28-Feb-2023

Lord Nicholas Soames Joins Board of Trustees

One of the grandsons of the wartime prime minister Sir Winston Churchill has joined the board of the Normandy Memorial Trust.

Lord Soames of Fletching – Nicholas Soames – is a former army officer, Conservative MP and defence minister. He was appointed a Life Peer in October 2022.

Commenting on his appointment, Lord Soames said:

“I am delighted to join the board of trustees. The defence of freedom in Europe requires constant vigilance. We must never forget the sacrifice of those brave men and women who lost their lives on D-Day and during the Battle of Normandy. We owe so much to them and to all the members of the wartime generation.”

Chairman of trustees General Lord Richard Dannatt said the board was delighted to welcome Lord Soames:

“We look forward to benefitting from his knowledge and experience of defence issues and we are so very pleased to have a link to Britain’s great wartime prime minister who was such an important figure in the conception of D-Day and the Normandy campaign.”

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Lord Soames was born in 1948 and was educated at Eton College and Mons Officer Cadet School. He is the son of The Late Lord Soames and grandson of Sir Winston Churchill KG.

After leaving school he was commissioned into the 11th Hussars [PAO] serving in Germany and the United Kingdom. He was subsequently Equerry to HRH The Prince of Wales KG KT GCB. He later served in the United States Senate and before entering Parliament he worked in the City of London.

Nicholas was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1983 to 2019. During his long and distinguished career in Parliament he held a number of senior roles, including serving as the Minister for Defence and as a Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.

Nicholas has a specialist knowledge in the fields of Anglo-American defence matters and security in the Middle East, Europe, international affairs, trade and industry, aviation and the countryside. He is currently President of the Conservative Middle East Council. He is a Senior Advisor to Panmure Gordon and to FMA Partners and to a number of other companies.

He is Honorary Colonel of The Kent and Sharpshooters Yeomanry and a longstanding Trustee of the Amber Foundation.

Nicholas was made a Privy Counsellor in 2011 and knighted in 2014. He was appointed a Life Peer in October 2022. He is a member of the International Relations and Defence Committee of the House of Lords.

His interests include reading, racing and country pursuits. He has travelled widely.