Arms: Quarterly:1st & 4th , Azure three cinquefoils Argent; 2nd & 3rd , Argent, three antique crowns Gules.
Crest: A buck’s head erased proper.
Supporters: Two bucks proper.
Motto: Je suis prest
SOURCE, NOTES and CREDITS: Blazon and illustration for background, page 466,
BLG of Scotland, 19th Ed., and PP 518-548, “The Scots Peerage”, ed Sir James Balfour Paul, Vol, 5 1908, Biographical information is adapted from “The Scots Peerage”
article and from Wikipedia internet articles.
Brigadier Simon Christopher Joseph Fraser, de jure 17th Lord Lovat, DSO. MC,TD,JP,DL, Chief of Clan Fraser of Lovat was born on 9 July 1911 received an MA from Magdalen College, Oxford. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the Lovat Scouts (TA) in 1930 and then joined the Scots Guards in 1931 then succeeded his father
Becoming the 17th Lord Lovat. He served as a commando leader in WW2 , took part in the landings on the 6th of June 1944 at Normandy on Sword Beach where he famously ordered his piper, Bill Millin, to lead the way blowing on his pipes. In the movie, “The Longest Day” this scene is depicted. In after action reports of German snipers interviewed, they stated, “They didn’t drop the piper because they thought he was crazy”.
Simon Fraser rose to the rank of Brigadier.
It turns out Simon Fraser, 17th Lord Lovat, and Sir David Stirling were first cousins. Lord Lovat’s aunt, the Hon. Margaret Mary Fraser, married Brigadier Archibald Stirling of Keir whose third son was Sir David Stirling. So, Simon and David were first cousins indeed and each was a commando and each received a DSO…
Bad luck in the end dogged the 17th Lord, predeceased by his sons, in 1994 he had to sell Beaufort castle, then he died in 1995 and was succeeded by his grandson, as the 18th Lord Lovat. However, the 18th Lord has been successful in investments and commodities and is busy buying up ancestral land and we hope one day buys the castle too.
The artwork is a rendering by John Hamilton Gaylor.
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