Impressive titles

One of the joys of wandering through the gardens and policies of Haddo House is coming across trees planted in the past by visiting people of note, including Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Many of the trees bear plaques giving the names of the notables who planted them. Today, I happened upon one of the more recent plantings, a group of copper beeches planted in 1969 by Baron and Baronne Snoy et d'Oppuers and the 3rd Marquis and Marchioness of Aberdeen and Tremair.

A very few years ago finding out about these nobles would have meant spending the day in the library. These days, thanks to my friends Google and Wikipedia, the task was much, much less onerous.

Baron Jean Charles Snoy et d'Oppuers (1907- 1991), was a Belgian civil servant, diplomat and Roman Catholic politician for the PSC-CVP. He was married to Countess Nathalie d'Alcantara and they lived at the Snoy family estate, the Castle of Bois-Seigneur-Isaac. He graduated in law and Thomistic philosophy at the Catholic University of Leuven. He was Secretary-General of the Belgian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Head of the Belgian Delegation to the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the Château of Val-Duchesse in 1956 and signed the Treaties of Rome for Belgium, together with Paul-Henri Spaak in 1957. From 1982 until 1984, he was President of the European League for Economic Cooperation. He was also a member of the Bilderberg Group.

Lieutenant-Colonel Dudley Gladstone Gordon, 3rd Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair DSO (1883-1972), was a British peer, soldier, and industrialist. He attended Harrow School and was awarded an honorary doctorate of Law from the University of Aberdeen. He worked for J. and E. Hall Ltd (an engineering company based in Dartmouth) from 1907 and became a director in 1910. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 8th Battalion of the Gordon Highlanders in 1914. He was shortly thereafter transferred to the 9th Battalion as a temporary captain, and was later promoted to temporary major. In 1917, he received the Distinguished Service Order for gallantry in supervising the construction of two artillery tracks under enemy fire. He later gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and served as commander of the 8/10th Battalion from 1917 to 1919. Aberdeen was President of the British Association for Refrigeration from 1926 to 1929, President of the British Engineers Association from 1936 to 1939, and President of the Federation of British Industries between 1940 and 1943, as well as serving as President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

The 3rd Marchioness, Margaret Gladys Munn (died 1990), was Aberdeen's second wife.