Chieftain for the Day

The President and Committee of the Bundanoon Highland Gathering are delighted and honoured to announce that for their 43rd Annual Brigadoon gathering the Chieftain of the Day will be:
The Rt. Honourable the 15th Earl of Loudoun;

Biography:

Simon Abney-Hastings is an Australian Earl who is the current holder of one of the oldest Scottish noble titles, Earl of Loudoun. Earl of Loudoun is named after Loudoun in Ayrshire Scotland. The Campbell’s of Loudoun are the oldest branch of the house of Argyll. The Earldom was originally granted to the 1st Earl of Loudoun, John Campbell – Lord Chancellor of Scotland, by King Charles 1st in 1633 and has since passed down to Simon Abney-Hastings though the laws of succession when his Father Michael, the previous Earl of Loudoun passed in 2012. The Title is one of the oldest Scottish noble titles and it carries with it the right to carry the Golden Spurs (the emblems of knighthood and chivalry) at the Coronation of a British Monarch.
The Earl’s paternal grandmother Barbara, the 13th Countess of Loudoun, had a family seat in the House of Lords and campaigned steadfast throughout her long career for issues surrounding social justice and mental health. The current Earl advocates for these reforms.
Through his grandmother’s side, the Earl is directly descended from, and heir-general of George, the 1st Duke of Clarence, Brother of King Richard III and King Edward IV.
It is widely accepted by genealogists and academics that Simon Abney-Hastings to be the direct, and most senior descent of the Royal House of Plantagenet.
The Earl is also an advocate for the Cause of Sainthood for The Blessed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, the Duke of Clarence’s daughter from whom The Earl is directly descended. The Blessed Margaret Pole was beheaded by Henry VIII at the tower of London on 27th of May 1541 and then was later beatified by Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII as a Martyr for the Roman Catholic Church on 29th of December 1886.
The Earl of Loudoun’s first official royal ‘engagement’ as the most senior Plantagenet dynasty, was his attendance by invitation to the reinterment of King Richard III on March 26, 2015 at Leicester Cathedral in the UK. Richard III’s bones were discovered beneath a council car park in 2012.
The Earl is the permanent Patron of the Melbourne Highland Games and Celtic Festival and holds a number of other patronages including,
• Hereditary Governor / Patron – Repton School Collage, Derbyshire
• President – The Board of Governors, St Andrew’s First Aid Australia
• Patron – Ashby de le Zouch Museum
• Patron – Friends of Loudoun Kirk, Galston, Scotland
• Patron – Australian Monarchist League – Victoria Branch
• Patron – Clan Campbell Society of Australia
• Patron – Barnet 1471 Battlefields Society UK
• Patron – Australia Day Council – Victoria. Australia
• Protector – Order of St Thomas of Acre, Order of St Thomas of Acre
• Kentucky Colonel 2022 – Highest Honour Commonwealth of Kentucky USA
• Esteemed friend of Loudoun Museum, Leesburg, Loudoun Country, Virginia USA

TITLES of the Earl of Loudoun
The Rt. Hon. The 15th Earl of Loudoun (Scotland, let. pat. 12 May 1633)
15th Lord Campbell of Loudoun (Scotland, let. pat. 30 Jun 1601)
Subsidiary titles of Tarrinzean and Mauchline (Scotland, let. pat. 12 May 1633)
Co- heir to the Barony of Grey de Ruthyn. Co-heir to the Baronies of Botreaux, Hungerford, de Moleyns, Hastings of Hastings, and Hastings of Hungerford as well of those of Strange of Knockyn and Stanley.

Other notable ancestors related to include:
HRH King Charles III (cousin)
Mary Tudor, Queen of France, Sister of King Henry VIII
Lady Mary Boleyn, The Other Boleyn, Mistress to Henry VIII
King James IV of Scotland, Who Married Margaret Tudor sister of Henry VIII

Direct descendent of the Duke of Clarence, brother of King Richard III & King Edward IV