Ralph Anstruther

Major Sir Ralph (Hugo) Anstruther, 7th Baronet (13 June 192119 May 2002) was a Scottish British Army officer and courtier.

Early life The only son of Captain Robert Edward Anstruther MC of the Black Watch, only son of Sir Ralph William Anstruther, 6th Baronet, and Marguerite Blanche Lily de Burgh, he was educated at Eton and at Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Career He commissioned into the Coldstream Guards on 29 November 1941, and was awarded the Military Cross in 1943. He later served in Malaya in 1950, and was mentioned in despatches. He was Equerry to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother from 1959 to 1998, and Treasurer from 1961 to 1998. He was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1967, and promoted to KCVO in 1976 and GCVO in 1992.

He was also a Member of the Royal Company of Archers and Deputy Lieutenant of Fife from 1960 to 1997 and of Caithness from 1965.

Titles He succeeded his grandfather in 1934 to the baronetcy of Anstruther of Balcaskie, and in 1980 succeeded his cousin, Sir Windham Eric Francis Carmichael-Anstruther, 8th Baronet, to the baronetcy of Anstruther of Anstruther. With the latter he also became Hereditary Carver to the Queen. He was succeeded to the baronetcies by his cousin Ian Anstruther.

Ancestry