Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon

Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon (3 October 1930 – 17 August 1985), styled Viscount Eden between 1961 and 1977, was a British Conservative politician and younger son of Prime Minister Anthony Eden and his first wife, Beatrice (née Beckett).

Eden succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father in 1977, his elder brother Pilot Officer Simon Gascoigne Eden having been killed in action in June 1945, while serving as a navigator with the RAF in Burma.

Lord Avon served under Margaret Thatcher as a Lord-in-Waiting from 1980 to 1983, as Under-Secretary of State for Energy from 1983 to 1984 and as Under-Secretary of State for the Environment from 1984 until shortly before his death from AIDS the following year at the age of 54. Widely known to have been homosexual, Lord Avon was unmarried and his titles died with him. The character of Peter Morton in the film Peter's Friends is loosely inspired by him.

Styles of address

• 1930-1961: Mr Nicholas Eden
• 1961-1977: Viscount Eden
• 1977-1985: The Right Honourable The Earl of Avon

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Avon

Political offices
Preceded by The Lord Mowbray	Lord-in-Waiting 1980 - 1983	Succeeded by The Lord Lucas of Chilworth
Preceded by John Moore David Mellor	Joint Under-Secretary of State for Energy with John Moore 1983 Giles Shaw 1983–1984 1983–1984	Succeeded by Giles Shaw David Hunt
Preceded by Sir George Young, Bt Hon. William Waldegrave	Joint Under-Secretary of State for the Environment with Sir George Young, Bt 1984–1985	Succeeded by Sir George Young, Bt Angela Rumbold
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Anthony Eden	Earl of Avon 1977–1985	Extinct