Paul Channon
Henry Paul Guinness Channon, Baron Kelvedon, PC (9 October 1935 – 27 January 2007) was Conservative MP for Southend West for 38 years, from 1959 until 1997. He served in various ministerial offices, and was a Cabinet minister for 3½ years, as President of the Board of Trade and Secretary of State for Trade and Industry from January 1986 to June 1987, and then as Secretary of State for Transport to July 1989.
The Lord Kelvedon
9 October 1935
London, United Kingdom
27 January 2007 (aged 71)
Brentwood, United Kingdom
3
Sir Henry Channon
Lady Honor Guinness
Early life[edit]
Channon was the only child of Sir Henry "Chips" Channon, the politician and diarist, and Lady Honor Channon, eldest daughter of Rupert Guinness, 2nd Earl of Iveagh. His family were well connected: his father's dearest friend was Prince Paul of Yugoslavia; he received a toy panda from King Edward VIII in the run up to the abdication; and he was friends with the Duke of Kent, who was born on the same day, from childhood.[1] He was evacuated to live with the Astor family during the Second World War.[1]
Education[edit]
Channon was educated at two private schools: at Lockers Park School in Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire and Eton College in Eton, Berkshire. Playwright Terence Rattigan, an intimate companion of his father, dedicated his play The Winslow Boy (1946) to him.
Channon completed his national service in the Royal Horse Guards (the Blues) from 1955 to 1956, serving in Cyprus during the 1956 Cyprus emergency.[1] In London, he was a member of the set around Princess Margaret,[1] and then attended Christ Church, Oxford, from 1956.[2] He was president of the Oxford University Conservative Association.[3]
Personal life[edit]
In 1963, Channon married Ingrid Guinness (née Wyndham), the former wife of his cousin Jonathan Guinness. He inherited three stepchildren, and they had three children: Henry, Georgia, and Olivia Gwendolen. In 1986, 22-year-old Olivia died from the effects of drink and drugs during a party in the Christ Church, Oxford, rooms of Count Gottfried von Bismarck.[8] The coroner recorded a verdict of misadventure.[1] Henry Channon died on 24 October 2021, aged 51.
Death[edit]
In later years, Channon suffered from Alzheimer's disease.[2][3] He died at his home in Brentwood, Essex, on 27 January 2007, at the age of 71.[9]