Australian farmer will carry golden spurs at coronation

On May 6, in a family tradition dating back more than 800 years, an unlikely Australian will take centre stage at Westminster Abbey.

Simon Abney-Hastings, Earl of Loudoun. Picture: Facebook

In Wangaratta, 250km north of Melbourne, Simon Abney-Hastings is a convivial local figure whose mates just call him Simon.

But the son of a jackaroo-turned-farmer also has a rather grander title as the 15th Earl of Loudoun. And on May 6, following a family tradition that goes back more than 800 years, he will be at Westminster Abbey to carry the golden spurs at the coronation.

It is, he said, “my duty” – one that was drummed into him by his grandmother, the 13th Countess of Loudoun, a Scottish noblewoman who was a member of the House of Lords.

Abney-Hastings, 48, who has exchanged Christmas cards with the King, can trace his family’s role in the coronation back to his ancestor John Marshal, who, at the coronation of Richard the Lionheart in 1189, carried a heavy pair of golden spurs in the procession.

Ever since then the spurs have been used to symbolise the monarch’s “knightly values and virtues”.

Most of the medieval regalia was melted down under Oliver Cromwell in 1649 so Abney-Hastings will carry spurs made by the royal goldsmith Sir Robert Vyner for the coronation of Charles II in 1661.

It is also likely that he will have only one. Two other families can trace their lineage back to Marshal. The other could be carried by the 23rd Baron Hastings, a Suffolk farmer and former actor called Delaval Astley who used to play Cameron Fraser in The Archers.

There are some who think Abney-Hastings should be in the Coronation Chair himself. Twenty years ago, Dr Michael Jones, a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, found a document in Rouen Cathedral which he says proves that Edward IV, who came to the throne in 1461, was illegitimate and not the rightful heir.

This, some have suggested, means that the Loudouns have a claim to the crown.

Abney-Hastings, who describes himself as a staunch monarchist, insists that he has no royal ambitions.

“It’s always been a matter for the historians,” he said. “I’m really not buying into it.”

The Times