Essence of Catalonia (1988 )
• The Social Market and the State (1999)
• Rosemary: a memoir (2005)