Background
Douglas-Home was born in London, England on July 2, 1903. He was the first of seven children of Lord Dunglass and his wife, the Lady Lilian Lambton.
Douglas-Home was born in London, England on July 2, 1903. He was the first of seven children of Lord Dunglass and his wife, the Lady Lilian Lambton.
Dunglass went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated with a third class honors BA degree in modern history.
His political career began in 1931, when he was elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative from the South Lanark district. From 1937 to 1939 he was parliamentary private secretary to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Douglas-Home served in the British army during World War II but resigned because of illness after a few months. In 1943 he returned to Parliament, and two years later he was named undersecretary for foreign affairs. In the 1945 elections he lost his seat in the Commons. He regained it in 1950. In 1951 he succeeded his father as the earl of Home, and later that year he was appointed minister for Scottish affairs. He was named secretary for Commonwealth relations in 1955. Prime minister Harold Macmillan appointed Douglas-Home secretary for foreign affairs in 1960. When Macmillan resigned in 1963, he designated Douglas-Home to succeed him as party leader and prime minister. However, because the earl of Home was a member of the House of Lords and because since the early 20th century it had become traditional for the British prime minister to hold a seat in Commons, the earl relinquished his hereditary titles and entered a by-election for a seat in Commons, which he won. He then was able to become prime minister, and he held this post until the Conservatives were defeated in the general elections of October 1964. In 1965 he resigned as party leader. In the Conservative government of 1970 to 1974, Douglas-Home was again secretary for foreign affairs under the prime ministership of Edward Heath. A life peerage was conferred on Douglas-Home after he retired from public life in 1974.
House of Lords
In 1936 Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home married to Elizabeth Alington.